Elkton, MD – Clear jumping and quick trips across the country were the name of the game Saturday at the 2011 Dansko Fair Hill International. The rain that plagued the first two days of competition was nowhere in sight as the sun shone over Derek di Grazia’s tracks. Heavy going resulted in time faults for many of the competitors and a shake-up on the leaderboard in both divisions. Jan Byyny and Kylie Lyman produced two of the quickest rounds of the day in the CCI3* and CCI2* to lead their respective divisions and USEF National Eventing Championships.
All will be to play for in Sunday’s show jumping as one rail separates the top four in the CCI3*. In the CCI2* nine points divide first from tenth.
Byyny (Purceville, VA) rose from fifth place after the dressage to lead the CCI3* on her own Inmidair with a score of 51.2. The 12-year-old New Zealand Thoroughbred gelding rocketed around the 10:08-minute course, adding just 4.4 penalties.
Christopher Burton on Holstein Park Leilani in the lead into Jumping at HSBC FEI Classics in Pau. Image: Kit Houghton/FEI
Lausanne (SUI),15 October 2011 – Christopher Burton (AUS) produced a great Cross Country performance on Holstein Park Leilani to keep his Dressage lead at Les Etoiles de Pau (FRA), final leg of the HSBC FEI Classics 2011, but he has no margin for error in tomorrow’s Jumping phase as one fence covers the top eight riders and a nail-biting finale is guaranteed for tomorrow.
William Fox-Pitt (GBR) was masterful in steering all three of his horses around inside the optimum time to finish in the top 10, with the two nine-year-olds, Oslo and Lionheart, second and sixth, and Macchiato ninth.
Clayton Fredericks (AUS), the joint Dressage leader, accrued 1.2 time penalties on Bendigo, the horse competing in his first CCI4*, to drop to third. The Ground Jury took 0.8 penalties off his original score after he protested that a steward raking the ground had forced him to take avoiding action.
Lexington, KY – Soggy footing coupled with Sue Benson’s demanding cross country track saw a massive shake-up of the leaderboard at the 2011 Boekelo CCI3*. Boyd Martin led the charge of the Land Rover U.S. Eventing piloting two horses around the course with no jumping faults.
Martin (West Grove, PA) lies 23rd and 32nd with Otis Barbotiere and Remington XXV, respectively, heading into the show jumping. The Otis Barbotiere Syndicate’s gelding finished just over the optimum time, collecting 4.4 time faults, and now stands on a score of 60. Remington XXV, owned by Henley House Stables, found the heavy going challenging adding 16 time faults and has a two-day score of 61.8. Despite the less than ideal conditions, Martin was very pleased with the effort and class his horses displayed today.
“Remington found the going tough but he just kept going and going. Otis is definitely proving he is a horse for the future. He jumped around pretty well today,” Martin said. “Today was very influential to the competition. It was very muddy and wet; the footing deteriorated as the day went on.”
New Zealand’s Mark Todd leads the competition with NZB Campino on a score of 41.4.
Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister. Photo: www. stockimageservices. com
After a hugely successful early fall campaign for the Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team, six riders will receive Land Rover Performance Grants based on their performance at the 2011 Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials or the 2011 Fidelity Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials.
2011 Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (CCI4*) – Northampton, UK Boyd Martin led the American effort with the Neville Bardos Syndicate’s Neville Bardos at the Burghley CCI4*. The pair finished seventh, earning a $10,000 Land Rover Performance Grant in addition to the $15,000 base grant which they received prior to their trip to the UK as part of the Land Rover Competition and Training Grant initiative. Their $10,000 Land Rover Performance Grant was based on their top 10% finish at a CCI4*.
“It was fantastic gesture for Land Rover to reward Neville with the $10,000 bonus thanks to his top finish at Burghley,” said Martin. “A huge international trip like this amounts to thousands of dollars in expenses, and this performance grant will be going directly toward offsetting a lot of the costs for Neville’s trip to England. Land Rover has absolutely made my dream of competing at Burghley a reality with their grants.”
Sinead Halpin rode Manoir de Carneville to a 15th place finish at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials and will receive a $5,000 Land Rover Performance Grant for their top 20% finish at a CCI4*. Halpin’s trip to her first European CCI4* was funded by the USET Foundation’s Jacqueline Mars Grant.
