Lexington, KY – There were a handful of changes on the leaderboards today as the marathon proved a fair but demanding challenge at the 2009 USEF National Driving Championships at the Kentucky Cup and Lexington Driving Classic which is also serving as a test event for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

The USEF National Four-in-Hand Championship remains in Chester Weber’s grasp, after a second place marathon performance – less than a point behind Australia’s Boyd Excell – was good enough to leave him in the lead overall. Weber’s horses put in a polished and brave performance.

“I thought the course was super horse friendly,” said Weber, who on a two-day score of 129.05, lies 6.35 clear of fellow American Tucker Johnson going in to Sunday’s cones. “They were well built hazards and a challenge to drive. I was pleased with how everything went."

Weber (Ocala, FL) will try to become the first person ever to win seven National Championship titles – if he wins tomorrow he will have done it in seven years straight.

Another US driver rounded out the top three in the marathon, Texas driver Mike McLennan drove his Fresian/Quarter Horse crosses to an impressive marathon effort and a score of 92.55. This brought McLennan’s two-day score to 155.91, good enough for fifth overall and fourth in the National Championship.

“It was a little challenge, although I come from the part of Texas where it starts to get a little bit hilly,” said McLennan. “But we haven’t seen any rain in two years, I was worried about my shoeing but we only lost one shoe, and someone found it in hazard seven. My horses can be a little hotter, they are cutting-horse bred horses. I had the intent of driving all the inside routes… I watched one of the pony drivers in hazard three and changed my route completely, which is a good thing or else I would still be in there.”

Larry Poulin maintained his dressage lead with a commanding marathon performance in his final competition in the USEF National Pair Horse Championship. Poulin (Petersham, MA) will retire from competition after this weekend and there is no doubt about his determination to go out a champion. His two-day score of 115.88 leaves him nearly 20 points clear of Lisa Singer in second.

“The first hazard I was a little concerned; it was a little too technical I thought, for the first hazard,” said Poulin. “Lisa Singer beat us in the first hazard. It takes my horses one or two obstacles to loosen up and get back into the swing of things. We always do better later on in the course; they seem to be more in sync. [With] these particular obstacles, we do extremely well on the time. I did hear over the loud speaker that our time was very good. Lisa won the first one, I’m not sure about number seven, but we won five in a row so I knew we were having a good go.”

Poulin had to count on a different horse in the marathon today, as his usual marathon stalwart was injured earlier in the year.

“He went lame on us and is still in recovery,” said Poulin. “We had to plug in one of the veterans that was retired. Horses are very smart. Good, bad or indifferent, they remember. He knew exactly what he had to do and I was very grateful for that.”

In the Singly Horse division, Fritz Grupe maintained his overall lead after the first two phases but Scott Monroe slipped ahead to take the top honors in the marathon after a year hiatus.



“The boys are back,” said Monroe (Sharon, CT). “That’s what we’ve been saying all day. We took a year off; but I think he was undefeated in the marathon. He was very strong and finished marathon and was still full of life head up looking for next hazard.”



Not to be outdone by the horses, the ponies put on a great display in their three USEF National Championships.

Lisa Stroud (West Grove, PA) wasn’t going to relinquish her lead with her team of Connemara ponies. Her handy marathon left her well clear after an excellent dressage test so her two-day score of 145.14 gives her plenty of breathing room going into Sunday’s cones.

“I really enjoyed the hazards,” said Stroud. “The ponies went well and handled it easily. They were full of vim and vigor right up to the finish and it was really fun to drive on the site for WEG.”

Stroud had an inexperienced leader in her team for these National Championships but she felt he handled the challenges like a veteran.

Tracey Morgan (Beallsville, MD) widened her dressage lead to 17 points after a fantastic marathon. She was thrilled with her pair of ponies and they way that they handled the undulating track designed by Richard Nicoll.

“My mares really felt on today,” said Morgan. “They were very fast through all the water hazards and they never got tired. They had as much fun as me… there were no low points.”

Suzy Stafford took over the top spot in the Single Pony Division. She drove a confident, fast marathon to finish on a two-day score of 117.77 over dressage winner Shelley Temple who takes 121.99 into the cones.

“My pony was absolutely tremendous,” said Stafford (Bear, DE). “This course was designed for her, it played on all her strengths. I was in second after dressage and I knew I had to make up a couple of points I knew I had to drive as accurate as I could and keep the speed up. They were long hazards for a single pony as they are designed for the fours for the WEG.”

ENDS

The cones will wrap up the six USEF National Championships on Sunday. For more information, please visit: http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/breedsDisciplines/discipline/alldrivng/nationalChampionships.aspx. Please contact Joanie Morris at [email protected] with questions.

Please see: www.clubequestrian.com for videos and photos.