U.S. Young Rider Success Continues at CSIOJY Bonheiden

Bonheiden, Belgium – The U.S. Young Rider Show Jumping Team was second Saturday in the Nations Cup at CSIOJY Bonheiden – the first Young Rider Nations Cup of the USEF European Young Rider Tour.

In the first round, Catherine Pasmore was clear on My Boy, Richard Neal on Transmission had 14 faults, Jessica Springsteen had a clear round on Vornado Van Den Hoendrik and Reed Kessler on Onisha ended the round with 13 faults. The foursome was tied for third after the first round.

In the second round, the U.S. riders fought back to second place with an improved overall effort. Pasmore, Neal, and Kessler each had 4 faults, while Springsteen had a clear round. The U.S. Young Riders finished on a total of 21 faults behind Great Britain, who ended on 13.

Katie Prudent served as the Chef d’Equipe.

The success continued on Sunday in the Young Rider Grand Prix. Forty-six riders took to the 1.40m track and all five of the U.S. riders finished in the top 10.  The demanding course took some jumping and Pasmore led the way on Van David for the U.S. finishing second behind Sjaak Sleiderink from Holland on BMC Laksha de Breve. Sleiderink had the only clear jump-off round. Pasmore was the fastest of the four-faulters.

Springsteen was sixth on Cincinnati La Silla, Neal finished eighth on Transmission, Kessler and Ligist were ninth and Karen Polle rounded out the top 10 on What Ever.

The Juniors went really well to complete the U.S. effort; Victoria Birdsall cruised to second place on Little Lady d’Elle in the Junior Grand Prix (1.35m) behind Beau Vandousselaere on Cacharel vd Slaring from Belgium.

There were five clears out of the 25 starters and Birdsall’s jump-off effort was one of just two clears over the short course. Meg O’Mara finished eighth on Sinatra IV with the fastest four-fault round.

“It was really a delight to be the Chef d’Equipe,” said Prudent. “I felt like I could step in and do little bit of coaching which was great, that is what I like to do and they were really receptive and everyone rode great. It was great to have Laura Kraut and Anne Kursinski here helping too, it was a big team effort. We all got along great – it was really just a huge team effort. There was a lot of camaraderie between the kids which is nice.”

The European Young Rider Tour heads to Reims, France, for the next week of competition May 26-29.

Information is available here: http://www.jumping-bonheiden.be/p1_46-6-csi-2stars.aspx.

Read Catherine Pasmore’s blog here: http://www.catherineusa2011.blogspot.com/.

Leave a Reply