2011 Fidelity Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials (CCI3*) – Woodstock, UK Tiana Coudray jumped up to a second place finish with Ringwood Magister at the Blenheim CCI3*, marking a return to form for the California combination. They will receive a $10,000 Land Rover Performance Grant based on their top 10% finish. Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen finished fifth and Will Faudree and Pawlow were eighth, which also marked a top 10% finish for both combinations. They will also receive an additional $10,000. Both Faudree and Montgomery received Land Rover Competition and Training Grants to fund their trip, as did Phillip Dutton, who finished 12th on Mighty Nice. Dutton and Mighty Nice finished in the top 20% at Mighty Nice’s first CCI3*, meaning that they receive a $5,000 Land Rover Performance Grant.
Boyd Martin and Neville Bardos. Photos: www. stockimageservices. com.
Lexington, KY – The Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team have two cross-country superstars in their midst as both Boyd Martin on Neville Bardos, and Sinead Halpin on Manoir de Carneville looked poised and confident as they galloped through Burghley Park. These pairs represented an inspiring future American Eventing over a course that was deemed a ‘throwback’ as the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2011.
Clear rounds were difficult to come by over Capt. Mark Phillips boldly designed, old-fashioned feeling track. But Martin and Neville dominated their first Burghley – flying home to an emotional 11th place after the first two phases. They backed up their dressage score of 49.7 with a flawless performance in Neville’s favorite phase. They were one of nine double-clear rounds of the day.
“Neville gave me a great round cross country,” said Martin (Cochranville, PA). “He was strong and bold throughout the course which is wonderful at this sort of event… he loves charging at all the big fences. He pulled up with plenty of energy.”
The fact 12-year-old Neville Bardos (owned by the Neville Bardos Syndicate) is alive is incredible, and the fact the Australian Thoroughbred just cruised around the biggest cross-country track in the world is not far short of a miracle.
Lausanne (SUI), 3 September 2011 – William Fox-Pitt (GBR) has the slimmest of leads to win a record sixth Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (GBR), second-last leg of the HSBC FEI Classics, after a thrilling day’s cross-country.
The day was a spectacle of bold riding and flying horses, and Fox-Pitt gave an early masterclass on the New Zealand former racehorse Parkland Hawk, winner of the Blenheim CCI3* last year but short on mileage this year.
Fox-Pitt, who said Parklane Hawk felt as if he had “grown wings” when launching into space off the precipitous drop at the Leaf Pit (fence 4), commented: “It’s a good course for a genuine horse. It was massive all the way, but you never expect a holiday at Burghley.”
Fox-Pitt, who warns that Jumping is Parklane Hawk’s weakest phase, cannot afford an error in tomorrow’s Jumping phase, for the cost of a single rail covers the first four horses after Cross-Country.
“I’m going to enjoy the moment because anything could happen tomorrow,” he said.
New Zealanders Andrew Nicholson, on Avebury, and last year’s winner Caroline Powell on the foot-perfect veteran Lenamore are second and third, ahead of HSBC FEI Classics leader Mary King on her home-bred mare Kings Temptress.
Richland, MI – Hannah Sue Burnett and Harbour Pilot never flinched in the face of the pressure of leading the Mandatory Outing for the 2011 Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team at the Richland Park CIC and Horse Trials. They added nothing to their dressage score on the cross country and successfully defended their lead.
“It was one of my best rounds ever, on any horse,” said Burnett. “I built on my speed as I went, I didn’t have the intention to run him really hard but it was at intermediate speed. I just picked up a good rhythm at the first fence and I built on it. All of the combinations rode like gymnastics. I picked up the speed at the last two fences.”
Harbour Pilot, an 8-year-old Irish Sport Horse and homebred of Jacqueline Mars, continues to live up to the expectation of all that have been involved in his career. Part of David and Karen O’Connor’s program since he was a born, he has been ridden by Burnett since last spring. Burnett serves as an assistant trainer in their program, and she rode Harbour Pilot to a second-place finish in the CCI2* at the Bromont CCI in June. Their performance earned them one of 15 spots on the USEF Short List for the Land Rover Eventing Team for the 2011 Pan American Games.
“He’s really grown up,” said Burnett. “After Bromont, he thought he was Superman. This is actually his first run since Bromont. He’s so good on the cross country so he doesn’t have to run a lot. I am so happy for Ms. Mars and the O’Connors as they produced him, it is nice that they can produce something of his quality.”
