By JAKE SEINER AP Sports Writer

Jessica Springsteen had no luck going solo in Tokyo.

Perhaps she’ll do better with a band.

The daughter of famed rocker Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band wife, Patti Scialfa, failed to qualify for the Olympic individual jumping finals at Tokyo’s Equestri-an Park on Tuesday night.

The 29-year-old’s Olympic de-but was off to a strong start on the 14-jump course before her horse got uneasy around the 11th obsta-cle, and the pair earned four penal-ty points for knocking down a rail. That put her on the bubble of the 73-horse field for one of 30 spots in the final. She was formally elimi-nated about an hour after riding.

She’ll ride again Friday night as part of America’s four-rider entry in the jumping team event.

“All in all, I’m thrilled with the round and I’m excited for the rest of the week,” she said.

Springsteen learned to ride on her family’s horse farm in Colts Neck, New Jersey, and she was an alternate for the London Games in 2012 but didn’t participate.

She’s been riding 12-year-old Don Juan van de Donkehove — he answers just fine to Don — for about two years. The duo arrived in Tokyo ranked 14th in the world.

They whirled around a jumping course with a distinctly Japanese feel — obstacles were adorned with life-sized sumo wrestlers, geisha ki-monos, cherry blossoms and even a miniature recreation of a Japanese palace.

In a sport without any house-

hold names, Springsteen has gen-erated some rare buzz from Tokyo. Nearly all the mainstream press coverage for equestrian in the U.S. during these Games has focused on Springsteen. On the ground here, about a half dozen members of the Bruce Springsteen Japan Facebook group gathered outside the locked

stadium last week to offer support. The rider herself has been buff-

ered tightly from the attention. U.S. Equestrian denied requests for 1-on-1 interviews with her, and questions at a news conference Monday were screened by the pub-lic relations staff to block any men-tion of her famous family.

Reporters in the mixed zone Tuesday were warned not to ask about her family. When a journal-ist began to ask about Springsteen’s experiences riding as a child, a U.S. Equestrian staffer grabbed her and ushered her away.

The Boss’s daughter is hardly the first famous offspring to trot an Olympic track — no surprise given the sport’s significant financial bar-riers.

Princess Anne represented Brit-ain in the eventing competition at the 1976 Montreal Games. Her daughter, Zara Tindall, jumped at London in 2012. Georgina Bloomberg, daughter of former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, has also jumped for Team USA but never at the Olym-pics.

This year’s field included anoth-er billionaire relative — Egypt’s Nayer Nassar is the son-in-law of Bill Gates. Nassar ran a clean qual-ifier to earn a spot in Wednesday’s finals.

“I support many athletes in the Tokyo Olympics at the moment,” Gates wrote on Instagram. “But there is no athlete I support more than my son-in-law Nayel Nassar. Good luck Nayel.”

Britain’s Ben Maher had the fast-est time among qualifiers who did not commit any penalties, a sharp showing as he begins his effort to follow countryman Nick Skelton as a gold medalist. Skelton retired after winning the 2016 champion-ship.

Steve Guerdat, the 2012 gold medalist, took on four penalties and was eliminated. Springsteen’s team-mates Kent Farrington and Laura Kraut also failed to make the final.

SUMO SCARE? RIDERS SAY HORSES MIGHT BE SPOOKED BY STATUE

OLYMPIC SPOTLIGHT

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4(All times Eastern)

Schedule subject to change and/or blackouts

BASKETBALL4:30 a.m.USA — Women’s Basketball (Quar-terfinal)

8 a.m.USA — Women’s Basketball (Quar-terfinal)

BEACH VOLLEYBALL8 p.m.NBC — Women’s Beach Volleyball (Semifinal)

3:15 a.m. (Thursday)USA — Women’s Beach Volleyball (Semifinal)

CANOEING9:05 p.m.CNBC — Men’s and Women’s Canoe-ing (Finals)

DIVING8 p.m.NBC — Women’s Diving (Platform Semifinal)

9:05 p.m.CNBC — Women’s Diving (Platform Semifinal)

2 a.m. (Thursday)USA — Women’s Diving (Platform Final)

EQUESTRIAN6 a.m.NBCSN — Equestrian (Individual Jumping Final)

FIELD HOCKEY1:30 a.m. (Thursday)CNBC — Men’s Field Hockey (Bronze Medal Game)

GOLF6:30 p.m.GOLF — Women’s Golf (Round 2)

KAYAKING9:05 p.m.CNBC — Men’s and Women’s Kayak-ing (Finals)

