Beezie Madden and Cortes 'C' (Nacho Olano)

Barcelona, Spain- The Hermès U.S. Show Jumping Team headed into the First Competition of the 2014 Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Jumping Final looking to secure a spot in Saturday’s Final Competition. However, it was not meant to be as the team of McLain Ward, Kent Farrington, Lauren Hough, and Beezie Madden finished Thursday’s round in ninth place on a score of 16.

Ward (Brewster, N.Y.) and Sagamore Farms’ 13-year-old Warmblood gelding, Rothchild, led off for the U.S., looking on track to produce a clear but a pair of rails late in the course over Santiago Varela’s 13-obstacle track resulted in a eight faults. Farrington (Wellington, Fla.) was next up with Amalaya Investments’ 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, Voyeur, producing a 12-fault round as the result of three rails coming down.

Hough (Wellington, Fla.) then kept the United States in contention for a berth in the Final, jumping a four-fault round with the 10-year-old Swedish Warmblood mare Ohlala, owned by The Ohlala Group. Madden (Cazenovia, N.Y.) looked to produce a clear round with her Team and Individual Bronze medalist partner from the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian, Abigail Wexner’s 12-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding Cortes ‘C’, but a rail in the triple at fence 11 meant the U.S. would finish with another four-fault score.

The United States will take part in Friday’s Challenge Cup starting at 2:00pm local time.

To learn more about the 2014 Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Jumping Final visit; http://fei.org/fei/events/fei-nations-cup-series/furusiyya.