Sept. 2—Caen, France   

Thrills and spills ruled the Michel d’Ornano stadium as 153 show jumping competitors from around the globe galloped through the ring at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

At day’s end Irish teenager Bertram Allen, 19, turned in the fastest round on Molly Malone V in 77.01 seconds, with Frenchman Patrice Delaveau right behind him on Orient Express HDC on 77.18 to put the home team atop the leaderboard on Day 1.

“It was a bit unexpected,” admitted Allen. “The plan was to go in and have a clear fast round. To end up winning was a great bonus. I took all the turns and had a good rhythm. My mare is naturally quite fast and careful. I could take as much chance as I did without taking too much risk, and it thankfully paid off today.”

Read more about Allen and the first half of today’s competition here.

Delaveau was elated over his team’s first-placed standing. “Of course nothing is done,” he said. “We need to remain concentrated and focused until the end, but it’s very good for us mentally to continue.”

Beezie Madden turned in the best round for the U.S. team, finishing fourth with Cortes ‘C’. Her result along with Kent Farrington’s 18th place on Voyeur and McLain Ward’s 22nd on Rothchild moved the USA into third place going into the Nations Cup behind Sweden.

“He’s a naturally quick horse across the ground,” said Madden of Cortes. “He made some good turns, like after the double of verticals.”

While Ward and Farrington both had the Puits & Pigeonnier oxer down at 11, they went fast enough that it didn’t put them too far down the order.

“I thought it was a decent round today, a good start for our team,” said Farrington. “I thought McLain also had a very competitive round. We both had a cheap rail at the same fence. I thought my horse jumped great today. He went very high off the front rail of that oxer, and I just needed to ride him a little bit more for the width. It was his first time in the ring, and he was a little bit impressed, maybe a bit fresher than I would want, but I’m trying to save his energy. It’s going to be a lot of jumping this week.”

“We strategized a little, and [U.S. Chef d’Equipe] Robert Ridland told me to try and be in the 77 range and be close to winning,” said Madden. “Then if you have a rail you’re right in the hunt where McLain and Kent were. The next two days are going to be huge. Usually they count more than today, so we’ll see.”

The speed round times get converted into faults and will carry over to two rounds of Nations Cup competition over two days to decide the eventual team medals. Only the top 10 teams come back for the second round. Then the best 30 individuals will continue the fight for the podium with two additional rounds, culminating in the exciting final four where the riders start with a clean slate and switch horses to compete over the same course.

For course designer Frederic Cottier, the first day’s build was a tough one, as he knew there’d be every level of rider represented.

“I had to create a hierarchy so the less experienced pairs wouldn’t lose confidence too early,” he said. “I think it was a success. I wanted to give a lot of freedom so the best horses could make very tight turns.”

Ten riders ran into serious trouble, either falling off or getting eliminated for things like refusals and jumping the wrong part of the fence. 

“You have 35 countries and teams. You don’t see that very often, ever, really,” said Madden. “It’s great there’s more worldwide participation in the sport; that’s always good for the sport. But you do get different levels.”

Some of the combinations that didn’t complete may have been a bit awestruck by the caliber of competition. But others were total shockers such as Brazil’s Doda de Miranda, who fell off Ad Rahmannshof’s Bogeno at fence 9 when the horse stopped, and 18-year-old Jos Verlooy of Belgium, who parted company with Domino when the horse put on the brakes at 8A after kicking out a rail at 6 and putting a foot in the water at 7. Rodrigo Carrasco of Chile ran into trouble at the same fence, flying from the saddle so violently that he took Bardine’s bridle with him.

That fence also caused grief for 2012 Olympic gold medalist Steve Guerdat’s Nino Des Buissonnets, who stopped there as well, but continued around the rest of the course in perfect form. 

U.S. World Games rookie Lucy Davis survived a hairy moment when Barron crashed through fence 5, a beautiful wall built to look like France’s famous cliffs in Etretat.

“I got shot out a little to the left in the first line,” said Davis. “I didn’t kind of take him as far to the inside track as I wanted.”

She went to correct her path, and Barron grew confused. “I kicked, and it was just kind of overall a bit of a miscommunication,” Davis continued. “That’s where he’s so great. He’s so brave. He can crash through a wall and then keep going and jump clear. You just kind of have to kick into survival mode and keep going.”

Show jumping competition resumes on Sept. 3 at 9:10 a.m. CEST. Find orders of go and full results on the Normandy 2014 website.

Make sure to stay informed with the Chronicle’s online coverage. You can find all the stories at our main World Games coverage hub, or if you’re interested in show jumping only, check out the dedicated World Games show jumping page.