‘Britain must future-proof its horsepower'

Anna Ross on the Olympic format and how to keep the medals coming

- Anna Ross

IT’S championship season and the recent junior and young rider European Championships in Spain set a phenomenal standard with even the juniors’ rides presented like Grand Prix horses. The best had that magical combination of power and relaxation; Annabella Pidgley’s lovely Sultan Des Paluds was an example of this, and she made history winning Britain’s first junior individual silver medals.

And so over to the Olympics in Tokyo. The much-discussed new format makes for a more exciting competition with no “safety” drop score, and it gives us a more interesting order of go. The second day seemed to have a few more gremlins, with some below-par performances among the outstanding ones. Using heats, and six wild cards, to qualify individuals for the freestyle worked perfectly, too, with the top 18 highest-scorers going through.