Unlikely US Olympic dressage hero Laura Graves to miss Tokyo Games

Laura Graves, an Olympic bronze medalist and the United States’ top podium contender in dressage for 2020, will miss the Tokyo Games after announcing the retirement of her mount Verdades.

“With the retirement of my longtime partner, Verdades (Diddy), it will no longer be possible for me to pursue a place on the team that will represent the United States in Tokyo,” Graves said in a statement issued on Friday through US Equestrian. “This decision was not taken lightly, but was made in Verdades’ best interests.”

The 32-year-old former bartender and cosmetologist from Vermont and the 18-year-old Dutch Warmblood have been staples on the US team since bursting from obscurity in 2014, when they came in fifth in the Grand Prix freestyle at the world equestrian games and second at the Grand Prix national championship behind three-time Olympian Steffen Peters and Legolas. Results like those propelled the duo from outside the top 700 to 10th in the FEI world rankings in less than 18 months.

The pair earned team gold and individual silver at the 2015 Pan American Games, before anchoring the United States team to bronze at the Rio Olympics, which equalled the nation’s best finish in dressage since 1948, while just missing the podium in the individual event with a fourth-place finish.

“It is with both a heavy heart and a grateful mind that today, I announce the retirement of my great friend, Diddy,” Graves wrote Thursday on Instagram. “I’ve always promised that I would do my best to listen and make the right choice for him when this time came. It became clear in recent weeks that he was not going to be able to return to his usual top form in 2020.”

Graves’ love of horses was kindled when she was a toddler and her parents traded in a washing machine and a tumble-dryer for the two ponies they had been boarding for a family friend. She dreamed of competing in dressage from a young age, but was limited to 4H events and lower-level competitions around New England due to lack of funding.

The family purchased Verdades on a modest budget sight unseen from a sales video when Graves was 15, but the six-month-old foal was bad-tempered and often would refuse to be ridden. Falls were common, including one that left Graves with a broken back.

“We tried, unsuccessfully, to sell him,” she told CNN in 2016. “He was just extremely wild and temperamental, to the point where he was dangerous because he was so explosive. Not ever mean, but not controllable.

“Some days I would say, ‘OK, I just can’t ride him today. He’s not rideable.’ Until he was seven years old I couldn’t get a mounting block close to him, I just had to climb up.

“It was all so honest. You couldn’t be angry with him. But it felt like an awful lot of defeat.”

Graves refused to give up. She abandoned her hairdressing career and relocated to Florida, bringing Diddy through the levels herself, an uncommon practice at the elite level. The pair continued to shine after their Olympic moment, winning double silver at the 2018 World Equestrian Games to become the first American partnership to reach No 1 in the world rankings.

“This horse not only achieved every goal we ever set, but he fulfilled dreams that I never knew I had,” Graves said on Thursday. “Not always the easiest, it was his generous heart and incredible sense of loyalty that made him one of a kind. Every time I sit in his saddle, I continue to feel honored and humble that he allowed me to be his person. We have travelled the world together, many times over and cut our teeth at some the world’s greatest competitions.”

Graves’ departure creates an opening on the three-rider US Olympic team set to be named in the spring. The third-ranked American in the current rankings, excluding Graves, is 61-year-old Shelly Francis, who if chosen would become the oldest US Olympian in any sport outside the art competitions since 1904, according to NBC Sports.