The personal bests kept coming as dressage wrapped up averaging nearly two penalties better as a field than the competitors’ 6 Run Average, according to EquiRatings. Similar to the trend we saw yesterday with our top three, who all took over four marks from their 6RA, two new additions to top four achieved the same today.
2024 Boekelo champion Julia Krajewski (GER) is the new leader, the sole rider who could crack the top three and best Thursday leaders Gemma Stevens with Chilli Morning IV and second-placed Marcio Carvalho Jorge (BRA) and Castle Howard Casanova. Julia’s brought the 12-year-old Ero de Cantraie (owned by Bernd Heicke) forward as her entry this year for a first run at Boekelo, though this French gelding has a touch more experience at the level than some of his fellow competitors. After his first season at the four-star level in 2023, he had some time off, building back steadily over the last year and eventually returning to the level this spring. He’s come in good form; some blips in his first starts at four-star this spring could be overlooked as rustiness, and he’s not finished outside of the top two otherwise nearly all season in FEI competition.
Ero de Cantraie’s 23.9 hits the board as a four-star personal best and 4.5 under his 6RA. Making tomorrow’s optimum time of 10:00 won’t be the most impossible ask for this horse; while his 4*-L performance is a bit unknown at this stage since he hasn’t actually done or completed one since 2023, his time penalties aren’t massive, even at the Short format events.
The other tiers on the early podium remain from yesterday with overnight leader Gemma Stevens in second behind Julia with Chilli Morning IV and Marcio Carvalho Jorge and his Paris Olympic horse Castle Howard Casanova in third. Yasmin Ingham and Kinda Corvette put in another of Friday’s competitive scores as one of the early pairs to see on Friday, scoring a four-star personal best of 26.0.
As the FEI Eventing Nations Cup Final competition got underway today, the stakes are high as all points for the 10 qualified nations were set back to zero. This means that for the first time, this Final is a winner-take-all situation. Olympic qualification isn’t on the line for this year, but the 2027 cycle will be exciting to follow as the nation that wins the Nations Cup (or is highest-placed after a nation that was already qualified) will also secure their berth to the LA Games in 2028.
The USA is in medal position in this Final, earning a team score of 84.0 to sit behind Germany (79.1) and Great Britain (78.8) — wait, that feels familiar — and well within range to make a threat with strong jumping performances. Allie Knowles is the best of the team bunch for the USA, riding Katherine O’Brien’s Montpellier Scais to a four-star personal best of 27.0; they’re in ninth overnight. Two places following Allie is teammate Hallie Coon, riding Katherine Coleman’s Sirius SB to a (you guessed it) four-star personal best of 27.5. Lauren Nicholson rode Jacqueline Mars’ Landmark’s Jungle Gold to a 30.5, sitting in 33rd and less than a flag penalty’s worth of marks from the top end of the stack. We’re also shouting out Jack Curtis, who’s a couple months into his stay in England with Tom McEwen and scored his own personal best of 29.5 with Betsy Curtis’ Luska Candy Clover — in their 4*-L debut, no less. I loved this look behind the scenes as Jack’s media team tells his story this weekend:
It promises to be a wild day of cross country tomorrow and you’ll be able to tune in live on ClipMyHorse.TV here. Some phases of competition can also be viewed or rewatched on the FEI YouTube channel here (as of publication, it’s unclear whether or not cross country will be shown here, so your best bet is most likely ClipMyHorse.TV).
The full starting order for cross country as well as live scoring can be found here. Here’s a look at a few key ride times if you’re planning to follow along:
- 9:50 am local time / 3:50 am EST: Lauren Nicholson and Landmark’s Jungle Gold
- 10:22 am local time / 4:22 am EST: Jack Curtis and Luska Candy Clover
- 10:54 am local time / 4:54 am EST: Julia Krajewski and Ero de Cantraie
- 10:58 am local time / 4:58 am EST: Allie Knowles and Montpellier Scais
- 11:02 am local time / 5:02 am EST: Yasmin Ingham and Kinda Corvette
- 11:34 am local time / 5:34 am EST: Hallie Coon and Sirius SB
- 11:38 am local time / 5:38 am EST: Gemma Stevens and Cooley Park Muze
- 1:34 pm local time / 7:26 am EST: Marcio Carvalho Jorge and Castle Howard Casanova
- 3:26 pm local time / 9:25 am EST: Allie Knowles and LS Crown Royal
For help identifying the time in your time zone, refer to the widget below or use this website:
Time converter at worldtimebuddy.com
Adrian Ditcham’s cross country course, running counterclockwise for the first time in his near-decade tenure, can be viewed here on CrossCountry App and we’ll drop a few pieces of content below for a closer look.
Military Boekelo / FEI Eventing Nations Cup CCIO4*-NC-L (Netherlands): [Website] [Entries/Timing/Scores] [Live Stream]
