United States Eventing Association

It became a lovely day for cross-country in Norwood, North Carolina as the competitors in the Adequan USEA Gold Cup Advanced division took their trips around Captain Mark Phillips' course. Time became the ultimate determiner of standings at the end of the day as Will Faudree and Andromaque took the lead with a double-clear trip across the country.

Aboard Jennifer Mosing's 10-year-old Thoroughbred mare, he finished the big rolling course five seconds under the optimum time of 6:11. The only other pair in the division to run flawlessly was Kendal Lehari and Daily Edition.

Kim Severson, who stood in second place overnight with Tipperary Liadhnan, unfortunately withdrew from Advanced cross-country after taking two tumbles in the earlier Open Intermediate divisions; first with Fantasy Impromptu, and the other with Wiley Post. Neither she nor her horses were injured.

The three-way tie for third place was broken today as Boyd Martin and Remington XXV finished fastest of the bunch and moved into second place after adding only 4.4 time faults.

"Remington gave me a good round and jumped most of the course well," Martin said. "He was a little sketchy through the first water, but I was pretty proud of him. I feel like it was a good cross-country round leading up to Rolex."

Listen to the full interview with Boyd Martin here

Allison Springer and Arthur ran nicely as well adding only 5.6 time faults to settle in third place. Overnight leaders Heather Morris and Slate River dropped into fourth place after incurring 7.6 time faults, while Hannah Sue Burnett and St. Barths made a big leap from 12th place into 5th, finishing only 5 seconds over the time allowed.

Unfortunately for Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister, who were also tied for third this morning, a runout earlier on course dropped them down the standings. Likewise, Laine Asker and Anthony Patch, who were within the top ten at the beginning of the day, incurred 20 penalties at the mushroom corners.

In the CIC3* division, the fire continued to burn for the dynamic duo of Jennie Brannigan and Cambalda. Once again they've found themselves in the lead after a double-clear trip.

"I was really happy with him. I'm always happy with him," she said. "I was happy with the way I rode today despite being a little rusty." Brannigan broke her collarbone in early March this year which limited her to flatwork for a few weeks, and made The Fork her and "Ping's" first big outing back in action.

Listen to Jennie Brannigan's full interview here

Most of the riders at The Fork commented that the Advanced and CIC3* courses were perfect to tune up for big spring three-day plans, whatever they might be.

"I think the course designers and course builders have built the best Fork Advanced course I've ever ridden," said Martin who plans to take Remington to Rolex Kentucky at the end of this month. "It had much more flow to it, the footing was sensational, and I think the guys here at the Fork thought about it long and hard and put together a really good event to prime these American horses up."

Show jumping begins tomorrow morning at 8:30, starting with the Intermediate divisions, then the CIC3*, and finally the Adequan USEA Gold Cup Advanced division. For more information on The Fork, check out their website: http://forkstables.com/horsetrials.html

Since the Advanced class is serving as the Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series division, the winner will receive a Gold Cup trophy, $500 in prize money, 7-dose box of Adequan, a three-month supply of SUCCEED, and a pair of Nunn Finer American Style open front boots. The second placed finisher will receive: a 7-dose box of Adequan and a pair of Nunn Finer American Style open front boots. Top finishers in this division also earn valuable points towards the year-end purse.

Thank you to the wonderful Adequan USEA Gold Cup Sponsors for this continued support of this exciting series: Adequan, Nunn Finer, Nutrena, Broadstone Equine Insurance, and SUCCEED.

The CIC3* is the designated division for the PRO Tour Series. To learn more about PRO, check out their site: www.professionalriders.org