Pan American Games Dressage Begins in 3 Days, USA Looking for 6th Straight Gold, Canada, Brazil, Mexico Seeking Ticket to Tokyo Olympics

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Pan American Games equestrian venue in Lima, Peru.

July 25, 2019

Pan American Games dressage opens in three days with the United States team reduced to the minimum looking for its sixth straight gold while Brazil, Canada and Mexico seek to join the Americans at the Tokyo Olympics a year from now.

The facilities at a military base in Lima, Peru have been completely rebuilt for the Pan Am equestrian competitions, including arenas with world class footing managed by Christian Baur who did the same thing at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Dressage starting Sunday provides for 10 teams and a total of 48 horse and rider combinations. The overwhelming majority are Prix St. Georges/Intermediate 1. But Brazil, Canada and Mexico each include at least one Grand Prix combinations as required to earn one of the two starting places at Tokyo.

The United States qualified for Tokyo with its Tryon World Equestrian Games team silver medal last September and has an all-Small Tour squad at Lima that could be future Grand Prix partnerships. Four pairs were ready to catch a flight to Peru, but one horse was injured on the way to the airport.

The Pan Ams have been staged once every four years. In the 15 Pan Ams, the largest multidiscipline sporting even except for the Olympics, USA has won team gold eight times, Canada and Chile each three times and Mexico once.

Spectator stands at the Pan American Games equestrian facility in Lima, Peru.

Competition for gold could be extremely close, according to a review by dressage-news.com of top scores received by Canadian and U.S. combinations during qualifying periods this year. If the pairs produce results equal to their best the margin will be slim between the two stages of the team competitions–Prix St. Georges/Grand Prix and Intermediate 1/Grand Prix Special.

The best scores if matched at the Pan Ams would produce totals (top three for Canada) of:

Canada–Prix St. Georges/Grand Prix 221.379 Int. 1/Grand Prix Special 221.652 for a total of 443.031
USA–Prix St. Georges 219.57 Int.1 224.814 for a total of 444.384

Canada
—Tina Irwin, 38, of Stouffville, Ontario and Laurencio, 12-year-old Oldenburg gelding (Laurentio x Donnerhall) owned by Tina and Jaimey Irwin — Prix St. Georges 74.912% Int. 1 73.588%
—Lindsay Kellock, 29, of Toronto, Ontario and Floratina, 11-year-old Hanoverian mare (Fidertanz x Rubin-Royal) owned by Chloe Gasiorowski — Prix St. Georges 72.402% Int. 1 72.549%
—Naima Moreira Laliberté, 22, of Outremont, Quebec and Statesman, 12-year-old Oldenburg gelding by Sandro Hit owned by KML S.à r.l. — Grand Prix 70.261% Grand Prix Special 72.404%
—Jill Irving, 56, of Moncton, New Brunswick and Degas, 17-year-old Hanoverian gelding (De Niro x Regazzoni) owned by Jill Irving’s Windhaven Farm — Grand Prix 72.565% Grand Prix Speciak 72.660%

USA
–Sarah Lockman, 30, of Murrieta, California, and First Apple, nine-year-old KWPN stallion (Vivaldi x T.C.N. Partout) owned by Gerry Ibanez — PSG 74.853%  Int. 1 75.765%
—Jennifer Baumert, 48, of Wellington, Florida and Handsome, 14-year-old Hanoverian gelding (Hochadel x Weltmeyer) owned by Betsy Juliano LLC — PSG 72.647% Int. 1 75.667%
–Nora Batchelder, 35 years old, of Williston, Florida and Faro SQF, American-bred 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding (Fidertanz 2 x Rotspot) owned by Andrea Whitcomb and Nora — PSG 72.157% Int. 1 73.382%