Area II Rises to the Top in the CH-J*, Ziegler Leaves Himself Plenty of Room in the CH-Y**
It was a wet day of cross-country at the Adequan/FEI North American Junior Young Rider Championships on Saturday. A persistent light rain fell for most of the morning, but some riders came home more soaked than others as the Head of the Lake was a final soggy landing point for a number of riders. At the end of the CCI* (referred to at NAJYRC as the CH-J*), 13 of the 44 riders will not be continuing on with the competition, with several finishing the day at the water jump. The CCI** (referred to as the CH-Y**) fared better, with only 3 of 17 pairs leaving the competition before show jumping. All horses and riders were safe and uninjured in both the CH-J* and CH-Y**.
CH-J*
As a team-building exercise before Area II riders’ trip to Lexington, Ky. for NAJYRC, the girls took a dip in the pond at the Morningside Training Farm in The Plains, Va., and found that “some can’t swim as well as others.” Luckily, they did not need to put their swimming skills (or lack thereof) to use on cross-country as many other riders did. Alexis Nelson, Margret Schaeffer, and Grace Fulton all managed double clear rounds for the Area II team. Madeline Mosing was also clear over the fences, but came home with 6 time penalties. Alexis Nelson on Total Eclipse ended the day in second place individually, followed by Margret Schaeffer in third. Area II will enter the final day of competition ahead of the teams from Area VIII and V who stand in second and third respectively.
Moira de Ste Croix-Laframboise and Blue Ben from Ontario hold the CH-J* Indidual lead, adding nothing to their dressage score of 49.2. She admitted to a “crazy” ride through the head of the lake, noting that the water had a much bigger drop than she was expecting. Despite almost losing her balance upon landing, she composed herself quickly enough to make it safely to dry land and handle the rest of the course with ease.
CH-Y**
In the CH-Y** Area III moved into a familiar spot on the leaderboard: the top. The Area secured the top team spots in both the CH-J* and CH-Y** NAJYRC in 2013, and are looking to repeat that performance.
Clean rounds from Emily Rusinyak and Calvin Ramsay anchored the team to their day two lead. Adrian Jones, who is riding the 15-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare Irish Odyssey, noted that the course “rewarded really good riding”, but she ended the day with two unfortunate refusals. The 2013 NAJYRC CH-J* individual champion, Nicole Doolittle and her horse Tops, had one stop at the head of the lake.
Calvin Ramsay also had an unexpected dismount, but it didn’t occur while he was riding his horse. He was riding his motorbike on the Kentucky Horse Park grounds and narrowly missed crashing into a golf cart. When the golf cart driver turned suddenly, Ramsay made the choice to collide with a median as opposed to the golf cart. As he sat in the press conference, he noted that his road rash was pretty painful, and it was hard to put on his gloves. Despite the bruises, Area III enter the final day of competition with a 16.6 point lead over the combined team from Areas II, IV, and VIII, and a 39.4 point lead over the combined team from Areas V and VI.
One rider that made David O’Connor’s course look easy was David Ziegler aboard Critical Decision, who currently leads the CH-Y** field by a whopping 13.9 points. Today, he added nothing to his dressage score of 46.3. His lead after dressage was not unexpected as he also finished with a silver medal in the Young Riders individual Dressage championship earlier in the NAJYRC.
Critical Decision is very familiar with the Kentucky Horse Park, having competed here in 2011 with trainer Missy Ransehousen. Ziegler implied that the round today was much easier than Critical Decision’s previous visits to Kentucky, saying, “When we got into the vet box [at the end of cross-country], he looked around and said, ‘Is this just the warm up?’”
Tomorrow, the final standings will be decided in the show jumping, which kicks off at 12:30 p.m. for the CH-J*, and 3:00 p.m. for the CH-Y**.
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