American David O'Connor, who swept into the lead with a record Olympic dressage mark in the individual three-day event at Horsley Park yesterday, describes his Irish horse Custom Made as "iron man".
"He's the toughest horse I've ever had," the 38-year-old Virginian said, "but seven weeks ago I thought he wouldn't get to start here." O'Connor, who rode his other Irish export Giltedge to claim silver for America in the team three-day event, explained how the 16-year-old Custom Made had suffered a potentially life-threatening injury just two days after his arrival in Australia.
"He got kicked on the hock by one of my other horses two days after he arrived in quarantine at Eastern Creek. It cut into his joint capsule, which can be fatal if it gets infected, but the vets did a fantastic job and he only missed seven days of work."
Certainly the lay-off appeared to have done the Bassompierre gelding no harm as he pulled out all the stops when it mattered yesterday, sweeping to a new Olympic record score of 29 penalties that left his rivals reeling in his wake.
Drawn 28th of the 38 runners in this three-day event run back-to-back with the team competition, O'Connor and his 1997 Badminton-winner Custom Made scored top marks from two of the three judges, with ground jury president Frederik Obel reserving his best mark for Germany's Marina Kohncke and Longchamps, who were lying second going into the crosscountry.
Greek-rider Heidi Antikatzides, who has formed such a brilliant partnership with Kildare jockey John Lyttle's former Punchestown-winner Michaelmas, had taken an early lead, despite drawing number 13, but she was swiftly overtaken by Kohncke and both were then relegated by O'Connor.
Mark Todd, who missed out on a team medal when compatriot Blyth Tait was eliminated at the final horse inspection with Ready Teddy, is determined to make amends in the individual, bidding for a historic third Olympic title in his last outing before retiring to his native New Zealand after the Games.
Riding his Blarney Castle-winner Eyespy II, which finished fifth in the Badminton field this spring, Todd rode a cool and calm test that was in sharp contrast to the performance from his team horse, Diamond Hall Red, which found the Olympic atmosphere far too heady a potion.
Eyespy's mark of 39 leaves him just 10 penalties off the pace in fourth, one slot ahead of Australia's Andrew Hoy, who had earned himself a third consecutive team gold medal 24 hours earlier with Darien Powers. Hoy, who rides his triple three-star scorer Swizzle In, shares fifth with Swedish Saumur winners, Sofia Andler and Amaretto.
The O'Connor at the head of the pack may be flying the Stars and Stripes, but there is a 100 per cent Irish O'Connor midfield. Austin O'Connor, whose fourth place at Badminton last year with the mare Simply Rhett is currently a personal best, produced his best ever dressage work yesterday with the nine-year-old Horseware Fabio for a share of 22nd place.
"There's some atmosphere out there," he said after a solid test marred only by a minor mistake in the canter work. "I was overawed by it and I felt he was overawed too. There's a long way to go yet, but it's a nice start and now I know what sort of test he will do in the future."
The Cork rider, who rode Horseware Fabio to an advanced win at Wilmslow and a close second in the Land Rover Discovery final at Armathwaite Hall from his British base this spring, scored 52.8 to leave him some way clear of fellow Irish runner, Trevor Smith.
The Co Armagh rider had a momentary lapse in concentration, apart from the two extended trot movements to drop two marks from each judge. His final score of 65 penalties put him 34th overall. "I was still pleased though," Smith said, "because dressage wouldn't be his strongest asset and he went in and stayed cool. I'll just have to go for it across country and show jumping now to catch up."
