Tuesday, 11 June 2024
In full collaboration with British Equestrian Eventing Performance Manager Richard Waygood, Oliver Townend and owners Karyn Shuter, Angela Hislop and Val Ryan have made the difficult decision to withdraw Ballaghmor Class from the eventing nominated list for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Oliver remains on the nominated list with Paul and Diana Ridgeon’s Cooley Rosalent. The British Eventing Selectors will work with Richard Waygood to name a replacement combination to the nominated list sometime next week.
Oliver and his team added:
“We are disheartened to withdraw Ballaghmor Class from Team GB Olympic selection. As his preparation for a long-format event in the first half of the season was interrupted, we could not secure the final qualification for the Olympics without compromising his best interests. This is so disappointing for the whole team, but Thomas means the world for us and at the end of the day, his welfare and happiness is more important than everything else.
“He is one of few special horses that has an Olympic gold to his name and while he will be aiming for an autumn 5*, we hope that stablemate Cooley Rosalent will fly the flag in our bid to be selected for the Games. Huge thanks to British Equestrian, Thomas’s owners, our sponsors and the team around us who have showed unwavering support in making this decision.”