Twelve fences in Tokyo. Saudi Arabia on zero
Louis Konickx (NED) built the Asian Games team jumping at JRA Equestrian Park on Thursday. The FEI card is public: 12 obstacles and 15 jumping efforts in both rounds. Round one measured 510 metres. Round two stretched to 515 metres.
Last week we had the handbook sketch in Konickx in Tokyo next week. Copy the numbers that actually went in the ring.
Same count, different line
Both rounds used 12 numbered fences and 15 efforts. The extra three efforts came from a double and a triple. Konickx moved them.
Round one put the double at fence eight and a late triple at fence 11. Round two put the double at fence six and the triple at fence nine. Five metres extra on the track. The combinations came earlier.
If you write two Table A team rounds on one UK ground, keep the fence count and the effort count. Do not reprint the first course with a new start. Shift the combination so the second round asks a different question on the same material.
A late triple at 11 sits on the last line, when horses are tired and chefs are counting. A triple at nine in round two, after a double at six, sits in the middle of the course. On a format with no spare score in that round, that is where the class splits. Count how many of your Area teams would still have a discard left at fence nine.
Zero, four, and a clock
Saudi Arabia were the only team to finish both rounds on zero. Ramzy Al Duhami and Untouchable 32 jumped the last clear. That discarded Saad Alajmi's four faults with Davenport and left the defending champions alone on a blank scoresheet.
Abdulrahman Alrajhi with Lorenzo ES and Khaled Almobty with Diana du Plevau Z had already gone clear. The UAE and Japan both finished on four. Silver went on time. The UAE's three counting rounds totalled 218.77 seconds. Japan's were 226.12. Gap: 7.35 seconds. Qatar finished on five, one penalty outside the medals.
Japan had only three combinations, so no discard. Taizo Sugitani, Koki Saito and Eiken Sato all jumped clear in round two and still took bronze on the clock. A three-rider Area team already knows that risk. One rail is a medal swing. Three clears that ride slow can still lose to a faster four-fault total.
Saudi Arabia now have five team titles in six Asian Games: Doha 2006, Guangzhou 2010, Jakarta 2018, Hangzhou 2023, and Tokyo 2026. That is the FEI record. The course fact that matters on a UK night is smaller. A 12-fence, 15-effort team test produced one team on zero, two on four, and a fourth on five. It stacked the medals on a discard and a stopwatch. It did not empty the class.
Individuals from Saturday
Team day is done. The programme splits the individuals. First rounds are Saturday 3 October. Finals and both individual titles are Sunday 4 October.
For the first time at an Asian Games there are two individual competitions. Group A is 1.45 m then 1.50 m. Group B is 1.55 m. An athlete may ride only one. Konickx has to produce those tracks on the same Tokyo ground after Thursday's 12-fence team set.
If you have a mixed Area championship this winter, write the team height the whole squad can jump, then a higher individual with a published qualifier. Put both tracks on one plan so the collecting ring still works. See numbering without wrecking the collecting ring.
Open the designer. Set 12 fences and 15 efforts. Walk the double-then-triple move from eight and eleven to six and nine, then watch Saturday's first individual round with that plan in your hand.
