Richland Park kicks off the busiest portion of the fall eventing calendar, with Advanced and CIC3* events running almost every weekend through mid-October in the U.S. Year after year, Richland draws competitors to Michigan with their inclusive atmosphere, irrigated courses, and levels from Beginner Novice up through CIC3*.
#RichlandPark: Website, Schedule, Ride Times, Live Scores, EN’s Coverage
Welcome to Richland Park! Photo by Leslie Wylie.
The Event
- The difficulty in both jumping clear and making the time on cross country has gradually increased since 2014. At the same time, the average number of rails in stadium has inched downwards.
- In the past three years, only 1.3% of starters have finished on their dressage score in either the Advanced or the CIC3* at Richland. Both of those two came in 2015 in the CIC3*.
Katie Ruppel and Houdini. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.
Dressage Divas
- Carlevo and Buck Davidson have averaged a strong 42.9 on three-star tests since the beginning of 2016. They have broken into the 30s on two occasions, most recently at the Tattersalls CCI3* in Ireland in May.
- Katie Ruppel and Houdini are renewing their partnership this spring, but in 2016 they scored solidly below the 45.0 mark in four of their five Advanced and three-star* starts. Although they hold a personal best of 37.1 from Poplar Place CIC3* in 2016, this pair averages 43.5 for the past two calendar years.
- Crowd favorites Colleen Rutledge and Covert Rights are back and as always will be contenders after day one. With an average three-star score of 47.3 but the ability to score in the low 40s, this pair will be one to watch.
Allie Knowles and Sound Prospect. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Cross Country Machines
- Covert Rights is also a very fast horse at the CIC3* level, with an average of only 6 seconds over optimum in their last four runs. Prior to his hiatus in 2016, Colleen and “CR” were averaging rounds under the optimum time.
- Allie Knowles and Sound Prospect had a solid first CIC3* run of 2017 at Great Meadow. This pair generally either takes their time or makes a quick, decisive run to get close to the pace. On average, they complete only 15 seconds over the optimum time at this level dating back through 2016.
- Military Mind and Whitney Mahloch are a pair to keep an eye on if they make a clean cross country run. When they complete with no issues they are very fast on the clock. In three clear runs, they have been under the optimum twice and added only 1.6 time penalties on a third occasion.
Buck Davidson and Park Trader. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.
Show Jumping Powerhouses
- Park Trader and Buck Davidson have really stepped up their show jumping game recently. They are the only pair in the field who trend towards a clear round at Advanced and CIC3* level since 2016, and they’ve had six straight fault-free rounds at those levels.
- Sound Prospect and Allie Knowles have also historically been a very strong pair in the show jumping phase, although they had an uncharacteristic two rails in as they knocked off the rust at Great Meadow. Prior to that, they’d had only one rail in seven CIC3* outings dating back to 2015.
PREDICTED WINNER: Colleen Rutledge and Covert Rights
Colleen Rutledge and Covert Rights. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Keep Your Eye On:
- Allie Knowles and Sound Prospect
- Buck Davidson and Carlevo
Possible Spoilers:
- Katie Ruppel and Foreign Affair
- Colleen Loach and Qorry Blue D’Argouges
