United States Eventing Association

The most exciting phase of eventing occupied the Kentucky Horse Park cross-country track this morning, as 34 CH-J* riders rode the 2013 Adequan/FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championships cross-country course, designed by David O’Connor and built with the help of Aaron Rust. The course proved to be as challenging as anticipated, shaking up competition standings.

Latching onto first place in the CCI1* is 15-year-old Nicole Doolittle from Matthews, North Carolina, who put in a double clear round in cross-country. Aboard her 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding, Tops, Doolittle heads into stadium tomorrow with her untouched dressage score of 48.1. Doolittle hopes to ride a solid round, and hopes that her experienced mount, “Nemo,” who has been to the NAJYRC three times before, will be on the top of his game. However, according to Doolittle, the championship cross-country course was a team effort between rider and horse.

“It’s nice that he has the experience, but, you know, in this course, you had to come out there and you had to ride for yourself,” Doolittle said. “You couldn’t just depend on your horse. And I think that definitely made it a championship course.”

Springing from sixth place after dressage into medal contention is Mary Peabody Camp from Crestwood, Kentucky riding her 10-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, Rave Review. Staying on a dressage score of 50.6 with a faultless cross-country round, the pair currently stands as the tentative silver medalist. Camp and “Revy,” an off-the-track Thoroughbred, have been together for two years, and have allegedly struggled with dressage for some time. According to Camp, their best phases are the jumping phases, so she was thrilled to finish dressage in the top ten, but wasn’t surprised when she moved up after cross-country.

“Personally, dressage is my worst phase, and I’ve been struggling with dressage the past two years that I’ve had Revy,” Camp said. “I didn’t think I would be in the top ten coming out of dressage. I was expecting to be lower in the pack and move up after jumping. Like I said, jumping are my better phases, so I wasn’t necessarily surprised that I moved up, but I did move up a lot, so I was extremely happy with that.”

Rounding out the top three CH-J* riders going into show jumping is 18-year-old Emily Macauley from Grand Rapids, Michigan, who crossed the finish line with no jumping or time penalties. Riding Canadian Exchange, an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, the pair rose from seventh place to bronze medal contention on their dressage score of 50.8. Though their showing this week has been and successful thus far, the pair has only been together for four months. “Jack” is an ex-show jumper who was transformed to an eventer only a few years ago. Macauley and Jack worked together for the few months they had before Young Riders, and Macauley feels that she has learned a lot.

“I have learned so much,” Macauley said. “When I got him at the end of March, [my coach] just told me to finish my first training with him and see if we even got along. And from there, we just got along so well. We just kept moving up. And Jack has taught me so much, especially in show jumping, because he knows his job.”

Heading into the final phase as the tentative NAJYRC team gold medalist is Area III, coached by Kyle Carter. Aside from the top score of Doolittle and Nemo, other strong rides came from Victoria Clayton and The Secret Agent, who added no penalties to their dressage score of 67.9, Ashley Dodds and Manhattan, who added nothing to a dressage score of 56.0 and Diane Portwood and Cinerescent, who put in a double clear round for a score of 53.6.

After the competitor’s party tonight, CH-J* riders will prepare for the show jumping phase in the Rolex arena tomorrow, the round that will determine this year’s NAJYRC medalists.

“Anything can happen in this sport. And it’s super cool that we get to ride in the Rolex arena” Camp said. “I’m hoping to have all of [Revy’s] attention tomorrow, and hopefully we’ll be on our A-game and it will work out for the best.”