United States Eventing Association

Tight Race at the Top for the NAJYRC CICOY2*

Team Canada held onto their lead in the Adequan/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC) CICOY2* after cross-country today. Three of the four team riders jumped around clear with just a bit of time against them, and only one had trouble on course with jumping penalties, for a cumulative team score of 180.8.

“I am pretty proud of the girls, and they did a great job,” stated Penny Rowland, Team Canada Chef d’Equipe. “They all supported each other, and we all got great feedback from each other as they came back from the course. This event is just amazing, and we owe a huge thank you to the Broussard family for hosting us.”

Canadian Team rider Emily Thompson, who leads Canada on a 55.8 with Paddington, a 12-year-old Thoroughbred/Connemara gelding, (Yavari x Glen Abbey) stated that the cross-country was different than any course she had run. “I’ve never ridden an Ian Stark course before, and it was a huge learning experience. It was a big, bold course, and a great course to learn how to just go on.” Looking ahead to show jumping tomorrow, Thompson and the rest of the team is trying not to let the pressure get to them since they have no rails in hand. "We know that we are in team gold position, but we are going to try and ignore that and we are just going to do the best we can," Thompson continued.

Trailing by just 1.2, the scramble team of Area I/IV is hot on the heels of Canada, leaving them nearly no room for error in show jumping tomorrow. Cornelia Dorr and Lily Geelan ran around cross-country double-clear on their mounts Sir Patico MH (Sempatico M x Queen’s Lite xx) and Luksor, a 14-year-old Polish Warmblood gelding(Ef Ez x Lektura), moving into the final phase of competition on their dressage scores. The third team rider Melanie Rousseau riding Sullivan, an 11-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, (Kettle Won x Jolie’s Princess) also jumped clear, picking up just 8.4 time penalties to help push her team into top leaderboard contention.

The local team Area VII is also keeping the pressure on the top two teams, with a cumulative score of 182.8 after cross-country, setting up tomorrow’s show jumping phase to be very competitive.

Cornelia Dorr and Louis, the individual leaders of the CICOY2*. USEA/Leslie Mintz Photo.

Overnight individual leader Cornelia Dorr and her own Louis M, a 12-year-old Rheinland Pfalz-Saar gelding (Lissabon x Angelique M), jumped around with no faults, holding onto their impressive leading score of 37.0. Her Area I team mount, Sir Patico MH, an 11-year-old Zweibrucker gelding moved up to the third-place individual standing on a 50.7 after cross-country.

“Hugo (Sir Patico MH) was a little bit feisty in the warm-up this morning, and it was fun to feel that excitement. I was worried that he was going to be a bit strong, but he was perfect, and I’m really happy where he is right now,” stated Dorr. “Louis M was my teacher out there, and he was fun to just gallop around on. I’m really happy about today.”

Riding two horses to double clear cross-country rounds is an impressive feat and Dorr credits her trainer, Sharon White, with developing such strong fitness plans for both her horses to enable her to make time on both.

William Zuschlag and his own RF Southern Command, a 9-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Ustinov x Trijntje) also jumped clear and inside the team to remain on his dressage score and in second place standing heading into the final day.

The CICOY2* division will take on Chris Barnard’s show jumping course tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. (MST), after the CH-J jumps from 10:00-11:15 a.m. (MST).

Read yesterday’s CICOY2* dressage recap here.

For all NAJYRC scores, go here.

For all Rebecca Farm live scores, go here.

Watch the live stream here

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