Sep 17, 2017

Davidson and Copper Beach Take Over Plantation Field Adequan USEA Gold Cup CIC3*

By Jessica Duffy - USEA Staff
Buck Davidson and Copper Beach. USEA/Jessica Duffy Photo.

An influential day of show jumping competition in the Adequan USEA Gold Cup CIC3* at the Plantation Field International Horse Trials saw Buck Davidson and Sherrie Martin and Carl Segal’s 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding, Copper Beach (Radolin x Cloverballen), rise to the top of the leaderboard, adding just a single time fault to their dressage score to carry 43.3 penalties into the final day of competition.

“He’s just an out and out trier,” said Davidson. “He might knock down all of the jumps in the warm-up and he might not be very good in dressage in the warm-up but he goes in and he just tries his heart out. He fights all the time to get the job done, and that’s what he did today.”

Davidson explained that as long as everything is going according to plan tomorrow, he intends to try to make the time. “The ground’s perfect, I’ve been really working on [his] fitness and it looks like a really nice course. It asks everything, it’s nicely presented. I’m certainly going to set off thinking I’m going to go for it and if it’s coming undone then I’ll steady up, but I would like to think that I’m going to go out there and be competitive.”

Phillip Dutton and his 2016 Olympic mount, HND Group’s 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding, Mighty Nice (ARD Ohio x Sarazen), jumped one of the day's double-clear rounds to move forward on their dressage score of 44.3.


Phillip Dutton and Mighty Nice. USEA/Jessica Duffy Photo.

“Mighty Nice jumped beautifully today,” said Dutton. “I wasn’t quite sure where we were going to be with his show jumping since he hadn’t been to a competition since Rio, but he picked up right where he ended last year.” Dutton explained that he won’t be pushing for time tomorrow; “He needs more fitness in him before I run too fast.”

Rounding out the top three are Jennie Brannigan and Nina Gardner’s Cambalda (Balda Beau x Cathy’s Lady), a 15-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding. The pair also jumped double clean to carry their dressage score of 45.6 into tomorrow's cross-country.


Jennie Brannigan and Cambalda. USEA/Jessica Duffy Photo.

“He’s obviously a horse I know really well and he’s been quite a good show jumper,” commented Brannigan. “It’s nice to come to an event and have it not be a dressage show and know you’ll need to ride accurate and keep the time at the forefront.”

Nine additional pairs also put in double-clean rounds over Chris Barnard’s show jumping course this afternoon: Mara DePuy and Congo Brazzaville C (5th), Phillip Dutton and Z (6th), Will Coleman and Boris O’Hara (7th), Kurt Martin and Anna Bella (9th) and DeLux Z (13th), Sharon White and Cooley On Show (10th), Colleen Loach and Qorry Blue D'Argouges (14th), Michael Walton and Woodstock Wallaby (26thT), and Holly Payne Caravella and Never OutFoxed (28th).

The overnight leader in the CIC3*, Boyd Martin, fell from his own and Windurra USA, LLC’s 8-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, Barry, on the CIC2* cross-country course today and subsequently had to withdraw Blackfoot Mystery and Shamwari 4 from the CIC2* and Tsetserleg, Crackerjack, and Long Island T from the CIC3*. He was transported to the hospital for further evaluation, and this evening Boyd Martin’s Facebook page shared that while "he took a good knock on the right leg and his head”, nothing is broken and he is resting comfortably and in good spirits.

Competition in the Adequan USEA Gold Cup CIC3* will culminate tomorrow with the cross-country phase, starting tomorrow at 12:55 p.m.

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About the Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series

The 2018 Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series features 11 qualifying competitions throughout the United States at the Advanced horse trials and CIC3* levels. The qualifying period begins August 2017 and continues through August 2018 with the final taking place at the 2018 USEA American Eventing Championships at the Colorado Horse Park in Parker, Colorado, August 29 – September 2, 2018. Riders who complete a qualifier earn the chance to vie for $40,000 in prize money and thousands of dollars in prizes and the title of Adequan USEA Gold Cup Champion in the Adequan USEA Gold Cup Final Advanced Division.

The 2018 Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series is made possible through the support of its many loyal sponsors: Adequan, Standlee Forage, Nutrena, Merck Animal Health, and FITS.

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