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National Four-in-Hand and Singles Driving Championships Are on the Line This Weekend

by Andrew Minnick | Oct 1, 2013, 5:07 PM

Lexington, Kentucky - Two USEF National Champions will be determined this weekend during the Kentucky Classic CDE at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. Seven drivers will guide single horses in search of the USEF Singles National Championship and three talented veterans will compete with teams of four in search of the USEF National Four-in-Hand Driving Championship.

USEF National Single Horse Championship

With only one returning Single Horse Champion in the field, the USEF National Single Horse Championship is as likely as ever to end up in new hands. 1999 Champion Kimberly Stover (Smyrna, Delaware) will look to earn a second National Championship over a field of established and rising talent with international experience. The field includes three drivers that represented the U.S. at the 2012 FEI Singles Driving World Championship. Leslie Berndl (Newcastle, California), Donna Crookston (Saltsburg, Pennsylvania), and two time USEF Single Pony National Champion Sara Schmitt (Flemington, New Jersey) all made the trip to Leziras, Portugal last year and will be looking to add a USEF Single Horse National Championship to their trophy cases.

USEF Four-in-Hand National Championship

Chester Weber (Ocala, Florida) enters the Kentucky Classic following a very successful season in Europe that included a win at the 2014 WEG test event at CAI-Caen and a win at CAIO Saumur, as well as top three finishes at Beekbergen and Aachen. For nine years of the past decade this championship has gone to Weber, and he'll look to push that tally into double digits this weekend. However, during the year that broke Weber's streak of dominance it was stalwart U.S. driving veteran Jimmy Fairclough (Newtown, New Jersey) that took the championship from him. Fairclough will challenge Weber again this year, and the two will face stiff competition from 2012 Reserve National Champion Casey Zubek (Manhattan, Illinois) in a small but talented chase for the USEF Four-in-Hand National Championship.

Dressage at the Kentucky Classic CDE begins on Thursday.

For a list of competitors click here.

Follow the U.S. Driving Team on USEF Network.