Acknowledged! But I think anyone who goes faster than Gazelle deserves props. That horse is incredible and Kent is one of the fastest riders across the ground, so the fact that they turned in similar performances (same fence down, IIRC?) but Don Juan was faster is impressive.
Of course - you wouldnât do that. 
Itâs official.
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Iâd always kinda figured that this was the intent, and that the individual vs. team decision might have been based both on horse form at the event, and on which critters were likely to be best jumping multiple rounds.
Strategically, it didnât make a ton of sense to me to have all three horses jump up to two rounds two days before the team competition, when you could bring four very good horses and see how things go to bring in a fresh horse for the team. GB was clear they were doing that as well.
ETA that Iâm disappointed not to see Gazelle go a second time. I think that horse is brilliant.
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Managed to finish watching the individual qualifier before heading to bed on Tuesday, and the final yesterday afternoon at lunch, but was too busy to submit my thoughts lol.
I experienced a whirlwind of emotions on Tuesday, from excitement that all three British riders (who are kicking butt at this Olympics btw), Bond (âŠAshlee Bond), Deslauriers (
), Luciana Diniz of Portugal, and two Japanese riders qualified for the final to sadness when I realized that riders such as Guerdat, Springsteen, Kraut, and Farrington did not. At one point, with all those clear rounds, I thought perhaps that the course might have been a bit too easy (for THEM! Not for us! 
), but then Wednesdayâs final umped the ante. 
Thought the course on Wednesday was fair for an Olympic medal-winning final, and actually produced the same number of clears (six) as in the Rio Games. Holy cow, what an exciting jump-off! I cannot tell you how excited I was that a Japanese rider, Fukushima, qualified for the jump-off; thought the entire Japanese equestrian team did a great job at these Tokyo Games. Congrats to Olympic champion Ben Maher and his fantastic horse, Explosion W! Lmao, Pippa Roome of Horse & Hound placed an online bet and won ÂŁ110
Looking forward to the team qualifier and final tomorrow and Saturday, canât believe the Games are coming to a close this weekend. 
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Where does one place an online bet on a jumper?
Bovada is a popular site, but there are a few others out there.
Betting on horse sports is very popular in the UK.
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Have to admit I donât see the wisdom of replacing Kent versus replacing Laura, but then again, Iâm not totally sure why a combination thatâs only been together for 4 months is on the Olympic team at all, tbh.
Nothing against Laura and itâs a nice enough horse, butâŠI question the decision. But Iâm not the chef dâequipe so my opinion doesnât matter.
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Thanks!
Completely unheard of in the US, other than maybe the occasional private wager at the ingate. As far as I know, anyway. Lol.
Newly-crowned Olympic individual champion Ben Maher will spearhead the teamâs challenge on Explosion W, being joined by Holly Smith and Denver, while Harry Charles now completes the trio aboard Romero 88.
I have the impression that was the plan all along, since I think I heard the commentators mention it in passing earlier in the week. They just held off on the public announcement until now, for whatever reason.
wow 1406 FEI ranked rides in 11 years . That makes me feel tired just thinking about the work of training travel and managing
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Letâs be clear: betting on ANYTHING is very popular in the UK.
Youâd be amazed what you could put a wager on.
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Oh, dude, totally spot on!
H&H article;
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Horse and Hound says blood rule.
Cinca passed todayâs (5 August) trot-up for the team competition, which starts tomorrow, in which she and Daniel will compete, along with Bruce Goodin on Quasimodo Z and Uma OâNeill on Clockwise Of Greenhill Z.
Official report;
So hereâs my annoyance with the current format.
Certain countries have performed much better so far - Sweden really stands out here, with all three riders going double clear and making it to the jump off.
Problem is, the scores are now reset to zero. So Sweden will get no credit in the team competition for its impressive performances up until now. And itâs now arguably handicapped by the fact that its horses have jumped so many rounds. Meanwhile, the US will head into the team competition relatively fresh.
It just doesnât seem right. The better a country does in the individual competition, the more handicapped they are for the team competition. Far better if they had had two rounds over 2 days, with all riders competing. The team placings could be determined from those two days, and then the top 30 could move on to the individual.
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Right?
I think people automatically lose respect for her because she is âyoungâ (nearly 30) and came from an obvious place of advantage. But itâs kind of funny some people hold that against Jessica Springsteen while backing McLain Ward, who was the same age when he made his first Olympic appearance and came from an equivalent place of advantage.
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