In, the eventing final, it was Britain’s own royal subject, Zara Phillips, to lead the pack of 56 into show jumping, and that’s how it ended. Phillips, the daughter of HRH The Princess Anne and Team U.S.A.’s chef d’equipe Captain Mark Phillips, took her dressage score of 41.7 aboard Toy Town straight through cross-country and show jumping and onto the medal podium to claim the Gold medal in eventing. Australia’s Clayton Fredericks and Ben Along Time snagged the Silver medal after having cleared the course in 92.71 seconds (they added 4.4 time penalties in cross-country).

“He felt great, and he’s been jumping well. He [Toy Town] loves crowds, and he likes to perform. He thinks they’re all there to watch him,” she said in regards to the packed crowds and whether her horse could cope with the course like the one in the final. I thought, in front of a crowd like that, it would probably help him.”

It was Washington’s Amy Tryon and her Olympic horse Poggio II that saw America bring home its one eventing medal from these Games. The pair laid down a dressage score of 50.7, and it stuck, adding no cross-country penalties, nor any show jumping rails. She stood in seventh place coming into the final phase of today’s event. Her clean and clear round in 89.44 seconds was enough to secure her the honor and it was bestowed atop a rain-soaked medal podium. Ironically, the threatening skies held off pretty much right until the awarding of the medals.

Coming into show jumping in seventh place, Tryon said it was a big surprise to be sitting where she was.

“It’s a huge surprise…my goal this week was to be a good pathfinder for my team, and I never considered this particular horse to be an individual-medal type horse,” she said. “He came off the racetrack and was a pack horse for a couple of years. I’m lucky to ride him. He’s a horse that has stepped outside of his class a little bit with what he’s done. I’ve had him for a lot of years now, and I’m lucky to be able to sit on him.”

She said she was pleased overall with her efforts this week, having started in a dressage downpour and making it through the cross-country under time and with no penalties. “He has a unique way of going, and I’ve learned through the years to keep my hands down and let him do his thing.”

Tryon and Poggio were the only Americans to post a clean and clear show jumping round.

In the team standings, it was a fourth-place finish for Team U.S.A., just eight-tenths of one point off the medal podium on a score of 198.1. Germany won the Gold (156.0), Great Britain took the Silver team medal (180.0) and Australia goes home with the Team Bronze (197.3). Tryon, Will Faudree, Kim Severson and Heidi White competed in the team competition, while Jan Byyny and Karen O’Connor competed as individual members of the U.S. squad.

At the end of the day, the Americans finished as follows: Kim Severson and Winsome Adante at 17th on a score of 71.7; Will Faudree and Antigua at 19th on a score of 75.7; Heidi White and Northern Spy at 27th on a score of 89.2; Karen O’Connor and Upstage at 42nd on a score of 127.8; and, Jan Byyny and Task Force at 45th on a score of 132.5.

Break in Competition
Competition will take a one-day break at the 2006 World Equestrian Games on Monday. It will resume on Tuesday, August 29 with the first rounds of show jumping.