Well Eventing Nation, it’s that time of the month again, so put your thinking caps on, ready your keyboard, and get ready to rank the best horses and riders in North America. In case you haven’t been keeping fully up to date with all the High Performance happenings, I’ll fill you in on the latest. We already have the votes in from the EN panelists and all that remains is to gather our votes. The panelists have a chance to make nominations for additions to the list and you can make your suggestions in the comment section.
We’d like to make a very special welcome to our EN Power Ranking’s new official sponsor, SmartPak. We want this ranking to be a fun look at North America’s top and rising eventing stars and we are very proud to partner with SmartPak in this endeavor.
This month we are introducing the Canadian short-listers to the Power Ranking after receiving a few emails from Canadian fans asking to be included in the fun. It seemed only fair as the Canadians are just as much a part of the website and Eventing community as the Americans are.
Many of the High Performance squad horses had their first run of the season last weekend at either the Ocala HT in Florida or Pine Top in Georgia. Check out the results below:
At Pine Top, Becky Holder had a great weekend on not one, but two, great grey horses. Phillip was knocking at the door to win the Intermediate 1 division, but Becky held on to the lead and Phillip managed a second, third, fourth, and seventh in that division aboard Ben, William Penn, Mighty Nice, and Fernhill Eagle. Phillip was also second in another intermediate division on his new ride Mystery Whisper. The big names not in attendance at Pine Top last weekend were Boyd’s top horses, Neville, Ying Yang Yo, and Otis. Those horses have been busy though, between training sessions with Bettina Hoy, Mark, and I’m sure the occasional tune-up from Silva.
At Ocala, Mr. Medicott was second in the OI-A division. Hannah Burnett had Harbour Pilot in that division as well, although she withdrew before the jumping phases after scoring a 35.9 in the dressage that left them in ninth place– slightly higher that what we’d expect from William and Hannah after their consistently low scores all last year.
Clark won the OI-B division, while Selena O’Hanlon was second on the veteran Colombo. Buck left Ballynoecastle at home last weekend but he did bring out the Apprentice to do a combined test- scoring a 30 on the flat and jumping a clear show jumping round. Canadian Kendal Lehari was also in that division with Daily Edition, she had a somewhat average dressage test (42.8) but as always went on to jump two very clear rounds.
Rocking Horse II was contested over the weekend of Feb 18-19 and saw some high performance pairs in action. Karen O’Connor and Mr. Medicott finished 2nd in the Advanced-A Division behind MLM and RF Demeter. A few horses just did the dressage, or a combined test– such as Sinead and Tate, Rebecca Howard and Riddle Master, and MLM and Rovano Rex.
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So with all that said, let’s start naming our picks! Remember, you can vote for five of the combinations you feel are the most excellent, and have the highest chance for success in 2012. As always, feel free to comment on your selections!
