Hagen, Germany - Ricky Neal saved his best performance of the U.S. Show Jumping Young Rider European Tour for the CSIOY Hagen Grand Prix. And the 19-year-old was rewarded with a major victory on Transmission. He topped a strong field of 48 competitors to take the top spot over Stephanie van den Brink and Wapper from the Netherlands and Germany's Andreas Kreuzer on Kanazia.
The top eight from the first round went forward to the jump-off and Neal flew to victory over the short course with a time of 44.62 on his 16-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding. He was more than a second faster than van den Brink.
The U.S. Young Rider team tied for third with Germany in the CSIYO Nations Cup. Catherine Pasmore on My Boy 18, Karen Polle on What Ever 11, Reed Kessler on Onisha and Jessica Springsteen on Vornado van den Hoendrik put in a solid effort in Saturday's challenging Nations Cup to finish on 24 faults. Pasmore jumped a clear first round, and then had one rail in the second. Polle picked up 12 faults in each leg. Kessler had four faults in round one and bounced back with a clear round in the second and Springsteen added eight in each leg. The Netherlands won on an impressive score of four and Great Britain finished close behind on eight.
Michele Grubb served as Chef d'Equipe.
The U.S. riders picked up ribbons throughout the week, all the results are available here: