Tiana Coudray braids Ringwood Magister at Belton this past weekend. Photo courtesy of Uptown Eventing.
Clark Montgomery and Universe and Loughan Glen, Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister, and Rebecca Howard all ran the CIC3* at Belton Park this past weekend as a prep run for Badminton. Jules Stiller and Charlie Weld and Kathryn Robinson and Let It Bee also compete in the big class of 113 starters. Here’s a look at how the weekend went for these pairs:
Clark and Buzz jumped clear in both jumping phases with just 2.8 time to finish on a score of 59.1 in 15th place in the big class. That dressage score of 56.3 has to be nagging at Clark a bit coming into Badminton. Buzz has all the talent to throw down a good test at any given event, but the issue of tension remains. If they can get that dialed in before Badminton, they are totally capable of throwing down a very good score there.
Tiana and Finn finished in 37th place in the three-star with a dressage score of 53.4, a rail in the show jumping and 14 time penalties. We’re still unsure as to whether Tiana will user her grant to come to Kentucky for Rolex or stay in England for Badminton, but either way she got in a good prep run at Belton.
Canadian favorites Rebecca Howard and Riddle Master finished in 40th with a dressage score of 54.5, a rail and three time penalties in show jumping, and 11.2 time penalties across the country. Like many pairs we saw in America at The Fork, a lot of the horses heading to Badminton had easy runs at Belton, including Rupert.
Clark and Loughan Glen unfortunately had a stop on cross country, which is a shame considering they scored a 36.3 in dressage and picked up just one time penalty in show jumping, which had them very close to the top of the leaderboard going into the final phase. All the pieces are there, and I’m sure Clark will be doing everything he can to get Glen’s confidence up heading in to Badminton.
Charlie Weld is an exciting horse for Jules Stiller. She took over the ride from Kai Ruder in 2011 and this was their second three-star together. The horse normally scores much better in the dressage, so this performance isn’t at all indicative of what they can normally produce. They had one rail in the show jumping and jumped clear on cross country with 6.4 time penalties.
Canadian Kathryn Robinson and Let It Bee had a good dressage with a score of 50.2, but two rails and five time penalties dropped them down the leaderboard. They had a nice easy trip around the cross-country course for a clear with 22.8 time penalties.
Be sure to “like” Uptown Eventing’s Facebook page for pictures of our Americans and Canadians at key events in England. You can also always spot Clark, Rebecca, Tiana and Jules in their albums. Thanks, Uptown Eventing, for helping us keep up with our riders based in England!
