July 31, Lexington, Ky.

The Adequan/FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championships concluded today with show jumping for the eventing competitions. The CCI** show jumping track proved tricky for some riders. Only seven riders out of 17 jumped clear rounds.

• The Area III young rider team triumphed in the CCI**, finishing with 168.6 penalties. Emily Renfroe on Walk The Line, Libby Head on Sir Rockstar, Sarah Kamensky on Urlanmore Beauty and Devon Brown on Dynamic Image made up a strong foursome, only adding 8 show jumping penalties and a handful of cross-country time faults between all the riders over the weekend.

• Brown, 19, and Dynamic Image proved untouchable throughout the weekend and are heading home with the individual gold medal in the CCI**. The pair from Alpharetta, Ga., put in a flawless cross-country and show jumping round to finish on their dressage score of 50.5. “It’s just unreal,” said Brown. “I came here hoping for a good run in all three phases and just wanting to give my horse a good, confidence-boosting run. I was a little worried because we haven’t done much all spring. He went above and beyond and tried his heart out, and I was really happy with him.” 

• The individual standings shifted around quite a bit. Joelle Baskerville and Malibu, second before show jumping, dropped down to sixth after pulling two rails. Ever So Lucky and Kendyl Tracy also had two rails to fall from third to eighth.

• But the tough course also allowed some to move up. Jacob Fletcher, a member of the silver medal-winning Area V and IX team, rode Falcon Splash to an individual silver-medal finish with only 57.2 penalties. Double clear in both cross-country and show jumping, the pair jumped up seven placings after dressage to earn the second spot on the podium. “My goal was to make time cross-country and jump clean cross-country,” said Fletcher. “To go from ninth to second, I don’t think anyone can forsee that in such a big competition with all these really good riders in it.” 

• Fletcher also admitted he had a rather simple strategy for the difficult course. “My horse has a really short stride, so pretty much my plan is: kick,” he said. “Look for my stride, hope it’s a going one and kick. And then if it’s a shorter one, half-halt and then kick.”

• Sarah Kamensky, Area III, and Urlanmore Beauty earned the bronze medal in the CH-Y**. The pair sat in third after dressage, and while 4.8 time penalties on David O’Connor’s cross-country course bumped them back to ninth, their double-clear show jumping round was enough to regain their original third-placed standing.

• The team from Area V and IX (Fletcher on Falcon Splash, Emma Kate Fisher on Carlingford’s Forever, Tracy on Ever So Lucky and Rowdie Adams, 15, on No Money Down) fell from gold to silver after three dropped rails on show jumping day. “You dream of coming to Young Riders when you’re younger, and when you finally get here, it’s surreal,” said Fisher.

• The combined team from Canada (Baskerville on Malibu, William Dow on Midleton, Melissa Boutin on Siamese Kat and Christian Bennett on Rolex) came from all over the country and didn’t travel to NAJYRC together. “It’s a little different with us being from such a wide area. Most of us hadn’t met each other before we got there. But we all became friends really quickly.”

CCI*

• Area V ruled the day in the CCI*, finishing with a combined score of 184.4 penalties. Team members In It To Win It and Avery Klunick, Ballywhatnot and Victoria New, In Any Event and Alexa Ehlers, and Sundance Bay and Alyssa Phillips made their long trip worthwhile. “It’s so surreal right now,” said Phillips, 14, who also won the individual gold. “It hasn’t sunk in. The [show jumping] course rode nicely, and the striding was good for my horse because he’s a smaller horse. He pulled it off really well.”

• Clear rounds did not come easily in the CCI* show jumping. Out of 21 starters, only four jumped faultlessly. Victoria New, in third before show jumping, took a fall from Bally Whatnot at the second-to-last fence on course after he stopped abruptly. Last night’s leaders, Evil Munchkin and Sable Giesler, pulled one rail to finish second. “I thought the course rode really nicely,” said Giesler. “We had a rough warm-up; I just wasn’t riding the way I should have been. But he went really nicely in there. We dropped one rail, but he was really good.”

• NAJYRC was the last event for Phillips’ 19-year-old partner Sundance Bay. The horse has taken several riders up the ranks and will now be retired. Phillips started riding him at beginner novice three years ago. “When I got my dressage score, I was crying tears of joy,” said Phillips, of Fort Worth, Texas. “And I was crying all day today. He is one of a kind. At 19, you wouldn’t think he would still be going. He’s done so much for me.”

• The team from Area VI (Piper Leddick on Emmie Lou, Madeline Sexton on NVR Peter The Great, Zachary Brandt on Cavallino Cocktail and Kaitlin Veltkamp on Flashpoint D) pulled off the team silver with 205.2 penalties. “The course was fantastic,” said Veltkamp. “I have a great horse. He was more game to the fences than I expected today, but we handled it really well. It’s unbelievable to be sitting here, wearing this silver medal.”

• Abbey Rhode and Brook Pickering, a member of the third-placed Ontario team, enjoyed a clear round, moving them up from fourth to third for the bronze medal. Giesler was also on her team, as were Haley Armstrong-Laframboise on Ichabod and April Simmonds on Sunday Best.  

Full eventing results available on the NAJYRC site.

Read our cross-country, individual dressage, dressage freestyle, individual show jumping and team show jumping coverage.