United States Eventing Association

A little less than half of the Adequan USEA Gold Cup CIC3* jumped clear over Marc Donovan’s show jump course today at Richland Park H.T., and the top four riders kept all the rails in the cup to maintain their placings. While the course seemed deceptively simply with related lines just snaking back and forth across the field, the terrain and distances kept things interesting. Donovan truly does try to set the riders up for success, and Emily Beshear said that the footing felt great and the horses were jumping well out of the grass.

Ballynoe Castle RM has pulled one rail in the last two years, and Carl and Cassandra Segal’s 15-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding kept up his impressive record today with another clear show jump round.

“As Carl [Segal, Ballynoe Castle RM’s owner] said he really seems to like grass even more than footing,” said Davidson. “He wants to know where his feet are all the time, and he jumped spectacular today. I was very, very proud of him as I always am, but he was particularly good today.”

On the heels of the veteran partner are two up-and-coming pairs, Davidson with his new horse, Carlevo, an 8-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned by the Carlevo Syndicate, LLC, and Emily Beshear with the 9-year-old Trakehner mare, Shame on the Moon, owned by Deep Purple Eventing.

“I was really, really excited with [Carlevo],” continued Davidson. “I have really been working hard on the show jumping with him. Funny enough when I got him his dressage was okay, his cross-country was okay, but his show jumping was fantastic. Since I have gotten him the dressage has been fantastic, the cross-country has been pretty good and the show jumping has been disastrous. I was thinking oh my god what I am doing wrong? But it just takes a little while. He jumped, really really well today. I am excited because he definitely has three good phases in him.”

Beshear and Shame on the Moon are running their final prep before heading over to England for the Blenheim CCI3* next month and are on track with a clean show jumping round.

“Today was a little more exciting then I intended it to be, but Richland seems to be one of her favorite venues to show jump in,” said Beshear. “We were clear here last year in the three-star, and we were clear again today wish was based definitely more on luck then skill. She got a bit spooky in a couple of places and rattled a couple of rails, but started and finished really well.”

Cooley Cross Borders Holds The Lead in his First Advanced

Although the show jump course was the exact same as the CIC3* only five of the 25 pairs jumped clear. Cooley Cross Border successfully jumped around his very first Advanced level show jumping and added only one time penalty to his overnight score. Kim Severson and the Cross Syndicate’s 8-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding (Diamond Roller x Whos Diaz) will head out onto cross-country with just about two points in the lead.

Jessica Phoenix with Bentley’s Best and Lillian Heard with Share Option both jumped clear to move their tie up from fourth to second. Buck Davidson with Park Trader climbed the leaderboard from eighth to fourth with their clean round despite Davidson taking a hard fall with his CCI2* horse on cross-country just a few minutes before climbing on Parker. Hallie Coon and Celien were the only other pair to leave all the rails in their cups, and it rocketed them up from 17th to 8th on the leaderboard.

The cross-country start times have been moved up for tomorrow due to the impending storms coming through the area. The CIC2* will start off the morning at 9:00 AM, the CIC3* at 11:10 and the Advanced rounds out the day at 1:10.

Keep up with all of the live scores here.

About the Adequan USEA Gold Series
Qualifying for the 2015 Adequan USEA Gold Cup began last fall with the Plantation Field CIC3* (PA) and the Woodside CIC3* (CA) and features 11 qualifying competitions throughout the United States at the Advanced Horse Trials and CIC3* levels. The final will take place at the Nutrena USEA American Eventing Championships September 2015 in Tyler, Texas. Riders who complete a qualifier earn the chance to vie for $40,000 in prize money in the Adequan Advanced Division and the title of Adequan USEA Gold Cup Champion.

The 2015 Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series is made possible through the support of its many loyal sponsors: Adequan, Standlee Forage, Nunn Finer, Nutrena, Broadstone Equine Insurance Agency, Point Two, Dubarry, and FITS.