United States Eventing Association

The Race to Le Lion: Riders Share Their Excitement

Since 2015, the Holekamp/Turner Grant has awarded significant funds each year that enable a USEA Young Event Horse (YEH) graduate the opportunity to represent the United States in the FEI World Breeding Eventing Championships 7-year-old CCIYH3*-L at Mondial du Lion in France. This year, the Championships will be held on October 15-18, 2020 in Le Lion d ’Angers, France.

To qualify for the Championship at Mondial du Lion, a horse must complete the minimum eligibility requirements (MER) which are one CCI2*-L and one CCI3*-S both with zero jump penalties on cross-country and a maximum of four jump penalties in the show jumping. Seven horses who competed in the 2018 USEA YEH 5-year-old Championships are partially qualified and three out of those seven are American-bred. Six out of the seven horses competed in the USEA YEH East Coast Championships and Stunner is the only horse who competed in the USEA YEH West Coast Championships.

The Holekamp/Turner Grant awards cash funds to the highest scoring 5-year-old at the USEA YEH Championships who is also fully qualified to compete at Mondial du Lion as a 7-year-old. Additionally, The Dutta Corporation, now partnering with the USEA as the Title Sponsor of the USEA YEH Championships, will award a round trip flight to the recipient of the Holekamp/Turner Grant. The seven horses who are in the running to receive the grant and prize are in order of their YEH Championship scores: MB MaiStein, Quality Obsession, Kosmo K, Crystal Crescent Moon, Global Invieto DHI, Foxdale’s Celtic Charm, and Stunner.

MB MaiStein (Rocky Lee x High Ovation), the Oldenburg gelding ridden by Tamie Smith and owned by the MB Group LLC, is currently first in line for the Holekamp/Turner Grant and The Dutta Corporation prize as he was the highest-scoring horse at the 2018 USEA YEH 5-Year-Old Championships with a score of 88.29. MB MaiStein, also known as Rocky, earned his partial qualification at Galway Downs International CCI2*-L in October 2019. He jumped double clear on cross-country and only added one rail to his dressage score to finish fourth in his first CCI2*-L.

“He’s over 70 percent Thoroughbred and has a tremendous gallop with scope to burn but moves well enough to be a top dressage horse. Kai-Steffen Meier bred him, and he was imported to the U.S. as a 3-year-old,” said Tamie Smith via Facebook.

Smith continued, “It’s been great fun producing Rocky and seeing his progress develop into a world class horse. The highlight of his career was being crowned the 5-year-old Young Event Horse Champion of the United States. We have high hopes for Rocky and can’t wait to get back out there in hopes that we have enough time to prepare him from these Championships. We will see how time plays out and do what is in the best interest of Rocky. Thank you, U.S. Eventing, Tim & Cheryl Holekamp, and Christine Turner for this incredible opportunity.”

Next in line is the Dutch Warmblood mare Quality Obsession, ridden and owned by Tim Bourke, who placed second at the USEA YEH East Coast Championships with a score of 88.02. Quality Obsession earned her partial qualification at VHT International CCI2*-L in May 2019. The Dutch Warmblood mare scored a 27.6 in the dressage and only added a rail and 2 show jump time penalties to finish eighth. In 2020, Quality Obsession successfully moved up to the Intermediate level at the Pine Top Advanced H.T.

**Please note that the eligibility of the grant remains with the horse, and only horses ridden by U.S. citizens will be eligible. Therefore, Quality Obsession is still able to receive the grant but since Bourke is Irish, he may elect a rider with U.S. citizenship to compete the horse at Mondial du Lion.

The highest placed American-bred horse in the race to Le Lion d’Angers is Kosmo K (Corollary x Vandalayindustries) who scored an 84.02 at the East Coast Championships. Kosmo K is a 7-year-old Thoroughbred gelding owned and bred by Mary Quarles and ridden by Kimmy Steinbuch. Since Kosmo K is American-bred, if he were to receive the grant, he would be awarded the full amount of $17,500.

Competing against his running mate Quality Obsession, Kosmo K also earned his partial qualification in May 2019 at VHT International CCI2*-L. Kosmo K added nothing to his dressage score of 27.40 to finish fourth in his first CCI2*-L.

John Michael Durr (Steinbuch’s husband) shared on Facebook, “Three cheers for Kimmy Steinbuch Durr and Kosmo K! These two are in the running for the Holekamp/Turner Grant which enables a USEA Young Event Horse graduate the opportunity to represent the U.S. in the 7-year-old Championship at Mondial du Lion in France later this year. Thank you to the Holekamp and Turner families, The Dutta Corporation, the United States Eventing Association, and Mary Quarles for the support and opportunity to compete at this world-class competition!”

