Dressage
Ebeling rode Ann Romney's Rafalca to a 10th place finish on a score of 68.191% in the Grand Prix test. Winyamaro, ridden by Haddad-Staller, earned a score of 67.34% to finish directly behind Ebeling in 11th place and the final U.S. pair, Harding and her own Come On III, were 15th earning a 64.696%.
In Saturday's Grand Prix Freestyle, Ebeling and Rafalca again led the U.S, effort scoring a 72.589% and finishing in eleventh place. Haddad-Staller and Harding were 12th and 14th respectively, on scores of 70.161% and 67.625%. The Netherlands' Adelinde Cornelissen and Jerich Parzival were winners of both the Grand Prix presented by Sparkasse (80.957%) and the Grand Prix Freestyle (84.804%).
For news, videos, photos, blogs and results, visit http://usefnetwork.com/2011FEIWCFinals/
Details about the Finals are available at http://www.engarde.de/events/index.php?eventID=65
Driving
American pony driver Laurie Astegiano won the CAI Pau in France by over 30 points. She led from start to finish over a trio of French drivers. Astegiano has been winning across Europe this spring on her quest for a spot on the American team at the FEI Pony World Driving Championships September 22-25 in Slovenia. Meanwhile in Austria, Misdee Wrigley-Miller was fourth at Viechtwang. She was the only woman driving a pair of horses at the competition and she was second in the dressage, seventh in the marathon and ended up fourth overall.
Information about Pau is available here: http://www.hoefnet.nl/uitslagen/2011/FRA/PAU.20110428.20110501/A+B+C.htm
Eventing
The Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by Bridgestone is the cornerstone of the American eventing calendar; each year, dozens of riders and tens of thousands of fans flock to Lexington, KY, for the only CCI4* in North America.
2011 didn't disappoint, the rain tried to complicate things, but the event prevailed. The 49-year-old Mary King made the trip from Great Britain worth the miles with her two horses. She finished first on her homebred mare Kings Temptress and second with the Portuguese-bred Fernhill Urco. She put on a horsemanship clinic - adding just a handful of time faults on Fernhill Urco as her only additional penalties after the dressage.
Sinead Halpin jumped up to third place overall, but her effort led the Americans and she scored the title of USEF National CCI4* Champion in her very first try at the sport's highest level. Riding Carrig, LLC's Manior de Carneville (also contesting his first CCI4*), Halpin moved up from eighth after the dressage to fourth after the cross country, but she sealed her top three placing with a brilliant clear show jumping round.
Complete results are available here: http://scoring.rk3de.org/leaderBoard.html
Watch all the action on the USEF Network: http://www.usefnetwork.com/Rolex3Day2011/ where videos, photos and blogs are posted.
Jumping
The U.S. had a strong showing at the Rolex/FEI World Cup Jumping Final in Leipzig, Germany with three riders finishing in the top 12. Beezie Madden finished tied for fourth on a score
of 12 faults after tying for the win and being one of only two riders to jump two clear rounds on Sunday's final day of competition with Coral Reef Via Volo. Earlier in the week, this pair also won the Opening Competition, as the only combination to jump fault-free in the first round. McLain Ward finished 10th in the final standings of the 2011 Finals on score of fourteen.
Saturday also saw Ward ride Rothchild to a third place finish behind Ireland's Dennis Lynch and Billy Twomey in the Sparkassen Cup-Grand Prix of Leipzig. Margie Engle finished 12th overall in the World Cup standings with a score of 18 faults. Germany's Christian Ahlmann was crowned the 2011 Rolex/FEI World Cup champion after finishing on a score of four faults. Canada's Eric Lamaze was second, with Jeroen Dubbeldam of The Netherlands third.
The EY Cup also took place in Leipzig, with U.S. young riders collecting top results throughout the week. In the first round of competition, three Americans finished in the top four behind Alexander Hufenstahl of Germany. Katie Dinan rode Vancouver to second place honors, while Valentine, ridden by Cayla Richards, picked up third place and Caitlin Ziegler piloted VDL Groep Camara to fourth. In Thursday's second round, Audrey Coulter rode Rodenburgh's California to an impressive victory, with Caitlin Ziegler and Valencia close on their heels in second place.
In the final round, Reed Kessler and Ligist were the highest placing Americans in fifth place, Marie Lutgenau and Strolchi of Germany won the final round of the EY Cup.
For news, videos, photos, blogs and results visit http://usefnetwork.com/2011FEIWCFinals/
Details about the Finals are available at http://www.engarde.de/events/index.php?eventID=65
Reining
Reining joined the festivities at the Kentucky Horse Park during the Rolex Kentucky CCI4* as the Kentucky Reining Cup CRI5* gave some of the best reiners the chance to return to the arena where they contested the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games last fall. All four members of the Gold Medal Team for the U.S. returned to run for a total of $90,000 in prize money. Shawn Flarida led the way on KR Lil Commander and scored a huge victory on 224.5, over his WEG teammate Craig Schmersal, who was second and third on Miss Lil Addy Tude (225.0) and Mister Montana Nic (224.5), respectively.
The following evening the reiners brought down the house again, this time with the inaugural $25,000 Tarter Farm & Ranch Equipment World Championship Freestyle. The night was filled with music, laughter, cheering and horsemanship before a packed Alltech Arena crowd. Shane Brown and Houston Shine won on a score of 226 points, over five-time World Champion Pete Kyle and Whizs Bronze Star on 225. Brown and Houston Shine were flawless in their execution, while Kyle had the crowd laughing in his shorts and cowboy boots while riding mostly hands-free. Four eventing riders got in on the action: Olympic medalists David O'Connor, Karen O'Connor and Gina Miles as well as young Australian eventer Hamish Cargill, all impressed. David O'Connor finished sixth, after removing his horse's bridle and performing his last spin without it.
All of the footage, photos and details are available here: http://usefnetwork.com/2011KYCupReining/
Vaulting
At the CVI2* Ermelo in The Netherlands, American vaulter Sarah d'Auriol was eighth overall in the Individual Women's Vaulting competition. She vaulted on Harry Potter, and held her own in a very tough field which was led by Great Britain's Gold medalist from the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, Joanne Eccles. Eccles won convincingly on a score of 8.425. Harry Potter was lunged by Ines Nawroth.
Complete information is available here: http://www.cviermelo.nl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=3
For more information about the U.S. High Performance programs click here. To submit High Performance news, please e-mail: Joanie Morris.