United States Eventing Association

Day One at the St. James’s Place Barbury International Horse Trials

This afternoon at the St. James’s Place Barbury International Horse Trials, an extraordinary afternoon of dressage unfolded in the third leg of the Event Rider Masters (ERM).

Carlile leads for France

One of the favorites leading into the ERM Eventing competition was France’s Thomas Carlile and Upsilon. The combination excelled in the dressage under the expectation from the crowd and statisticians to produce a stunning dressage test. Scoring a mark of 30.9 the combination was leading after the first phase and set a new ERM record dressage mark.

Thomas Carlile, visibly delighted, commented; “He is a very special horse with so much power and he just delivers that bit of extra spark when he has to, seducing the dressage judges and his fans. He’s such a team mate and a modern event horse and we will need to jump clear in the show jumping and be fast tomorrow on cross-country if we are to win, but he is up to that and I will enjoy the pressure”.

Andrew Nicholson and Nereo. Eventridermasters.tv/Ben Clarke Photo.

Nicholson and Campbell in second and third for New Zealand

Records kept on being broken across the day of ERM dressage with several personal best (PB) performances being produced from the 40 strong field of horses and riders. Andrew Nicholson (NZL) riding his 2017 Badminton winning hero Nereo were a combination to join this club, with a score of 34.9 securing them second place and a PB. Just 4.1 marks separates Carlile and Nicholson going into day 2. Nicholson is well in the hunt for a second win at the third leg of ERM series, as well as a sixth consecutive win at Barbury at CIC3* level.

“I think it might have helped us going after Upsilon’s beautiful test”, Nicholson commented, “It made me and Nereo raise our game. Yes there was pressure, but that’s why we compete at this level”.

New Zealand riders also hold the third spot ahead of the show jumping phase tomorrow. Despite making an error of course in his dressage, Jesse Campbell, riding the former racehorse Kaapachino, delivered a lovely test scoring 36.1.

“He was super. It’s always nice to perform well at your local event, as we are based just over the hill from Barbury. He is a very experienced horse and good Thoroughbreds tend to give you their hearts, and that’s what he’s done for me today”.

U.S. Riders Put in a Good Showing

There are two U.S. representatives riding in the ERM class at Barbury – Hannah Sue Burnett scored a 46.2 to sit in 19th aboard Jacqueline Mars' RF Demeter and Lauren Kieffer is sitting in 24th on a 48.0 with Jacqueline Mars and Debbie Adams' D.A. Duras.

The £50,000 third leg of the Event Rider Masters series continues on Sunday, July 9th with the show jumping and the cross-country. The top 20 ranked riders will run cross-country in reverse order of merit. Both phases can be viewed live at Eventridermasters.tv

For Leg 3 competitors, start times, information, and live stream http://eventridermasters.tv/events/2017/barbury-castle

#ERMeventing

About the Event Riders Masters

The Event Riders Masters (ERM) is an eventing series consisting of seven legs in 2017. Each leg will feature 40 of the world’s leading event riders and horses, competing in the three eventing phases; dressage, show jumping and cross-country

Now in its second year, it has expanded onto mainland Europe and includes seven legs across England, Scotland, Germany, and France and with a guaranteed total of £400,000 in prize money across the seven legs it establishes the series as the most valuable in the sport of eventing in 2017. Ran over two days, as opposed to four, the shortened CIC3* format specific to the ERM series, features seeded dressage with music chosen by the riders, and the show jumping and cross-country phases run in reverse order of placing. A ‘kiss n cry’ podium is also a feature at the end of the cross-country course.

Each leg will be live streamed and available to view in Britain and internationally at Eventridermasters.tv. A one hour highlights program of each ERM leg will be aired internationally across satellite channels including Sky Sports Mix.

The seven competitions hosting a ERM leg in 2017 are:

• The Dodson & Horrell Chatsworth International Horse Trials 12th -14th May (ERM 13th - 14th May)
• Internationales Wiesbadener PfingstTurnier (Germany) 2nd – 5th June (ERM 2nd – 3rd June)
• The St. James’s Place Barbury International Horse Trials 6th -10th July (ERM 9th – 10th July)
• Haras de Jardy (France) 14th - 17th July (ERM 15th – 16th July)
• Festival of British Eventing, Gatcombe Park, presented by BETA 4th – 6th August (ERM 5th – 6th August)
• Blair Castle Equi-Trek International Horse Trials 24th – 27th August (ERM 26th – 27th August)
• Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials 13th – 17th September (ERM 15th – 16th September)