British favourites in fascinating team contest

AS I write this preview, the favourites for team gold in the eventing competition in Tokyo are somewhere between Dubai and Japan on a cargo plane and they are without the original alternate Brookfield Inocent (ISH).

News broke on Monday that Piggy March would not travel to Tokyo as the alternate rider on the wishes of Brookfield Inocent’s owners John and Chloe Perry and Alison Swinburn, and she is replaced by reigning world champion Ros Canter and Allstar B. Not a bad replacement.

Such is the strength of the British team that the travelling reserve is the 2018 world champion and there are more combinations left at home that would be well capable of winning a medal. Laura Collett (London 52), Oliver Townend (Ballaghmor Class (ISH)) and Tom McEwen (Toledo de Kerser) all make their Olympic debuts in Tokyo and are all five-star winning combinations in the last 24 months.

Germany are the obvious big contenders. Team gold at Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012 and silver in 2016 at Rio, the three-man team of Michael Jung (Chipmunk FRH), Julia Krajewski (Amande De B’neville) and Sandra Auffarth (Viamant Du Matz) will be the biggest threat to Britain’s chance at winning the gold.

Team Ireland will fight hard for their first ever Olympic medal in eventing. Cathal Daniels, Sarah Ennis and Sam Watson were all part of that silver-medal winning WEG team in 2018 - albeit Rioghan Rua is the only horse that competed at that championship – and the three were also on the 2019 European team together. They believe medals are within their grasp and could well be in the fight for the bronze.

France won gold in 2016 and Thibaut Vallette (Qing du Briot) is the only remaining member of the squad from that team. He is joined by Thomas Carlile (Birmane) and Christopher Six (Totem De Brecey).

Of course, Australia and New Zealand can never be discounted for team medals, and Japan, who finished fourth at WEG 2018, will be interesting on home soil. The withdrawal of Christopher Burton will be a blow for the Australians, but Andrew Hoy, Shane Rose and Stuart Tinney have eight Olympic medals between them. America are another country to have lost an original selection (Liz Halliday-Sharp), but watch out for them here.

TOKYO EVENTING PREVIEW: Will eventing history be written in Tokyo?