Clayton Fredericks and FE Bowman at Red Hills. Photo by Jenni Autry.
The spring season has nearly come to a close, but there’s no slowing down this time of year around the eventing nation. Let’s take a look at some key scores.
Down in Georgia at Chattahoochee Hills, Clayton Fredericks dominated the Open Preliminary division, taking command of the top three positions from the get go and finishing with all three horses within a point of one another. FE Bowman was the winner, adding a rail to his dressage score of 25.0. FE Vindus was second, finishing on his dressage score of 29.4, and FE Money Made was third, finishing on his dressage score of 30.0.
Jonathan Holling and Direct Puissance were the only pair within real striking distance of Clayton. They adding nothing to their dressage score of 32.4 to finish fourth. Lauren Eckhardt and Southern Pride tied Jonathan in the dressage but added two time penalties and a rail to their score for fifth.
Leah Elgart and Punch Line made a big move up the leaderboard in Preliminary rider. A 37.2 dressage score put them in 10th place to start, but they blazed around cross country, coming in double clear to move all the way up to second. A fault-free show jumping round was enough to move them up to second.
The top four were all outside the top five (two outside the top ten) before cross country, but they all moved up with double-clear cross country rounds. Samantha Messamer and Finn McCool moved up from a tie for 12th to an ultimate second place finish. Kylie Cahoon and Poseiden were sixth after dressage and finished third. Megan Betzel and Rapid Transit catapulted from 17th to finish fourth.
Chattahoochee Hills H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times][Live Scores]
Elena Hengel and Zipp at Carolina International. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Otter Creek Spring Horse Trials in Wheeler, Wis. had a healthy turnout from the Starter level all the way to Intermediate. It’s great to see not one, but two Starter divisions with over ten riders from each. Congratulations to Annabelle Sanborn and Sydney Goeden for their wins in these divisions!
Elena Hengel was busy with three horses in the Open Intermediate. Her highest dressage score between them was a 30.8, and she didn’t add a single jumping penalty in any of her cross country or show jumping rounds. Talk about consistency! Elena finished first with Zipp, second with Say I Do and third on Roll of Thunder.
Twenty horse and rider combinations competed in the single Preliminary division. The standings were fairly well shuffled after cross country, but Madigan Murphy and Willdebrant turned in a double-clear performance to move up from third to first place with nearly 10 points of breathing room. A one-rail show jumping round secured their victory and a finishing score of 37.0
Kristine Burgess and Roza CMF finished second on 44.2 with no jumping penalties and 11.6 time penalties to add to their dressage score of 32.6. Third place Genevieve Faith and Burned You Too captured third, having moved all the way up from 19th place as the only pair in the division to finish on their dressage score. Well done!
Otter Creek Spring H.T. [Website] [Entry Status][Live Scores]
Fair Hill Horse Trials in Elkton, Md. hosted Intermediate through Novice riders with three divisions each in the Preliminary, Training and Novice. Horses and riders had to contend with rainy conditions so it’s no surprise to see time penalties, particularly at Intermediate and Preliminary.
William Ward and Grando led the Open Intermediate division from the start. They scored a 26.5 in dressage and added one rail to in stadium. they were more than 30 seconds slow on cross country, but they held on to the top placing despite 13.2 time penalties.
Dom Schramm and Bolytair B similarly incurred 14 time penalties to finish just a few points behind William and Grando. Caroline Martin and Pebbly Maximus round out the top three and were one of two pairs to jump double-clear in the show jumping, the other being Ellie Luther and Fair Fiona, who finished 11th overall.
Boyd Martin picked up two wins at Preliminary, winning the A division with Barry on a score of 26.1 and the C division with Contessa on a score of 28.7. Rails were common in show jumping and out of 48 Preliminary rounds, only six were double-clear, two of which were Boyd’s and his winning horses.
Fair Hill H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]
