Liz Messaglia and Apollo Star won the novice amateur division
The Marc Donovan designed show jumping courses have been very influential all weekend and the novice divisions were no exception on Sunday. None of the cross-country leaders in the novice divisions ended up winning their divisions. The novice riders were competing in their Olympics of the year–the tension, great riding, and heartbreaks lived up to the championship level competition. Rails were incredibly costly all afternoon.
Liz Messaglia and the lovely Apollo Star jumped from second to first with a double-clear show jumping round. Alyssa Ford and Bold Discovery moved from 7th to 2nd with a double clear. Kati Bartz and As You Wish rounded out the top three, all of whom finished on their dressage scores. The first placed rider had a heartbreaking fall.
Calvin Ramsey of Louisiana put pressure on the top two riders with a double-clear from the third-to-jump position. The second placed rider pulled a rail to drop down to 10th. The first placed rider had a frustrating rail at the very last fence to drop out of the lead but they still go home with some great prizes in third.
Calvin is just 14 years old and he gets the big win with Landmark’s Miss Liberty and I couldn’t be happier for the Ramsay family. They are having a great weekend with Czechmate, owned by Calvin’s parents, winning the training horse yesterday under Lauren Kieffer. Calvin also finished in 12th on Kylie Ramsay’s Razzle Dazzle. That pony has an amazing story and was nearly put down earlier this year after an infection in his hock from a joint injection. He spent a few weeks at the LSU vet hospital and after a long and slow road back to recovery he placed 12th at the AECs in his first event back. It’s going to be party time in New Orleans tonight.
Amy Barrington and Gallerone moved up from second for the victory in the novice horse division after the first and third placed horses both had issues. Rails were incredibly costly and two rails for both the first and third placed horses dropped them to 5th and 18th respectively. Emily Beshear and Michelle Adamson’s Moose finished in third. The top 10 of the novice horse division finished within a range of 3.5 points.
