Chapter 313 Happier than the champion

  The second day’s competition may be due to the outdoors, the crowd can move freely, and it is more lively than the first day. Spectators arrived early, and before the competition started, the contestants were using the venue for training. However, according to the regulations of the competition, only riders can experience the arena, and horse racing cannot be tested.

  You can’t ride a horse into the arena to experience, but the rider can go in and take a note of the route and the distance between obstacles, and then decide how many steps to let the horse walk during the competition according to the actual situation. It doesn't matter if you walk more or less, it must be just right, and the route must be correct.

  The size of the obstacle course is not very large. It tests the reactions of horses and riders. Therefore, riders are required to follow the route on the field. If they cannot remember the order of the route, they will be disqualified. It is not difficult to memorize the route, there are number marks next to the obstacles, so be careful not to go wrong.

An Feng also accompanied Joanna to look at the field. The specifications are very standard. The 1.3-meter hurdles have a total length of about 650 meters. There are 12 hurdles in total, one of which is a double-jump hurdle and one triple-jump hurdle, which is the standard hurdle. 12 columns and 15 jumps. The whole process can take no more than 70 seconds, and one point will be penalized for exceeding 4 seconds.

  In addition, four points will be penalized for encountering obstacles, four points for the first fear of jumping, four points for fear of jumping for the second time, elimination for falling horses, elimination for changing routes... The difficulty of the competition is set according to the international one-star rating. Joanna knows the rules by heart, and is now memorizing the route and planning the strategy.

   After observation, they return to the competition preparation area.

  The fans of Joanna and Bazel gathered here. Bazel was the first to come back. After watching the game a few times, he left confidently. After Joanna came back, others cheered and encouraged her.

   When the staff came and prepared to clear the venue, the fan group left. An Feng took Joanna's hand and said, "I look forward to your wonderful performance!"

   "I will!" Joanna nodded.

  An Feng lowered his head and kissed her on the cheek, encouraging him, "Come on!"

   Farewell to Joanna for a while, they returned to the audience area and sat down. The obstacle course is held in the center of the racecourse. It was originally a polo field, but props were temporarily added as an obstacle course. In the audience area around the game, there are chairs and some small tables, all for VIP audiences.

  Other spectators find their own places and occupy the commanding heights to watch the game.

  The camera crew and TV station also arrived on time, ready to record the exciting competition. Yesterday’s dressage competition has been featured on the local news, and it has also been reported on the Internet, and has received a lot of praise. When it was Sunday today, more spectators came, and those who sold drinks and snacks on the spot made a lot of money.

  After An Feng took his seat, the game was ready to start.

  Each player has only one chance to play, and the winner is determined by the player with the lowest penalty points. The best score is zero points.

  The first contestant appears on the stage. After the referee rings the competition bell, he has 40 seconds to prepare to start the race. The timing starts when the horse passes the marking point and ends at the finishing point. The horses under the first runner were active and soon passed the timing point to start the race.

In the face of twelve obstacles and twists and turns, the calculation of footsteps and speed is particularly important. The first player performed very well at the beginning. The 1.3-meter obstacle course is not too difficult. The Olympic Games use 1.6 meters, but the course is very difficult. The key point is that if you are not sure, you will lose the best take-off time.

  The first contestant encountered such a problem. The horse raced too fast, turned a sharp turn on the field, and came to the sixth obstacle too early, causing the jump to be late, and the horse's hind legs hit the barrier! But the rider finished the race calmly, with a total penalty of four points, which is a good result.

   Obstacle races also test the tacit understanding between man and horse, which requires a clear mind.

  The second player came on the stage and also jumped well, but made a mistake of jumping too early: when passing a water barrier, jumping too early caused the horse’s hoof to step into the water, and the penalty was four points. Later, in the triple jump obstacle, the last obstacle bar is encountered, and another four points are penalized. The distance is not good enough.

  It is not appropriate to take off whether it is too late or too early. In the top competitions, there are also those who can accurately measure the pace of the horses to single digits.

  The third player continued to perform.

  The visual effect of the jumping competition is more intense than the gentle dressage, and the rhythm is fast. The audience can feel the scene of the horses galloping past, the dust flying, the horses jumping high, and landing heavily. Every game has the ability to keep the audience staring and stopping talking.

Equestrian, as one of the few events that allow men and women to compete on the same stage, is very popular. In addition to Joanna, who has attracted much attention, there are five women participating in this competition, all of whom use their own horses. Women in dressage are highly talented , the obstacle course is also good enough.

   On the field, there was a scene where women did not give in to men. Several ladies finished the game gracefully. Before Joanna came on the stage, a professional player won the first zero penalty points in the game with outstanding performance, and won the best result so far. While bringing excitement, it also brought pressure.

After Joanna appeared on the stage, the fan club became active, and An Feng also encouraged her in her heart. She refused to admit defeat, and naturally hoped that her performance could attract attention. It is already good, but she pursues better... Angelina's performance in the obstacle course Showing very well, this is an opportunity!

