By Roy Masters
Paris: The dark horse of the Australian equestrian team, Chris Burton, has salvaged the sport’s medal hopes in the three-day eventing, sitting in the bronze-medal position in the individual competition leading into the final day.
All hopes of a medal in the team event collapsed when rider Kevin McNab retired his mount, Don Quidam, with only four jumps left on the 27-jump course at the picturesque Palace of Versailles arena.
Riding the appropriately named Shadow Man, Burton did not feature in any of the predictions of success in the equestrian program, which has historically been a dependable source of Olympic medals for Australia.
But here he is sitting in third after two days, having picked up just 22 penalty points in Saturday’s dressage round and none in Sunday’s cross-country.
“It was amazing,” he said after his faultless cross-country run. “I’m a bit embarrassed he did it so easy ... He’s a beautiful animal. I don’t want to get too nervous ahead of tomorrow so we’ll just make sure the horse is OK and give him a little jump in the morning to see how he feels and, hopefully, I can do my best.”
Curtis won a bronze medal in the team event in Rio in 2016 and was selected for Tokyo before being forced to withdraw when his horse was injured. Since Tokyo, Curtis has concentrated solely on showjumping, which is akin to a triathlete choosing to compete only as a cyclist for three years.
Christopher Burton and Shadow Man compete at the Palace of Versailles on the second day of the eventing competition.Credit: Getty Images
Equestrian requires horse and rider to be in seamless combination, a situation that is usually reached only after multiple years of competition. But Burton has flown in the face of that axiom, leasing Shadow Man only in January and having been restricted to just a few competitions in 2024.
Nevertheless, he has been accustomed to jumping 1.60m course barriers, putting him in a good position to contest the 1.25m jumps he will face on the final day of the eventing competition.
McNab was forced to retire his horse when it suffered an injury, ruling Australia out of a team medal in a contest in which all three riders scores are totalled.
“The horse was going really well and he just landed a little awkward in the last water jump and I felt it when he came out,” he said. “In the best interests of the horse, I decided to pull up. We have been advised he suffered a soft-tissue injury and will make a full recovery.”
Shane Rose, Australia’s third rider, completed the course on his 17-year-old companion, Virgil.
“When we finished, he felt he could have gone around again,” Rose said. “He was typical Virgil today on course. He was keen to run and jump, not so keen to slow down and listen but he’s awesome and foot perfect.”
In the sport of equestrian, the bravest horse is not always the smartest and the reverse applies. The best horse has a combination of courage and care and it’s the responsibility of riders like Burton and Rose to manage the shortfall.
Given the travails Rose has overcome after multiple injuries and falls – enough to discourage Job – he can’t be ruled out of medal contention, even though he sits outside the top 20 in the individual field, having picked up 37.40 penalty points through the dressage and cross-country stages.
The challenge of the final day of eventing – the showjumping stage – is to have a horse that is still prepared to take on every jump despite being tired from the first two days of competition.
The show-jumping rails are light and the cups that hold them are shallow, meaning the slightest touch forces the rail to fall with a consequent loss of points.
The course, after heavy rain, is still slippery. The average speed for a horse on the course is 570 metres per minute, but the rider has to slow for jumps and turns, which means the duo will be travelling faster along the straight parts of the course that are lined with trees and people.
Tens of thousands of spectators poured into Versailles to watch the second day of competition, past the gilded palace and its statue of a golden chariot emerging from a glittering lake, walking along the tree-lined course, all enjoying a sun-splashed French day.
The eventing course was spectacular, passing through woods, across bridges, over water jumps and along paths with exotic names, such as The Courtship of the Peacock, the Cornelian Dilemma and the Ulysees Companions.
Great Britain (82.5 penalty points) are in a strong position to take the team gold, being so blessed with horses that the rejected ones would make the teams of most other nations, with France (87.2) in second place and Japan (93.8) in third.
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