United States Eventing Association

Canadian rider Mike Winter mastered the Adequan USEA Gold Cup CIC2* division at Chattahoochee Hills in Fairburn, GA, May 15-17. Aboard Jim Walker’s Unsteelable, the pair proved unbeatable as they became the only duo to finish on their dressage score of 54.6.

Winter and “Steel” started off in 8th place on Friday after dressage. Bouckaert Farm resident trainer and fellow Canadian Kelli Temple had the lead with a 42.4 aboard Carl Bouckaert’s Axel Rose.

While the rain poured down, cross-country day considerably shuffled the standings as almost every rider picked up time faults and seven incurred stops. Winter was the only rider to run a faultless round.

“To be honest, I really didn’t think about the clock,” said Winter. “I had a bad experience at Rolex and I figured I needed this event to get back in the game. I just sort of stayed in my rhythm and he stayed easy to ride.”

Steel is a 9-year-old Thoroughbred gelding and just the type of horse Winter has come to love. “Every part of him is genuine,” Winter described. “He’s a little bit of a worrier, but he’s a great horse.”

Winter hopes to take Steel up to the next level but is in no rush. “I hope he has a career until he’s 16 or 17,” he said. “So whether he goes Advanced at nine or goes Advanced at ten, I want to give him the best shot of sustainable success.”

Keeping It Clean In The Mud

After their double clear-cross country trip, Winter and Steel worked their way up to second place. Temple and Axel Rose, in his first CIC2*, added 10.8 time faults after cross-country and maintained their lead with only a 1.4-fault margin.

By Saturday afternoon, constant rain threatened to spoil the competition while a few cracks of lightning and thunder delayed the show for about an hour. Despite nature’s wrath, designer Ritch Temple’s course continued to ride well for the rest of the divisions and his crew worked tirelessly to keep it that way throughout the weekend.

When the original show jumping venue became too worn and torn, they found the perfect plot on the opposite side of the grounds where the footing held up despite Sunday’s unremitting rain.

“I thought [the show jumping course] was very fair,” Winter explained. “Given the conditions yesterday, changing the show jumping to here [was a good decision]. It wasn’t terribly large but it demanded that you ride forward. The turns were quite tight and you had to keep coming. But I thought it was well designed. It’s supposed to change the standings without over-taxing the horses from yesterday and it did that.”

Winter and Steel soared around the course without so much as a slight rub. Their faultless round forced Temple and Axel Rose to follow suit if they wanted the win. But one rail and a time fault put the pair in second place and secured Winter’s win.

Dorothy Crowell and her seasoned partner Radio Flyer II rounded out the top three after dropping a single rail.

Change of Scenery

While the United States has been good to him, Winter said he and his wife Emma may soon be seeking a change of scenery by relocating their operation to England.

“We’ve always, in our decisions, put ourselves in a position where we have to rise to the occasion whether it’s on a day like today or dependent upon where you situate yourself,” Winter explained. “Going to the last Olympics and realizing that, with the exception of McKinlaigh, the Europeans and people who train there are in a different league.

“I would rather go and fail than to have never tried to ride against those people and ride at that level on a weekly basis,” he concluded. “But the States has been very good to us, our clients have been very good to us, and our owners have been very good to us. We’ve been able to make a living here, which in the horse industry, particularly in eventing, is a tough thing to do, and we hope to continue those relationships.”

Top of the Leaderboard

For their win in the CIC2*, the designated Gold Cup division, Winter and Steel jump to the top of the standings in the 2009 Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series leaderboard with 290 points. They gained 200 points for their victory and an additional 50 points for a double-clear cross-country round, and 40 bonus points for a clear round in show jumping.

Temple and Axel Rose racked up points, as did Carl Bouckaert and Raphael (who posted one of two double-clear rounds in the show jumping), and Dorothy Crowell and Radio Flyer II (pictured left).

See the complete Gold Cup leaderboard.

For their win in the Gold Cup division, Mike and Steel took home an Adequan USEA Gold Cup Trophy, $500 in prize money, 7-dose box of Adequan, a three-month supply of SUCCEED, an E.A. Mattes Couture Pad, and a pair of Nunn Finer American Style open front boots. Second place finisher Kelli Temple took home a Nutrena feed gift certificate and a pair of Nunn Finer American Style open front boots, and Dorothy Crowell received a pair of the Nunn Finer boots as well.

The Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series is made possible through the support of its many sponsors: Title: Adequan; Legacy: Nunn Finer, Nutrena, and World Equestrian Brands; Contributing: Cover-All; and Patron: Back on Track, Broadstone Equine Insurance Agency, Mountain Horse, and Succeed.

Adequan is proud to be the official joint therapy treatment of the USEA.

Interested in sponsoring the Adequan/USEA Gold Cup series or another USEA program? Contact us at the USEA! [email protected] or call 703-779-0440.