Photo courtesy of Kim Parisan.
It was smooth sailing for David Ziegler, who took a commanding lead after dressage and carried that form over to today’s cross country course. PRO’s Samantha Clark reported on Twitter that the pair had textbook form through the Sunken Road, and David and Critical Decision came home with no jumping and no time penalties to carry a 13.9 point lead into show jumping tomorrow.
David said after his dressage ride that “BG” knows where he is, and that when he rode in for his dressage test on Thursday the horse positively lit up. The same can certainly be said for the cross country today, as BG has competed at the Kentucky Horse Park many times before.
April Simmonds and Impressively Done moved up from sixth to second after incurring just 3.2 time penalties, and Autumn Schweiss with Oakport Strauss moved up one spot to take third going into show jumping.
The CCI2* course also caused its fair share of problems, but about half of the completing riders were able to produce clear rounds. Three riders turned in double clear rides: David and Critical Decision, Calvin Ramsey and Flintstar, and Madeline Parisan and Hope to Star.
One rider suffered a fall on course, Jamie Kellock and Don’t Blink. Sitting in second overnight, Hanna Bundy and D’Jion were eliminated on course, and Patrick Zinck and Steeley Dan were handed a Mandatory Retirement.
The leaderboard was also shuffled in this division, and many riders with clear and fast rounds were rewarded with a move up on the board. As this weekend’s events have proven, this is a heavily contested competition and the finale tomorrow in show jumping will be a nail biter.
Area III is now in the gold medal slot, moving up from third place after dressage. Areas II, IV & VIII will move up to silver position, and Areas V & VI dropped one spot to bronze. [CH-Y** Team Standings]
NAJYRC Links: [Website] [Schedule] [NAJYRC Entry List] [CH-J* Ride Times] [CH-Y** Ride Times] [Live Scores]
