Eventing
Even though she had a comfortable lead going into the final phase at the Adequan USEA Gold Cup Galway Downs CIC3* in Temecula, CA, Gina Miles wanted to give McKinlaigh a good solid round since their next event will be the Rolex Kentucky CCI4* at the end of April. Though she thought she had only one rail to spare, she actually could have had three down and still won the event. McKinlaigh was rhythmical and balanced as he performed a hunter-like round over the Richard Jeffery-designed course.
In spite of announcer Michael Tucker's constant reminders that Miles and McKinlaigh are contenders for this summer's Olympic Games, she said that she stayed relaxed and focused on the job at hand. "I'm so confident in McKinlaigh – he really does know his job," she said. "It's always nice when you have a rail in hand. I didn't know I had three – it makes you breathe a little easier. But Kentucky will be 'clean round necessary' so you have to put pressure on yourself. You have to psyche yourself up for that."
McKinlaigh will fly to Kentucky the Monday before the event along with Hawley Bennett's Livingstone and Jennifer Wooten's The Good Witch. The three horses should be familiar with each other by now, since they stood together in the lineup today: The Good Witch finished second with a clear round, and Livingstone was third in spite of two rails down. Jolie Sexson and Killian O'Connor, second after yesterday's cross-country, had an unfortunate three rails that knocked them out of the top three and into a final sixth place, behind Tory Smith on Bantry Bay in third and Debbie Rosen on The Alchemyst in fifth.
Wooten, who represented the U.S. at the World Cup Finals in Pau, France last year where she was the top American finisher in 11th place, will be competing at Rolex for the first time. "I was really using this event as a prep for Rolex and I wanted to focus on riding the plan," she said. The pair got their season off to a good start two weeks ago by winning their first outing at Three-Day Ranch Horse Trials. Wooten then celebrated her 30th birthday on March 21st.
"I was content in our personal progress this weekend," she said. "Moving up from 9th to second place was icing on the cake. I'm going to be celebrating when I get home!"
The Good Witch is a 10-year-old black Irish Thoroughbred owned by Donn and Daisy Tognazzini of Los Olivos, CA. In 2006 Wooten relocated her business to Ramona, CA to become head trainer at Copper Meadows. This placed her closer to her coach Ginnie Bryant's barn in San Juan Capistrano so she can focus on furthering her own riding at the upper levels. As a member of the USEF Winter Training List she is also under the scrutiny of Olympic selectors.
"At Rolex I am aiming to complete, first of all, and to take the same attitude as this weekend and take it one day at a time. I believe we can put in a competitive dressage test in the 50's, on cross-country I'd like to be able to make the time, and in stadium handle the pressure to jump around clean. I can honestly say I feel ready to go."
Hawley Bennett, who lives and trains in Temecula but rides for Canada, had a hairy start to her round when Livingstone went down on his knees after the first fence. "I thought I was going down!" said Bennett. "His face was on the ground and his knees were in the dirt. It rattled me a little and I think it rattled him too. He jumped so big I think he just stumbled. He had a mouthful of dirt but he just got up and kept going. I think that's why we had the rails down – he felt good in the warm-up, and last weekend we jumped two days with Buck (Davidson) and didn't touch a thing. It probably stung his knees when he went down."
Lucky for Bennett, she had a strong enough lead that when Sexson had three rails down Bennett stayed in third place. Sexson had some consolation in the fact that she placed second in the CIC* riding Fade to Black.
Bennett had even more reason to celebrate when her student Alexandra Knowles, riding Last Call had a clean and clear round to win their first CIC** on their dressage score of 53.2. Bennett broke into tears as she said, "I take a lot of pride in what I do and I'm so proud of her. Allie's improvement in the last year was pretty amazing."
Knowles said, "Usually I get nervous before stadium. Today I knew we were all within two points of each other, and no one before me knocked a rail. The pressure was on, but I wasn't nervous – my horse warmed up great and I got her a little pumped up. I rode the best I could and it worked." Knowles was quick to point out, "I would not be where I am today without Hawley."
After a successful weekend the West Coast riders have taken a stronghold of the Gold Cup leaderboard. Miles and McKinlaigh jump to the top of the Advanced standings with 290 points, earning 200 for their first place win and 50 bonus points for a double-clear cross-country round, and an additional 40 points for a double-clear show jumping round on Sunday. Jennifer Wooten and The Good Witch followed closely behind with 265, after gaining 175 for their second place finish, and gaining all 90 bonus points as well. Hawley Bennett and Livingstone rounded out the top three with a 210 for third place (160 points for placing and 50 points extra for a double-clear cross-country round).
West Coast riders are dominating the Intermediate division leaderboard as well with Alexandra Knowles and Last Call adding 170 points to their name to take the top position. They won 100 points for their win in the CIC2* and 40 points for double-clear cross-country round and 30 for a fault-free stadium trip. Julie Ann Boyer and Rumor Hazit head up the second place, while Alexis Helffrich and Spike are tied for third with Becky Holder and Rejuvenate.
Visit the Gold Cup Leaderboard on the USEA website to see the complete line-up and check out the Gold Cup Point System for a complete explanation of the point distribution.
For her win, Miles received $500 in cash, Mountain Horse SCS3 boots, a box of Adequan, two tubes of UlcerGard, two pairs of Nunn Finer American Style boots, a three-month supply of Wellpride, two bags of Nutrena feed, Back on Track pillow wraps and polo wraps. Second place finishers win Nunn Finer brushing boots and a Back on Track saddle pad, and third place also takes home Nunn Finer brushing boots and a Back on Track saddle pad. Not to be left empty-handed, fourth place finishers get a Back on Track saddle pad for their efforts. The Intermediate division gets the exact same prizes, but instead of the Mountain Horse boots, they receive a Mountain Horse Cirrus jacket.
Click here to read dressage coverage and here to read cross-country coverage from the weekend.
The Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series is made possible through the support of its many sponsors: Title: Adequan; Legacy: Nunn Finer, Nutrena, and World Equestrian Brands; Contributing: Cover-All, UlcerGard, and Wellpride; and Patron: Back on Track, Broadstone Equine Insurance Agency, Mountain Horse, and Succeed.
For more information on the Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series, including the final leaderboard and coverage from each event, click on the Gold Cup link on the USEA website homepage at www.useventing.com.
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