SKATEBOARDING8 p.m.CNBC — Men’s Skateboarding (Park Qualifying)

11 p.m.CNBC — Men’s Skateboarding (Park Qualifying Final)

SOCCER4 a.m. (Thursday)USA — Women’s Soccer (Bronze Medal Game)

SWIMMING6:10 a.m.USA — Artistic Swimming (Duet Final)

5:30 p.m.NBCSN — Men’s Marathon Swim-ming (10km Open Water)

TRACK AND FIELD8 p.m.NBC — Men’s and Women’s Track & Field (Day 7)USA — Men’s and Women’s Track & Field (Day 7)

3:30 a.m. (Thursday)NBCSN — Men’s 20km Race Walk

VOLLEYBALL4 a.m.NBCSN — Women’s Volleyball (Quar-terfinal)

8:15 a.m.NBCSN — Women’s Volleyball (Quar-terfinal)

12 a.m. (Thursday)NBC — Men’s Volleyball (Semifinal)

WATER POLO6:50 a.m. (Thursday)USA — Women’s Water Polo (Semi-final) ---

OLYMPICS ON TV

By JAKE SEINER AP Sports Writer

Equestrian jumpers aren’t keen on surpris-es. Neither are the horses, and it takes years of training to keep them from get-

ting spooked.Of course, no horse in Tuesday night’s Olym-

pic jumping qualifier had ever seen anything like obstacle No. 10.

“As you come around, you see a big guy’s (butt),” British rider Harry Charles said.

“There’s a lot to look at,” Ireland’s Cian O’Connor added.

“It is very realistic,” echoed Israel’s Teddy Vlock.

Riders say that a life-sized sumo wrestler posi-tioned next to the 10th obstacle on the 14-jump Olympic course may have distracted several horses in qualifying for the individual jumping fi-nal Tuesday night. A few pairings pulled up short of the barrier, accumulating enough penalty points to prevent entry into Wednesday’s finals.

The statue is positioned to the left of a jump placed in the corner of the arena. Hunched over and seemingly ready to attack, the wrestler is fac-ing away from approaching riders, meaning that when they complete a sharp turn to take on the jump, the first thing horse and human see is the wedgie created by the wrestler’s mawashi.

“I did notice four or five horses really taking a spook to that,” Charles said.

Most of the course’s hurdles are decorated with a distinctly Japanese feel — geisha kimonos, a miniature Japanese palace, taiko drums.

None caught the eye quite like the sumo wres-tler.

Among the horses alarmed by the setup was France’s Penelope Leprevost — a team jump-ing gold medalist in 2016. She wasn’t sure if the wrestler specifically threw off her 12-year-old stallion, Vancouver de Lanlore.

“Maybe,” she said. “We tried to relax our

horses in the turn, and maybe they’re surprised to see a vertical so close. I don’t know.”

Vlock went 34th in the 73-horse field. After seeing others have issues, he and trainer Ireland’s Darragh Kenny — also a competitor in Tues-day’s field — made a point of trotting their hors-es to the 10th jump before beginning their runs so the animals could look it over.

The hope was that familiarity would breed bravery.

“It is very realistic,” Vlock said. “It does look like a person, and that’s a little spooky.”

Vlock and Kenny both cleared the obstacle without issue. Kenny finished second with no penalty points and a time of 82.01, while Vlock fell short due to other issues.

Of course, it’s hard to know what’s in a horse’s

head. Some riders chalked up the troubles to how close the jump was positioned to the turn. Others blamed the stadium’s bright lights that also led to concern at jump No. 1.

Medal hopefuls Scott Brash of Britain and Martin Fuchs of Switzerland believed cherry blossoms positioned on the other side of the jump were the more likely culprit.

Whatever the cause, it’s not surprising to Olympic veterans that there’s drama around the park. The Games have a reputation among rid-ers for flashy course design, including tan odd-ly shaped jump at Rio de Janeiro in 2016 that caused similar consternation.

“To be honest, you expect it in the Olympic Games,” Brash said.

And that’s OK with them.

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)Britain’s Harry Charles, riding Romeo 88, competes during the equestrian jumping individual qualifying at Equestrian Park in Tokyo at the 2020 Summer Olympics on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan.

Jessica Springsteen walks the course ahead of the equestrian jumping individual qualifying.

(AP PhotoCarolyn Kaster)

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)United States’ Jessica Springsteen, riding Don Juan van de Donkhoeve, competes during the equestrian jumping individual qualifying at Equestrian Park in Tokyo.

SPRINGSTEEN MAKES OLYMPIC DEBUT, FALLS SHORT IN

QUALIFIER

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