Wellington, FL – In a night that would prove golden for our Irish friends, a young team led by famed Chef d’Equipe Eddie Macken set the standard for the Samsung Nation’s Cup at CSIO Wellington March 11, shutting out even the closest contenders by a roomy eight points. Riders Darragh Karrins, Jennifer Crooks, Conor Swail and Kevin Babington earned the Gold medal with a team total of 12 faults, split between two rounds. Babington and It’s Morado were in fact the only horse and rider pair able to maneuver the course well enough to bring home a double clear round.

“There was a little bit of pressure,” admits Babington. “But my horse jumped well. I was pretty confident going in (to the second round) … then he jumped the first five or six jumps even better than he did the first time.”

Another young team would prove talented enough to swipe the Silver on Friday. Eight points behind neighboring Ireland, Great Britain’s Michael Whitaker, Vicky Young, Robert Maguire and Ellen Whitaker finished with a respectable 20 faults total. And despite losing Federico Sztyrle to a bad fall in the first round, Argentina’s Pato Muente, Max Amaya and Ramiro Quintana pulled off a Bronze medal finish with 30 faults. Sztyrle is said to be doing well, though the extent of his injuries are not known.

The evening was nothing less than disappointing for team U.S.A. though. Despite solid efforts from World Cup hopefuls Lauren Hough, Kim Frey, Beezie Madden and Laura Kraut, the home team finished outside of the medal rankings. Madden did much to ensure the team’s climb to fifth place though, with four faults in the first jumping round and a clear second round. Added to the scores of our other top riders, we finished with a final score of 35 faults.
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