Langley, British Columbia, Canada -- The NetJets® U.S. Jumping Team finished third in Sunday’s FEI Jumping Nations Cup Canada CSIO5* at Thunderbird Show Park, securing qualification for the 2023 FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final in Barcelona, Spain—one of two remaining qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
“The mandatory all-out effort to get qualified for Barcelona was our goal from the first part of the year,” U.S. Jumping Chef d'Equipe Robert Ridland said. “This was exactly what our plan was. You’d like to win [today], but podium finishes are what we go for and we got it.”
Sunday’s podium also gave the NetJets U.S. Jumping Team the top title in the FEI Jumping Nations Cup North and Central American and Caribbean Division, with the team previously winning the two earlier competitions in the series at San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and San Juan Capistrano, California.
Karl Cook (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) and Kalinka van't Zorgvliet led off for the U.S., contesting Sunday’s track, built by Peter Holmes (CAN), with the team drawing second in the competition order. The pair posted a quick 71.20-second time but added eight faults to open the first rotation for the team. Charlotte Jacobs (East Aurora, N.Y.) and Edocenta followed Cook in the order, riding to eight faults after dropping a rail and tapping the tape at the open water.
With two combination rotations complete, Lacey Gilbertson (Lake Forest, Ill.) and Karlin van 't Vennehof were the third U.S. pair to finish under the time allowed but added 16 faults to their score.
As the last combination in the team order and under pressure to secure a clear round and keep the U.S. in third after the first round, Kent Farrington (Wellington, Fla.) and Landon answered the call, going clear in 73.99 seconds and moving the team into round two on a total score of 16.
(Mackenzie Clark Photo)
“The course ended up being a good course,” Ridland said. “It was as it should have been—hard enough, and it was a tremendous learning experience for Charlotte and Lacey in their first five-star team competition.”
Opening round two, Cook and Kalinka van't Zorgvliet, a 2010 Belgian Warmblood mare owned by Signe Ostby and groomed by Brooke Belden, delivered a clear round well under time to stop the timers in 71.90 seconds. Jacobs and Edocenta, a 2012 Oldenburg mare owned by North Star and groomed by Paulo Moreira, followed with a strong effort, finishing on four faults to improve on their first-round effort. Gilbertson and Karlin van 't Vennehof, a 2010 Belgian Warmblood mare owned by Seabrook LLC and groomed by Olivia Swanson, navigated the track within the time allowed andfinished on eight faults to conclude their debut for the team.
Farrington and Landon, a 2013 Zangersheide gelding owned by Haity McNerney and groomed by Denise Moriarty, closed out the competition for the team adding eight faults to their second tour of the course, with the team finishing on a total of 12 in the second round.
The team finished the competition on a total of 28 faults, earning a podium finish behind Ireland, which took first on four faults, and Canada, which finished second on a total of score of eight.
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