He’s mostly a showjumper these days, was on the aussie short list for the jumping team too. Picked up a couple of eventers to have a crack at Paris, Clever Louis who he has at Aachen was a 4* Price horse, and Shadowman who he’s on the team with was 4* or maybe 5? Not sure. with Ben Hobday of Mulrys Error fame, the draught cross he took round badminton. I think Ben still owns Shadowman and has just loaned for Olympic year as he was never in the mix for the British team
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Too many mistakes last few years is my guess. Sucks for Andrew, likely his last shot at another Olympics.
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It’s funny…because it is true…
Organizing fundraising as late as they leave it is absurd (yet consistent).
Doesn’t do so much to team build either.
It’s almost like these things are not a priority.
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I looked at Vassily de Lassos’s FEI record, because about 6 months ago I wondered if he was even being aimed at Paris. Not only are his results spottier than they were prior to Tokyo, he’s also avoided competing at the big competitions. If his website is up to date, he is based in the UK (Leicestershire).
In 2023, at FEI level he only did show jumping in in Italy in April, a 3*-S in Britain in April, and didn’t complete a 3*-L at Millstreet in June, Withdrawn 2nd horse inspection. From that, I assume Vassily was lame and missed the remainder of the season.
His 2024 campaign was:
- 3*-S and 4*-S in April, both at Strzegom in Poland, followed by
- Marbach 4*-L in May, which he won on a 31.0 - but there were only 9 competitors.
- He then retired on XC at a 4*-S in Switzerland in June, and
- his last competition was another 4*-S at Strzegom.
I’m 100% sure Andrew knew exactly what he was doing, and what risk he was taking. Maybe his horse is not very sound (understandable for a 15 year old who’s been going Advanced since he was 8) and he was doing the best he could to check the qualification boxes and picking venues with good footing that the horse liked. Maybe he purposely didn’t want to go head to head with the other Australians, making the selectors have to compare results rather than have black and white “who beat who”. There were a lot of question marks - after all, Andrew and Vassily won the bronze medal at Tokyo 2021; Chris Burton was also taking a chance with his comeback campaign; and so was Shane Rose with his injury and comeback.
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Stupid question(s) I could probably Google but don’t know the answer to offhand:
When do the horses need to be on the grounds? What are the importation requirements to France?
It’s getting so close, I imagine it’s gotta be somewhat maddening for these NA-based horses and their connections to not be able to get everything they need in line.
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Started before that. His Pratoni (2022 World Championship ) performance (along with the rest of the team) was. . . Unfortunate to say the least.
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I heard the US team was only going to be there for like 10 days before the event or something like that.
Some info here; https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/usea-podcast/id594660095?i=1000659242360
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Generally, in most past competitions out of country, the USA and Canada will fly horses/teams together.
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I think I have read they are leaving on the 16th. (I am sharply aware of that date as it is my birthday!)
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Clever Louis was never an option for Chris for the Australian team for Paris because his ownership was (as of the deadline) and remains British. Shadow Man moved under Australian ownership with Chris, at least on paper, at the Olympic deadline and has been clearly targeted - now successfully - for the Games.
That said, I am very much looking forward to watching him and Clever Louis at Aachen this weekend.
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Happy early birthday!
Sheesh, unless they just haven’t made the announcement public, the poor Canadian team members have less than 2 weeks before they leave to get everything in order.
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Has anyone dropped any hints on the Canadian team?
In Australia, word leaked out that Hoy was not selected.
Seems surprisingly quiet on the Canadian front
Nothing yet.
Although I see from IG that JP is going to Maryland this weekend with a bunch including Freedom and Wabbit in Intermediate.
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JP has them in the OI at Maryland
Where are you seeing this - I looked at event entries and it isn’t showing them at the Maryland HT, only the 3 I posted above. 
Did a bit of digging and EE has them listed in OI for the Live Scoring, but not in list of accepted riders. 
it all seems even more stupid bc there are only 5 in contention
Mike, Lindsay, JP, Karl, Colleen.
so if we can send 3 on the team plus a reserve plus an individual, is the dispute really over who is named to the team vs individual vs reserve???
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Maybe that’s why they haven’t announced anything. Maybe they’re all going, they just haven’t finished arguing semantics.
There is no individual spot - 3 team members and a reserve.
Dana Cooke is also qualified and is competing OI at Bouckaert this weekend.
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I thought a poster above said it was now pushed to be announced on July 4th.
Where is the team, this is absurd!