Joanna was as calm as ever. After the referee rang the bell, she did not rush to urge Angelina to start. Instead, she walked a certain distance in small steps, her eyes swept over the obstacle course, and she felt a little leisurely. Of course, she was right here. But at home, the advantage is full.

After she passed the timing point, Angelina changed to a fast walk. When the first obstacle appeared, she jumped ahead of the other horses, but because of her fast enough speed, the jump covered a long distance. After landing easily, the dust Flying sharp turn, change running before the second obstacle.

  Joanna walked very fast.

Many spectators felt that she was taking risks. Referring to the previous competitions, when crossing this obstacle, she needed to pull the rein to slow down and then take off. Joanna was speeding up to catch up with the time, but it was easy to make mistakes—the second Road obstacles are still crossed quickly.

   The speed is fast, Angelina jumps high, so there is no obstacle.

   "God bless!" An Feng said silently.

  The fan group also breathed a sigh of relief. It seems that Joanna has her own confidence. She turned the five steps of others into her own four steps, and passed in a more time-saving way. The next few double-crossbar obstacles were relatively smooth. The horse races back and forth on the field once, and double jumps through double obstacles.

  Turn around and come back to cross the water barrier. The direction in which the horse’s front hooves hit the ground determines the horse’s turn. In this regard, Joanna’s instructions to the horse are very accurate. This is an area with a high incidence of penalty points. If it is too early or too late, or if the pace is wrongly estimated, it will make a mistake.

Joanna pulled the rein uncharacteristically this time, Angelina's head was lifted up, her speed slowed down, she jumped over the first hurdle, jumped over the second hurdle in three steps, and jumped over the third hurdle in three steps... She was safe and sound ! Follow the U-turn and head back to the tenth double-bar barrier, where penalties are frequent, where the horses slow down after the triple jump, and the cunning course planner deliberately made the high-speed barrier.

   Passing the high-speed barrier at a slow speed is a test of skill.

  This time, Joanna had to calculate her steps accurately. Angelina leaped her body at the designated take-off point, and passed with her hind legs slightly away from the second crossbar. It would be beneficial for a short horse to pass this obstacle, but if it was a long-legged Ouba, he might run into it a little bit.

  After she passed the barrier, everyone stood up, and cheers came to the top of their throats.

  The eleventh and twelfth are just soy sauce. The designer gave the rider a breather, and what he faced was a very common single-horizontal obstacle, but Ma Daha also encountered it. An Feng stared at the last moment without blinking. Angelina successfully jumped over the twelfth barrier and crossed the finishing point. It took a total of 58 seconds.

  Currently she is the first, with zero penalty points and the shortest time.

   "Good job!" An Feng applauded, and the audience also burst into cheers. Joanna won zero penalty points and the shortest time with a very risky strategy.

   Holding the reins, she waved one hand toward them, a smile on her face.

The exciting competitions in the future will continue. Although the riders have reached the professional level, the obstacle course is also designed according to the level, and the difficulty is slightly higher. There are various mistakes. A situation where a horse fears jumping during a triple jump.

  A horse is more solid than a human. If it thinks it can’t do it, it just can’t do it, and it won’t push through.

  The rider who was afraid of jumping shook his head and rearranged the order of the next race. He still had another chance. Next came Bazel and his black steed. This tall horse is very handsome and worth millions. According to his son Charlie, he usually takes care of it himself whenever he has time.

   Bazel brought the horse to the arena, presumably also to revive his glory. He adopted the same strategy as Joanna and passed quickly! Flying hooves, turf splashing, the overall rhythm is very fast, and the mastery of the pace is at a superb level. The first few jumps are very standard.

The obstacles at the back were also passed by stepping on the rhythm. In the end, there were no penalty points. He was three seconds faster than Joanna and achieved the best result in the audience. Everyone applauded. The horse racing is a one-star standard, but Bazel’s skills are more than that. One star, it can be seen from his judgment and technique alone.

Until all the contestants finished the competition, the time was close to noon, and the obstacle course was not time-consuming, so the organizer changed the award ceremony scheduled for the afternoon to now. In the obstacle course, Joanna ranked third, and the second was a young riders, the first is Bazel.

In the final comprehensive score, since there is no cross-country score reference, the referee team switched to the form of the same score for obstacle course and dressage, and competed for the total score with a more scientific algorithm. In the end, Joanna took the fifth place with total score , while Bazel became second.

Those who won the rankings were all very happy, but the most excited thing at the scene was the fans of the two racers. They cheered, brought champagne, shook the bottles and sprayed each other to celebrate. The camera recorded the carnival scene of men and women. The changed cheers are indeed very joyful.

   Then Bazel came to the stage to accept the award. The aura of the runner-up was still very strong, and many photos were taken. Of course, Joanna is indispensable. The organizer is very interesting. There are bonuses for the seventh place, and they can all come forward to accept awards and show their faces. There are quite a lot of bonuses, a total of 100,000 US dollars.

Joanna made her debut on the stage, but An Feng and her friends and relatives in the audience had already had a quarrel, cheering and cheering, ten times happier than the team that won the championship. If you don't know the situation, you really think they won the championship . Even the players who did not get a good ranking were also infected.

  (end of this chapter)