Can Andrew Nicholson, the king of Barbury Castle, win again? Photo by Adam Dale.
Event Rider Masters announced the lineup last night for leg 3 of the series at St James’s Place Barbury International Horse Trials July 8-9 in Wiltshire, England. In addition to three North American riders — the highest number at an ERM leg thus far — Badminton winners Andrew Nicholson and Nereo will also compete.
Lauren Kieffer will ride D.A. Duras, Debbie Adams and Jacqueline Mars’ 9-year-old KWPN gelding. Hannah Sue Burnett is competing with Cooley Dream, a 9-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding owned by Cooley Dream LLC. Rebecca Howard is also competing Blithe Hill Farm’s Riddle Master in the 16-year-old Canadian Sport Horse gelding’s first major appearance since finishing 10th at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
And there are even more names to get excited about: Rio individual silver medalists Astier Nicholas and Piaf de b’Neville, Tattersalls CCI3* winners Victoria Panizzon and Chequers Play The Game, Thomas Carlile and Blenheim 8/9-year-old winner Upsilon, Mark Todd and his Olympic partner Leonidas II, and Kentucky third-place finishers Zara Tindall and High Kingdom.
Click here to view the full entry list of 40 combinations that will compete in the Event Rider Masters CIC3* section at Barbury. All of the action will stream live on the Event Rider Masters website, starting with dressage on July 8 and concluding with show jumping and cross country on July 9.
Diarm Byrne of EquiRatings and the fabulous Nicole Brown will once again serve as your hosts, and we’ll surely hear from statistics wizard Sam Watson in the commentary box, as he is also competing aboard Ardagh Highlight following a strong fourth-place finish in the horse’s CIC3* debut in the Nations Cup at Tattersalls.
Following the first two Event Rider Masters legs at Chatsworth and Wiesbaden, Sarah “Cutty” Cohen holds a commanding lead on the series leaderboard with 51 points. Marcio Carvalho Jorge sits second with 37 points and will have the opportunity to gain ground at Barbury, where he will compete Lissy Mac Wayer. Gemma Tattersall, who sits third on the leaderboard with 30 points, can also gain valuable ground with Pamero 4.
Who will top the podium and take the largest chunk of the £50,000 in prize money at Barbury? Mark your calendars for July 8 and 9 and be sure to watch live on eventridermasters.tv. Go Eventing.
Barbury ERM Links: Website, Entries, Live Stream, Rankings
