United States Eventing Association

This afternoon’s show jumping at Galway Downs shuffled every combination on the Adequan USEA Gold Cup CIC3* leaderboard. Every combination that is except dressage leaders Frankie Thieriot Stutes and The Chatwin Group’s Chatwin who remained anchored in their first-place position after a double clear round.

Thieriot Stutes and the 9-year-old Oldenburg (Contendro I x Oktav) gelding nimbly navigated Michael Roy Curtis’ International track, leaving all the poles in their cups to progress to the final phase in the lead on their dressage score of 42.1.

I thought [Chatwin] was amazing. I’ve been using a new bit the last two shows in the show jumping and I think it allows me to ride him a bit more forward and not pick so much,” she explained. “I think that you had to choose in there really carefully where you were going to stay outside some of the tree lines and where you were going to go inside. And with the short distances you also had to get them back enough so you didn’t come in too big, but have enough power because obviously the jumps are a good size.”

Frankie Thieriot Stutes and Chatwin. Photo by Captured Moment Photography.

Rails in the show jumping are few and far between on Chatwin’s record, but Thieriot Stutes has been focused on keeping the pedal down to avoid time penalties. “At Twin [Rivers] I felt like he was jumping so well I just was having such a wonderful round. I felt myself just enjoy the moment and in the process of thinking about how much fun I was having and how great my horse felt I forgot to go forward and kick on in the turns,” she recalled from their first Advanced of the year at Twin Rivers Winter H.T. where she at Chatwin picked up five time penalties.

“I’ve been working on keeping him coming and to really get a good rhythm and stick with it. I felt like today we were able to do that and he was jumping with everything that he had for me,” she continued.

Heather Morris and Charlie Tango. USEA/Shelby Allen Photo.

Second- and third-placed Mackenna Shea and Heather Morris swapped spots after show jumping, moving Morris into second place with Team Express Group’s Charlie Tango.

In his first FEI event of the year, Morris said “Charlie” was spot on in his flatwork. “He was the best he’s ever been. Tamie and I went to a dressage show last weekend to practice getting in the ring and it really helped. Our dressage coach Niki [Clarke] came over to warm us up today, so that was really nice,” she said.

With a new jump warm up, the 9-year-old Irish Sport Horse (Shannondale Sarco St Ghyvan x Our Queen Bee) remained on task in the show jumping with a faultless round to stay on 46.3 points. "He’s getting more confident in there. We’ve changed his warm up a little bit and it’s really helped him gain his confidence,” she said. “[We’re] not jumping him as big. He gets a little worried, so we just do a lot of small stuff and nothing max at all and it really helps once he gets in the ring to not be frazzled.”

Third-placed Mackenna Shea was thrilled with her own Landioso after starting the day on a 42.4 in dressage, a personal best for this pair. “I ride with Niki Clarke on the flat and she told me I really need to focus and so I tried really hard to focus it hurt my head a little bit,” Shea joked. “I felt like a rode really accurately for the first time. I actually thought about what I was doing instead of just breezing through it and I was really happy with him. He was really obedient.”

Shea and the 15-year-old Bravarian Warmblood (Legendaer I x Aspen) went on to execute a very fluid show jumping round, but taking an outside line resulted in four additional time penalties. “I was really proud of how he jumped. Allen Clarke warmed me up and we warmed up over some wide low oxers because that helps him get his shape. He jumped super,” she said.

Choosing the most appropriate line through the tree-spotted grass arena proved to be a real challenge, and five of the 14 remaining in the division added time penalties to their score. Forward riding was rewarded, and five in the division earned double clear rounds. One pair, Chloe Smyth and her own C.S.I. were unfortunately eliminated after two disobediences at fence three.

Ian Stark has prepared a stout cross-course that will challenge riders at every turn. The sandy three-star path winds around the racetrack with 22 numbered fences and over 30 jumping efforts. The first Adequan USEA Gold Cup rider will leave the start box at 11:50 a.m. PST tomorrow. Don’t forget you can watch the action live at www.rideonvideo.net.

Live Scoring | Live Streaming