Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024

Show Jumping Decisive As American Eventing Championships Climax

The final day's show jumping phase at the American Eventing Championships was decisive as the leaders of two of the three preliminary division lowered rails on the course set by Richard Jeffery, the noted show jumping course designer.

Alison Kelly-Coates, the overnight leader of the open preliminary on Irish Cavalier, lowered one rail to fall to third, behind Doug Payne, on Cornerman, and Nate Chambers, on Rolling Stone II, who put the pressure on her with perfect rounds.
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The final day’s show jumping phase at the American Eventing Championships was decisive as the leaders of two of the three preliminary division lowered rails on the course set by Richard Jeffery, the noted show jumping course designer.

Alison Kelly-Coates, the overnight leader of the open preliminary on Irish Cavalier, lowered one rail to fall to third, behind Doug Payne, on Cornerman, and Nate Chambers, on Rolling Stone II, who put the pressure on her with perfect rounds.

Payne, 23, of Califon, N.J., had been kicking himself for finishing cross-country 3 seconds late on Saturday, mostly because Cornerman, 8, was too excited to go straight into the starting box. “This weekend he was feeling kind of nutty, and then I had to keep steadying him on course, which wasted more time,” said Payne. The 1.2 time faults left him second on Saturday, just .8 ahead of Chambers.

Chambers, 18, and Rolling Stone II, or “Rolex,” were trying to defend their 2004 AEC preliminary title, and they had to come from behind. Chambers, of Middleburg, Va., said the dressage test “wasn’t up to his usual standard, but I was a little bit nervous going into it.”

In the junior/young rider division, Caroline Teich and Show Of Heart (the former advanced mount for Phillip Dutton and Adrienne Iorio-Borden) lost their narrow lead by lowering two rails. But Diana Brown, of Columbia, S.C., and One 2 One turned in a smooth and faultless round to move up from second. Brown just moved to South Carolina from Dallas, Texas, to study at the University of South Carolina. She chose the school partially to train with advanced rider Tiffani Loudoun-Meetze. The AEC was Brown’s first start on One 2 One since placing in the CCI* championship at the North American Young Riders Championships in July. Chambers and Rolex won that title.

Mark Weissbecker and Birch Hill Farm’s Top Gallant (31.5) won the preliminary horse championship just a hair in front of Michael Pollard and Voltaire (31.8). The two had plenty of room for error after Karen O’Connor on Mr. Ripley dropped two rails and traded places with Pollard to finish third (39.5). “He was a racehorse until he was 8 and had a little difficulty shifting gears to understand the element of surprise, especially in cross-country,” said Weissbecker of the 10-year-old, U.S.-bred Thoroughbred gelding.

Intermediate champion Jessica Kiener of Pottersville, N.J., rode Carl and Cassie Segal’s My Boy Bobby to victory, despite having one rail down, finishing on 36.9. Bobby Costello was second on Wild Delight (38.7) and Stuart Black third on Fleeceworks Pacific Storm (39.9).

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Last month Kiener completed her first advanced horse trial at Millbrook (N.Y.), and she said that she’d like to do the short-format CCI** at Virginia in November and then move up to advanced next year. She plans to spend the winter working hard with her coach, Buck Davidson.

“My horse was unusually good in the dressage here,” said Kiener, who was second after that phase. “I’ve been working with Betsy Steiner, and he’s more supple and through his back.”

In the advanced championship, Will Faudree, 24, and Antigua had one rail down to finish on 30.30. Nathalie Bouckaert Pollard also had one rail down to finish on 37.7, followed by Karen O’Connor on Upstage, again with one rail down on course. Each rider had a different rail down. Faudree could have afforded one more rail to maintain the lead.

Faudree said that he was impressed with changes at the AEC since last year, but the thing that impressed him most was the maintenance of the grounds at the Carolina Horse Park. “Andrew Ellis and his crew did a great job watering and dragging the warm-up areas and arenas,” he said.

Said Costello, ” They made OK footing into excellent footing.”

Added Faudree about Antigua, “I’m glad that this horse has an opportunity to be in the limelight.” They were alternates for the Athens Olympic Games last year. “He’s often been overshadowed by my own inexperience, but words can’t describe how awesome he is.”

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