Hey, guess who won everything? Surprised? Yeah....me neither.
For the first time in my life, I’m actually glad that I don’t have a TV (I know, it’s weird), because it means I didn’t spend last night agonizing over the election. Instead, I looked up a much more important set of year-end standings! While we do focus on the old red white and blue here at EN, we also like to give a lot of love to our fabulous riders across the pond, so I have included both US Eventing and British Eventing in this report. No matter how elated or disappointed you are feeling today due to the results of the presidential election, we can all unite in collective awe at these amazing human and equine athletes.
*Note* Points between US and British horses are not compatible with each other, only for comparison between rankings!
US Top Ten Horses: British Top Ten Horses:
1. Mr. Medicott : 250 points 1. Nereo : 427 points
2. Arthur : 212 points 2. Flying Finish : 393 points
3. Ballynoe Castle RM : 195 points 3. Clifton Promise : 392 points
4. Downtown Harrison : 187 points 4. Parklane Hawk : 349 points
5. Harbour Pilot : 186 points 5. Bay My Hero : 339 points
6. Manoir de Carneville : 176 points 6. Avebury : 319 points
6t. Fernhill Eagle : 176 points 7. Chilli Morning : 298 points
8. Courageous Comet : 175 points 8. Rutherglen : 297 points
9. Mystery Whisper : 174 points 9. Miners Frolic : 294 points
10. Anthony Patch : 168 points 10. Armada : 288 points
Mr. Medicott scored big points this year with a 5th at Red Hills CIC3*, a 4th at The Fork CIC3*, a 4th at Rolex, a win in the Bromont CIC3*, and an individual 9th in the Olympic Games, to lead the US contingent with 250 points. Another chestnut Irish horse, Arthur, placed well with a win at The Fork in a division of Advanced, and a 2nd place at Rolex, as well as a 6th place at Burghley. Ballynoecastle RM places third with two wins in Advanced divisions at New Jersey HT and Millbrook, as well as two 3rd place ribbons at two CIC3*’s, Richland and Plantation.
Across the pond, the amazing Nereo conquers them all with 427 points through a 2nd place at Bramham CIC3*, a 5th place at Aachen CICO3*, an individual 4th at the Olympics, and of course his recent win at Pau CCI4*. Lucinda Fredericks’ mount Flying Finish comes in second with a 2nd place finish at the Vairano CCI3* in Italy, a 4th place in the CIC3* at Houghton International, a 2nd a Luhmuhlen CCI4*, and an individual placement of 35th at the Olympics. Jock Paget’s Clifton Promise is third with a 6th place finish this spring at Rolex CCI4*, an individual 1oth at the Olympics, and his recent 2nd place at Pau CCI4*.
Becky & Comet at Pine Top earlier this year (photo by me)
*NOTE* Scores listed here may not match that of the current USEA rankings, due to the fact that the points for Galway have not officially come out, but I factored them in to this list, and have updated them accordingly.
US Top Ten Riders: British Top Ten Riders:
1. Phillip Dutton : 850 points 1. Andrew Nicholson : 2135 points
2. Bruce Davidson Jr : 705 points 2. William Fox-Pitt : 1608 points
3. Sarah Cousins : 672.5 points 3. Oliver Townend : 1480 points
4. Boyd Martin : 599 points 4. Paul Tapner : 720 points
5. Michael Pollard : 565 points 5. Gemma Tattersall : 693 points
6. Karen O’Connor : 523 points 6. Mark Todd : 671 points
7. James Alliston : 456 points 7. Caroline Powell : 665 points
8. Marilyn Little : 351 points 8. Jonathan Paget : 594 points
9. Becky Holder : 336 points 9. Piggy French : 577 points
10. Jonathan Holling : 333 points 10. Christopher Burton : 572 points
Unsurprisingly, Phillip Dutton finds his way to the top of the US leader board again, with a slew of Advanced horses like Fernhill Eagle, Mighty Nice, Mystery Whisper, and Atlas. It would be completely exhausting to look through his whole USEA 2012 record, but let’s just be clear and say that he rode a TON of horses to a LOT of events, and placed pretty well a WHOLE lot of times. Buck Davidson comes second, fresh off a 5th place at Galway CCI3* with The Apprentice. He spent the season with several nice mounts in his string, including Ballynoecastle RM, The Apprentice, Copper Beach, Park Trader, and No More Rocks. Sally Cousins can ride just about any horse around the upper levels double clear, and she’s got a nice group of consistent performers, such as The Robber Baron, Tsunami, Joule, Yukon Denali, Kestral Key, and her newest member, Ideal Contini.
If you haven’t heard about Andrew Nicholson taking 2012 by storm, you must have been either in a coma, or living under a boulder. Seriously, he literally kicked everybody’s butts. All you have to do is click back there, and find out the exhausting details of how much he rocked this year. William Fox-Pitt as a runner up? Not a huge surprise either, the man is a machine, and it’s not unhelpful that he has a stable full of CCI4* winners in his pocket either. The Olympics wasn’t his best showing, but he made up for it with consistent top 10 placings at every major international event on all of his horses. Oliver Townend is the British equivalent of Phillip, in that he has a LOT of horses at every level, at every single show. He may not have had a headlining year with big name wins, but he scores points every time he goes out on the weekends, and it adds up.
[Full 2012 USEA Leaderboard] [Full 2012 BE Leaderboard]
Phillip & Mighty Nice at Pine Top this year (photo by me)
