United States Eventing Association

Overnight torrential rains couldn’t dampen the prospects of the team and individual riders for Area II in the Adequan/FEI NAJYRC CH-J* at the Kentucky Horse Park. Area II managed to extend their lead to 20.7 over the next highest placed team, and they will hold on to their lead going into the final day of the event. By all accounts the competition Technical Delegate, Andy Bowles, the competition officials and the entire support crew did an amazing job planning ahead to re-route the original cross-country course. In total three fences were removed from the CH-J* course and thanks to their efforts the day was a safe one. While two horse and rider combinations parted ways on course, all were reported safe and sound.

Currently sitting in second in the CH-J* Morgan Booth who was the last rider out of the start box today said, “The ground crew was working really hard. I could have used some goggles to keep the mud out of my face.” She later added “There is not much you can do to keep the footing good all day.” “It was mucky, but especially around the fences, the footing was really good and I never felt like he [Twizzel] was having too much trouble.”

The 17-year-old leader over the first two days, Camilla Grover-Dodge riding Remington XXV, added “at the coffin they put a pump in and drained all of the water out, which was really nice because it was kind of like a river before.”

Standing in third place individually after cross-country is 14-year-old Madison Temkin from Petaluma, Calif. riding the 17-year-old Thoroughbred gelding Kingslee. Temkin is the daughter of two well established west coast eventers and is a bit of a phenom. Temkin already counts multiple inclusions on the USEF’s Eventing 18 list on her résumé.

“Yesterday it [the cross-country] looked pretty good. Last night I was lying in bed and I heard the rain start and I was like, oh no! We talked about studs this morning and we looked at other horses’ studs but it actually turned out pretty well. Everyone working on the course and the footing really made it rideable and worked on it all day and really kept our horses safe.”

Much like day one, the buzz from the sidelines was that the riding in the CH-J* was as strong as it has been in years. Many attribute it to the increased difficulty in the requirements for qualification. In previous years riders could obtain qualifying rides at CIC* competitions which meant that the NAJYRC was the first CCI* that some riders had ever tried to tackle. The CIC* standards are less challenging than for CCI* competitions. For 2015 all riders were required to complete a CCI* in order to qualify to compete.

Standing in second place in the team competition after the cross-country phase is an especially strong squad from Area IV. All four pairs (Regatta with Kristine Burgess, Feine Loesung with Cassandra Wallskog, Someday Never Comes with Sam Kelly, and Fernhill Imperial with Makenna Rold) finished with no jumping faults and added only 2.8 points in time penalties added to their team score. Unfortunately, it was the combination of Makenna Rold and Fernhill Imperial that picked up those penalties and thereby bumping them down in the individual competition from their third place overnight standing down to a respectable seventh place individually.

The Area V team had a perfect day and is the only team that is carrying the same score from dressage. Each of the four team riders are within 5.5 points of each other, and even if they only fielded three riders on Sunday for the show jumping they will still hold onto their current place on the podium. Soon to be U.S. Eventing Hall of Fame inductee Mike Huber is in his final year as the Area V Young Riders coach, and he continues to build his record as an NAJYRC coaching legend.

CCYR** Riders all Come Home In Good Shape

Although only three pairs will move on to compete for the ribbons in the final day of competition, all four pairs came home safely in the CCYR** division at the NAJYRC. The leader going into the final day of show jumping is Diane Portwood and Cinerescent from Area III. Portwood felt especially comfortable heading out on cross-country and apparently her team coach did as well. Leslie Law jokingly told her “good luck and don’t fall off” according to Portwood.

Another Area III rider Nicole Doolittle and Tops who took the course slow and steady, adding 20.8 points to their overnight score. When asked if she had planned ahead of time to go slow over the course Doolittle stated that “it was not part of the plan. I had a great first two fences and then on the landing of the third fence I had quite a bit of a stumble, and I almost popped out of the tack but we were able to stay on. After that I got a bit guarded, and I made my turns a little wider and I went a little slower.” Those additional points dropped them into second place. In third place was the pair from Area VIII Paige Pence and Class Action. Unfortunately for Madison Gallien and Beau Voyageur from Area I they missed a jump on course and were technically eliminated.

The final day of the 2015 NAJYRC kicks off with the veterinary inspection at 7:30 AM followed by the CH-J* show jumping at 10:00 AM and the CCYR** show jumping at 12:30 PM.

Live scoring available here.

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