Ingrid Klimke and FRH Butts Abraxxas jump out of the HSBC water complex on their way to a superb clear that put them on top in the individual standings and Germany at the head of the teams after the Cross Country. Photo: Kate Houghton/FEI.
Lausanne (SUI), 27 August 2011 – An inspired German team rode like true champions across country at a rain-soaked HSBC FEI European Eventing Championships at Luhmühlen (GER) today and, with a massive 42.3-penalty lead over Great Britain, they now have the treasured gold medal well in their sights.
France have risen to bronze medal position, thanks to superb rounds by Donatien Schauly and Nicolas Touzaint, and have overtaken the Swedes, whose Sara Algotsson-Ostholt on the lovely grey mare Wega is in individual bronze position after a faultless performance.
German team members Ingrid Klimke, Michael Jung and Sandra Auffarth flew through the testing conditions and all finished on their Dressage scores to lie in individual first, second and fourth positions.
The top three teams each had a rider eliminated, and the Germans were under immediate pressure when their pathfinder Andreas Dibowski suffered a surprise fall at the big spread at fence 22.
“A bit of pressure makes you stronger, and the crowd was a fantastic help,” said Klimke. “It has been a dream of a day. My horse kept his rhythm all the time. It was really enjoyable.”
Sandra Auffarth (GER), who has been the discovery of the championships, looked foot-perfect on her athletic Opgun Louvo, and world champion Michael Jung (GER), the last rider on course, had perhaps the class round of the day. He rides La Biosthetique Sam with the lightest of touches, and said that his practising at water jumps had paid off handsomely.
Horseback riding tends to have a somewhat sissified reputation — perfectly coiffed men and women in top hats and tails perched prettily on top of overpriced hayburners. That is so not the case with the Olympic sport of eventing, an equestrian triathlon that is a test of skill, strength, partnership, and just plain guts — definitely not your average horse show. These riders have grit, their horses have more heart than a Disney movie, and more than 500 of them from every corner of the country will descend on Bouckaert Farm at Chattahoochee Hills in Fairburn, September 8-11, for the Nutrena USEA American Eventing Championships (AEC), presented by Bit of Britain, which is slated to rank as one of the biggest competition in the sport’s nearly 100-year U.S. history.
Eventing has its roots in the cavalry, so we’re talking white knuckle, take-your-breath-away feats of athleticism on the part of both horses and riders, who participate in three different phases over several days. Unlike almost all other sports, men and women compete on equal terms, in the same divisions. The horse is the equalizing factor, and these horses are unlike any you will see in competition. At the top levels during the sport’s signature phase of cross-country, expect to see them leap off banks almost as high as a refrigerator, jump some fences practically as narrow as a doorway, and bound across ditches as wide as your average car. If you were to compare them to other athletes, think extreme – snow boarders or BMX riders. Think Olympic Games meets X Games.
At the Nutrena AEC, top horses and riders at every level, from juniors and adult amateurs to Olympic veterans, will battle for more than $70,000 in prize money and nearly $100,000 in prizes — not to mention bragging rights, with close to a dozen past Olympic, World and Pan American medalists on hand.
Lexington, KY – After dressage in the CCI**, Area III’s Devon Brown and Dynamic Image sat atop the leaderboard – and Brown refused to relinquish her lead Saturday at the USEA North American Junior and Young Rider Eventing Championship at the 2011 Adequan/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North.
Brown piloted Donna Miller’s flashy grey Irish Sport Horse gelding through the cross-country course to a fault-free round with a time of 8:31, well within the time allowed. The clean trip around David O’Connor’s cross-country course left the pair with a two-day score of 50.5.
“The course was challenging,” Brown said. “The combinations kept at it. They didn’t stop.”
Brown said she was most concerned about the double corners and the angled huts, but she had no problems navigating the challenges.
Although some riders had challenges with slippery footing in some parts of the course, Brown didn’t think it impacted her ride.
“The footing was good,” she said. “The only time he slipped was in warm up. On course, it was little hard, but if you galloped in arrogated places it was good.”
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Lexington, KY – Soggy footing coupled with Sue Benson’s demanding cross country track saw a massive shake-up of the leaderboard at the 2011 Boekelo CCI3*. Boyd Martin led the charge of the Land Rover U.S. Eventing piloting two horses around the course with no jumping faults.
