Minikus, Oh Star Are Off to a Clean Start

Todd Minikus and his horse Oh Star had the only clean round in the U.S. Olympic equestrian show jumping trials Wednesday and vaulted from fifth place to first in the standings with four rounds remaining.

Minikus, from Loxahatchee, Fla., is one of 11 riders hoping to earn one of four spots on the Olympic team. Wednesday’s round at the Oaks/Blenheim Riding Park in San Juan Capistrano was the first of the final five. The team will be chosen Sunday after the final two rounds at Del Mar Horsepark.

“My horse jumped outrageous today,” Minikus, 38, said. “I always say you are only as good as your horse.”

Oh Star was perfect, bringing the crowd of approximately 4,000 to their feet at the end of the run.

One of the few top riders who owns his horse, Minikus bought Oh Star five years ago in Germany when the Oldenburg stallion was 4 years old.

“He looked like a good athlete,” Minikus said. “He looked like he could buck me off, and if they can buck me off, then they can jump.”

The pair glided through the 13 obstacles on a difficult course set by British designer Richard Jeffery. It featured three double combinations, three 5-foot-3 verticals, and an intimidating line of jumps down the middle.

After opening with three standard jumps, the horses came to a 14-foot water jump that led to an oxer (a spread jump over two fences), followed by a double yellow-and-white-striped combination that gave most of the riders fits. Seven of the 11 pairs committed faults through the line.

“We know in Sydney they’ll have some lines like that,” Jeffery said. “I was hoping to see a couple more clean runs, though.”

Elise Haas, 21, of Sausalito, Calif., was the first rider, and her Dutch Warmblood stallion, Mr. Blue, refused the yellow-and-white combination, throwing Haas to the ground. Haas, who entered the event in seventh place, was uninjured and able to laugh it off, despite picking up 38.25 faults on the elimination.

“That’s the first time that has ever happened,” Haas said. “It definitely wasn’t the Wednesday I planned.”

Fortunately for Haas, each rider is able to eliminate his/her worst score from the final five rounds.

Laura Kraut, of Oconomowoc, Wis., and Liberty, a Dutch Warmblood mare, came into the event leading the pack with only 4.75 faults. However, two knockdowns on the middle line dropped the pair into second, with a total 12.75 faults. Minikus and Oh Star have 12.25.

“Both of us were a little rusty,” Kraut, 34, said. “I just misrode the middle after the water. I’m hoping today will be my dropped score and that will be that.”

The riders carried into competition the faults earned in the first phase of the trials in Gladstone, N.J., in June.