United States Eventing Association

The CIC and Advanced divisions took on Chris Barnard’s show jumping course today at The Fork. Despite the blistering wind throughout the day, poles stayed in their cups for most of the riders throughout the Adequan USEA Gold Cup divisions.

Maya Black battled some demons to come out on top of the large CIC3* division aboard Dawn and Jonathan Dofelmier’s Doesn’t Play Fair (Camiros x Oncoeur). Black and “Cody,” a 10-year-old Holsteiner gelding found themselves in a three-way tie for first place going into the show jumping at Carolina International two weeks ago only to take two rails for an additional eight penalty points on their score.

Maya Black and Doesn't Play Fair.

Today Black managed the fiery gelding to produce a tactfully ridden double clear round. “I know he’s capable of it and has been capable of it, but I feel like I’m finally bringing a few different things together [and] tweaking a few things,” she said. Cody, in his third year at the level, knows his job really well according to Black, and likes to try and take control of the round. “He has his own free will,” she laughed. “It’s a balancing act. There’s times when he has to become more rideable and other times I have to kind of let his balance come up. Hopefully moving forward, we can work together a bit with it.”

Cody and Black are headed to the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event at the end of this month, and she’s looking to take advantage of this last preparation opportunity. “As far as fitness, my plan would not be to go super slow. Knowing Kentucky is our goal, I want to get through this safe, happy and healthy, but I also want to use this as a prep,” she said.

Lauren Kieffer and Veronica.

Lauren Kieffer and Team Rebecca LLC’s Veronica (Pacific x Kimbel), who won the Advanced division here last year, also moved up the leaderboard into second place. The 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood added nothing to her dressage score of 42.10, which is the mare’s best three-star dressage score to date.

“I thought the trot work was the best she’s ever had,” Kieffer said. Veronica seemed excitable in the canter work, but Kieffer attributes that to her recent practice of the four-star test for Kentucky this year. “She was pretty mad at me for not taking her to Carolina too, so that might have had something to do with it,” Kieffer joked. "She’s so much stronger than she has been in the past. She gets a little better every year, so I just have to make sure to work her in enough at Kentucky."

Kieffer, like many of the riders this weekend, is looking forward to the reversed track on Tremaine Cooper’s cross-country course. “I think it’s much better reversed like that. It’s a smarter way to utilize the property, and starting the other way also gets them opened up a bit better. I think this is one of the best tracks I’ve seen Tremaine do here,” she commented.

Phillip Dutton and Mighty Nice.

Phillip Dutton then commanded four of the next top ten placings after riding double clear rounds on all five of his CIC3* horses today. Seated in third is the HND group owned Mighty Nice (Ard Ohio x Sarazen). “Happy” is a 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding who Dutton has been campaigning for a few years.

“It was one of his best rounds. It wasn’t a difficult show jump track, but there was a bit of atmosphere and it was windy. There were a lot of distractions,” Dutton said. “I thought he kept his composure well and it sets us up well for the next couple of weeks.”

Happy is entered for his fourth trip to Kentucky this month, and Dutton seems pleased with his preparation thus far. “I’m really excited about the way he’s going. He seems to be getting better and better. David [O’Connor] and I have a great working partnership of the flat, so we’ve got a plan for each horse. Where to go and how to build on it week-to-week,” Dutton said.

Following Happy, Dutton sits in fourth place on Indian Mill, fifth place on Fernhill Fugitive and sixth place on Fernhill Cubalawn.

Click here for a full list of scores.

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About the Adequan USEA Gold Cup

Qualifying for the 2016 Adequan USEA Gold Cup Championship began last fall with the Richland Park Advanced & CIC3* (MI), Aspen Farms Advanced (WA), Plantation Field Advanced & CIC3* (PA) and the Woodside International Advanced & 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 1-4 in Tryon, North Carolina. Riders who complete a qualifier earn the chance to vie for $40,000 in prize money and thousands of dollars in prizes in the Adequan Advanced Division and the title of Adequan USEA Gold Cup Champion.

The 2016 Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series is made possible through the support of its many loyal sponsors: Adequan, Standlee Forage, Nunn Finer, Nutrena, Merck, Broadstone Equine Insurance Agency, and FITS.