United States Eventing Association

Emily Beshear rose to the occasion today and produced one of only five double clear show jumping rounds in the Adequan USEA Gold Cup Division at the Richland Park CIC***. Beshear and Deep Purple Eventing’s Shame on the Moon now stand at the top of the leaderboard with a 44.7 heading into tomorrow’s cross-country phase.

“I was thrilled with her. [Show Jumping] is actually her weakest phase, but she always tries hard, and really understands the game,” said Beshear of Somerset, Va.

The beautiful show jumps at Richland Park were provided by Brody Robertson, and course designer Marc Donovan laid out what proved to be a very challenging course. Riders could not take any of the outside turn options if they wanted a chance at coming in under the optimum time.

“The time was tight, but that’s a good thing. Event riders need to ride carefully and in an efficient way,” stated Beshear. “I had to land and be very efficient with my turns, and it worked. It was good for us to be challenged in that way.”

Yesterday’s leader, Maya Black had a rail down at the first fence, knocking her down to the second place spot on a 46.3 aboard the Dofelmier’s Doesn’t Play Fair.

“I was bummed about having the first rail down, but I knew I had to brush it off and keep going,” said Black. “My plan was to just balance as much as I could around the turns to be efficient enough and make the time. There’s always room for improvement, but I’m really happy with Cody again today.”

Sharon White on Mary Ann Ghadban’s mare, Under Suspection put in one of the double clear rounds, bumping them up to the third place position on a 48.3. Michael Pollard and Mensa G had one rail, but came in under the time, securing themselves the 4^th place spot on a 49.6. To round out the top five, Mackenna Shea and her own Landioso head into tomorrow with a 50.5 after jumping clear but having 7 time faults.

Marc Donovan’s show jumping course mixed up the leaderboard a bit today, but Ian Stark’s cross-country course will decide the winner tomorrow.

Full Results

About the Adequan USEA Gold Cup and PRO Tour Series

Qualifying for the 2014 Adequan USEA Gold Cup began last fall with the Plantation Field CIC*** (PA) and the Woodside CIC*** (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 2014 in Tyler, Texas. Riders who complete a qualifier earn the chance to vie for $40,000 in prize money in the Adequan Advanced Division and the title of Adequan USEA Gold Cup Champion.

The Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series is made possible through the support of its many sponsors: Adequan; Standlee Forage Nunn Finer; SmartPak Equine; Nutrena; Broadstone Equine Insurance Agency, Point Two; Dubarry; and FITS.

The PRO Tour Series consists of 13 premier destination events in the United States and Canada in 2013/2014 featuring the best riders and most entertainment. Riders and Horses are awarded points on the PRO Tour Rider Leader Board and PRO Tour Horse Leader Board. Riders can also earn points on the PRO Tour Series at the Intermediate or two-star level for the Multi Radiance Intermediate Challenge. The 2014 Multi Radiance Challenge Leader Board Champion will win a Multi Radiance MR4 ACTIVET Portable Laser System.

The Professional Riders Organization would like to thank the following sponsors for their support of the 2014 PRO Tour Series: Martin Collins USA, The Official Footing of PRO; Multi Radiance Medical, The Official Laser Therapy of PRO & Sponsor of the Multi Radiance Medical Intermediate Challenge ; Tex Sutton, the Official US Equine Air Carrier of PRO; SSG Riding Gloves; Finish Line Horse Products; Midlantic Ltd.; and Mythic Landing Events.