“Kosmo [is] hoping to tackle some big things this summer and finish qualifying for the FEI World Breeding Eventing Championships at Mondial du Lion! [I’m] so grateful to be riding an American Thoroughbred, bred and owned by Mary Quarles,” said Kimmy Steinbuch via Facebook.

The second highest placed American-bred horse is Crystal Crescent Moon (Catherston Dazzler x Ebony Moon) a Connemara gelding owned and bred by Nancy Winter and ridden by Allison Springer. Crystal Crescent Moon scored a 80.27 at the East Coast Championships and since then he has successfully moved up the levels.

The 7-year-old Connemara gelding has jumped clear on cross-country at every event he’s completed. Out of those 24 events, he has also jumped clear in show jumping 22 out of 24 times. Last year, he was the highest-ranked 6-year-old in the U.S. as he earned over 44 USEA points at the Preliminary level. Earning 15 USEA points along with his partial qualification, the Connemara gelding finished on his dressage score of 30.0 to place second in VHT International CCI2*-L in October 2019.

Scoring a 77.37 in the East Coast Championships is the 7-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, Global Invieto DHI (Up To Date x Rosieta.P) owned by Julie Schweiss and ridden by Autumn Schweiss. The Dutch Warmblood earned his partial qualification at two different CCI2*-L. In April 2019, he jumped clear in both cross-country and show jumping in the Ocala International CCI2*-L. Six months later, he completed the CCI2*-L at VHT International in October 2019. In 2020, he successfully moved up to the Intermediate level at the Rocking Horse Winter Advanced H.T.

Autumn Schweiss said on her Facebook page, “I am excited to share that Global Invieto DHI and I are one of seven horse/rider pairs partially qualified for the Holekamp/Turner Grant. This grant enables a USEA Young Event Horse graduate the opportunity to represent the U.S. in the 7-year-old Championship at Mondial du Lion in France later this year.”

The sixth horse to compete at the East Coast Championships who is partially qualified is Foxdale’s Celtic Charm (Diarado x Cheeky Rossa) who scored a 76.79. Foxdale’s Celtic Charm is a 7-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding owned by Penny Worsham and ridden by Kristin Schmolze.

Foxdale’s Celtic Charm has earned 10 top-five finishes including a fourth-place finish in the Preliminary Horse division at the 2019 USEA American Eventing Championships presented by Nutrena Feeds. He earned his partial qualification in November 2019 at the Ocala International CCI2*-L.

The third American-bred horse who is partially qualified is Stunner (Escudo II x Whiz Bang) a 7-year-old Hanoverian gelding owned and bred by Vicky Koss and ridden by David Koss. Scoring a 75.4 to finish third, Stunner is the only horse out of the seven who competed at the West Coast Championships.

Stunner earned his partial qualification in October 2019 at the same event as MB Maistein - the CCI2*-L at Galway Downs International CCI2*-L. Living up to his name, Stunner completed his first CCI2*-L by winning the event. Out of 42 starters, he won with a final score of 30.20.

Keep in mind that grant recipients who are North American-bred will be awarded the full cash grant of $17,500. If the winner is an imported horse, he will be awarded $8,000. In addition, The Dutta Corporation will provide one round trip flight to travel to France for the Mondial du Lion. This will be awarded to the Holekamp/Turner Grant recipient and will commence in 2020. More information on this year’s race can be found here.

Good luck to all the YEH graduates!

About the USEA Young Event Horse Program

The Young Event Horse (YEH) Program was first established in 2004 as an eventing talent search. Much like similar programs in Europe, the YEH program was designed to identify young horses aged four and five, that possess the talent and disposition to, with proper training, excel at the uppermost levels of the sport. The ultimate goal of the program is to distinguish horses with the potential to compete at the four- and five-star levels, but many fine horses that excel at the lower levels are also showcased by the program.

The YEH program provides an opportunity for breeders and owners to exhibit the potential of their young horses while encouraging the breeding and development of top event horses for the future. The program rewards horses who are educated and prepared in a correct and progressive manner. At qualifying events, youngsters complete a dressage test and a jumping/galloping/general impression phase. At Championships, young horses are also evaluated on their conformation in addition to the dressage test and jumping/galloping/general impression phase. Click here to learn more about the Young Event Horse Program.

The USEA would like to thank Bates Saddles, SmartPak, Standlee Hay Company, Parker Equine Insurance, C4 Belts, and Etalon Diagnostics for sponsoring the Young Event Horse Program. Additionally, the USEA would like to thank The Dutta Corp., Title Sponsor of the Young Event Horse Championships.