Lexington, Ky. – The final North American Selection Trial for the 2016 FEI World Driving Championships took place over the weekend at the Bromont International Driving CAI. James Fairclough led from start to finish to claim top honors in the CAI2*-H4 division.

Fairclough (Newton, N.J.) and his mixed team of Warmbloods started off the competition with a solid dressage test to earn a score of 46.91 to win the dressage phase. He and his horses delivered a bold performance on marathon day to win the phase with a total of 92.97 penalty points, having the best time in six of the seven obstacles. Fairclough closed out a stellar weekend by laying down a strong performance over a tough track in the cones phase with no knockdowns and 11.32 time penalties. He and his team won the final phase and clinched the overall win on a score of 151.20.

“Bromont went great. I needed it as a qualifier for the World Championship, so I am pleased that it went well. Dressage went very well. I changed the team around for this competition and I think I will keep it that way since it went so well. Marathon went extremely well; we did have a few mistakes, but I think some of that was due to heat getting to us. It was very hot on Saturday and Sunday, and on the marathon day I went at the very end of the day. For cones, it was an extremely difficult course with tight rollback turns. The course was made tougher by the sand/fiber footing due to the fact that if you try and take the turns too fast, the carriage ends up sliding. It was very difficult so I’m glad I drove cleanly and only had some time. Overall, I was very pleased with my team.”

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