The Plains, Va. – The Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team made history Sunday, handily capturing the inaugural FEI Nations Cup™ Eventing competition at the Land Rover Great Meadow International presented by Adequan®. Leading from start to finish, the team of Phillip Dutton, Lauren Kieffer, Boyd Martin, and Clark Montgomery had a favorable competition with noteworthy performances in their final stateside preparation event before the Rio Olympic Games, scoring 138.3 penalties. Canada moved up to second with an overall score of 177.6 penalties and Great Britain placed third with 254.3 penalties.

“It was a great weekend at Great Meadow,” said U.S. Eventing Team Coach David O’Connor. “The horses got the runs they needed and there are things to work on in the next couple weeks on the way to Rio, but I am quite confident with how the horses traveled and handled the course today and the competition as a whole.”

Montgomery (Tetbury, England) and Loughan Glen, owned by Jess Montgomery, Kathryn Kraft, and Holly and Bill Becker, were the overnight leaders and did not disappoint the massive crowd at Great Meadow as they led from start to finish. The pair performed the best dressage test of the competition, scoring 36.3 penalties, remained faultless through show jumping, and incurred 1.2 time penalties by going three seconds over the optimum time of 6:36 in the cross-country phase for a combined score of 37.5 penalties.

“It means a lot to win at Great Meadow this weekend,” said Montgomery. “I have been based in England for a while so to get to come home in the U.S. and compete in front of the home crowd, means a huge amount to me.”

Dutton (West Grove, Pa.) was the pathfinder for the team and the competition going first in all three phases. Riding Ann Jones and Thomas Tierney’s Fernhill Fugitive, Dutton had a credible first day scoring 47.2 penalties in dressage and going clear in show jumping. The pair knocked down a flag at the imposing Beverly Equestrian Brush Corners obstacle, but negotiated the remainder of the course without incident adding only 3.2 time penalties to their two-phase score of 50.4 penalties.

Martin (Cochranville, Pa.) and Gloria Callen’s Welcome Shadow were clear in show jumping to enter the final phase on their dressage score of 48.8 penalties. The pair rode second for the team on the Mike Etherington-Smith-designed cross-country course adding 1.6 time penalties to also finish on 50.4 penalties.

Kieffer (Middleburg, Va.) and Marie Le Menestrel’s Meadowbrook’s Scarlett contributed to the winning team score having just one rail down in show jumping and incurring a mere .4 time faults in cross-country for a final score of 55 penalties.

Individually, Americans placed four out of the top five. Marilyn Little and RF Demeter, owned by Jacqueline Mars, Raylyn Farms and Patrick and Eileen Witte, moved up from fourth after day one to place second. Holly Payne Caravella and Santino, owned by Beth Groblewski, were fourth with 50 penalties and Hannah Sue Burnett rode Under Suspection, owned by Mary Ann Ghadban, from 16th place to fifth overall scoring 50.2 penalties. Jodie Amos and Wise Crack of Great Britain were third on 49 penalties.

Complete results

On-demand footage of the competition will be available shortly on USEFNetwork.com.

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