Martin to ride Tsetserleg in Olympics after Luke 140 suffers minor injury
Jun. 22—Boyd Martin will be riding Tsetserleg in the Summer Olympics next month in Tokyo instead of Luke 140.
US Equestrian, which formerly was known as the U.S. Equestrian Federation, announced the change Tuesday.
Martin, who trains at Stable View near Aiken during the winter, is a member of the U.S. Eventing Team.
"The Luke 140 Syndicate's Luke 140, the selected mount for Boyd Martin, will be replaced by Martin's first direct reserve, Tsetserleg, a 14-year-old Trakehner gelding owned by Christine Turner, Thomas Turner and Tommie Turner," according to a US Equestrian news release. "Luke 140 sustained a minor injury during his training preparation and has been withdrawn from consideration for the team, but is expected to make a full recovery."
Luke 140 is a 10-year-old Holsteiner gelding.
"Unfortunately, Luke 140 looks like he has tweaked his leg on his last gallop," Martin wrote on his Facebook page Tuesday. "My gut feeling is that if I push on with him towards the Tokyo Olympics that it could turn into a bad injury. Luke is a young horse and has a huge future ahead of him, and I believe it's better to save him for another day. This is a heartbreaking decision as Luke has been in fantastic form in his training in the buildup towards Tokyo. I am very grateful that I have a tremendous replacement horse in Thomas (Tsetserleg) whom is also in sizzling condition. I would like to thank and tell the group of owners behind Luke how sorry I am."
Martin will be competing for the third time in the Olympics. He also was a member of the U.S. Eventing Team in 2012 in London and 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.
The other members of the U.S. eventing squad for the Olympics in Tokyo are Phillip Dutton, whose mount will be the 13-year-old Zangersheide gelding Z, and Liz Halliday-Sharp, who will ride the 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Deniro Z.
Doug Payne and the 17-year-old Trakehner gelding Vandiver are the traveling reserves.
All the riders and horses have trained and/or competed in Aiken.
Dutton has been an Olympian in eventing six times previously.
In 1996 and 2000, he won a team gold medal while representing Australia.
In 2016, Dutton won an individual bronze medal while riding Mighty Nice and representing this country.
