Eventing
White-Carty Gears Up for Rolex with a CIC3*W Win, Brannigan Adds to Pristine Record at The Fork Horse Trials - the Last Spring Adequan USEA Gold Cup Event
By Heidi White
Apr 15, 2008, 10:29
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Carty and her long time partner Northern Spy were able to post a double-clear round this afternoon in the CIC3*W division at The Fork Horse Trials, taking home the Advanced trophy Adequan USEA Gold Cup division. After a long and very stormy weekend, with the grounds crew working around the clock to make sure the footing was ideal, the conditions of the course were excellent, the ground was lush and springy, and rave reviews came in droves. All in all, it was a very rewarding day for the sport of eventing.
White-Carty, 42, who's based out of Aiken, SC, had a fabulous gallop around the Capt. Mark Phillips' designed course, and was pleased with the care and preparation that went into the course maintenance as well as the upkeep throughout the day. "The ground crew did a super job, considering the conditions they had to work in this weekend," said White-Carty. She also said that she thought the officials made great decisions in deciding to take out jumps if they thought they might hinder horse's safety. "They were doing everything they could to make sure it was safe. The crew are the ones who should definitely get credit for the success of this event."
"This course was a confidence builder for Rolex, and so it was important to have a good run here," she said. White-Carty had hoped to give Northern Spy, a.k.a. "Farley," a great run before the four-star in Kentucky, and wasn't planning to go for the win necessarily. "I went out thinking I'd let Farley do his thing, but he felt so good that I took some of the direct routes, like going straight through the corners, and we ended up making the time," she added.
White-Carty thought that her entire weekend went wonderful, even though the conditions were less than ideal. "I've been working on dressage with Kim Severson, so that's been really great," she said. She and Farley stood in fourth place after Thursday's dressage left them with a 48.10, and yesterday they were able to post a double-clear round in the pouring rain in show jumping to move up to second. "The conditions were hard, with the rain lashing down in the ring, but he felt super. He's a big-footed English horse, so he's built to last," she said with a laugh.
After Rolex at the end of April, the pair will be training with the rest of the USEF High Performance team and gearing up for the Olympic Games this summer. If they head to Hong Kong, it won't be the first time that they've represented the U.S. in international competition - they were members of the U.S. team at the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen and also placed 2nd in the Rolex Kentucky CCI4* last April.
Clark Montgomery, 27, and Up Spirit, fresh off their win a few weekends ago at the Red Hills Horse Trials in Florida, also posted a double-clear round today to jump up from fifth to finish in second place. Montgomery, his wife Jessica, and the nine-year-old Thoroughbred gelding are headed to England, Up Spirit's homeland, to train at Mark and Sandy Phillips’ farm in preparation for the Saumur CCI*** (France), where they'll test their mettle against the best of the European riders.
Allison Springer and her young and talented Irish Sport Horse Arthur (Brandenburg's Windstar--Kelly) originally led the field of nearly 30 horses in the CIC3*W division, but unfortunately a rail down and time faults yesterday dropped them to third, and coupled with four time faults today, they did not move up in the standings. Springer, 34, of Marshall, Virginia had to have been pleased, however, with the gelding's performance this weekend, and will be gearing up for his first outing at the four-star level in a few weeks at Rolex Kentucky.
Figuring out who won the Intermediate Gold Cup trophy and prizes was a bit more complex, since there were three separate Intermediate divisions and all of the competitors would be pooled together for final Gold Cup standings at the end of the weekend. When all was said and done, Jennie Brannigan and her spectacular grey gelding Cooper were the unequivocal winners, finishing their weekend with a 33.5, the lowest score out of all of the Intermediate divisions. The seven-year-old Dutch Warmblood (imported from Holland) was originally campaigned by Kelli Temple, but 21-year-old Brannigan has had remarkable success with him in the past year and a half, literally winning nearly every event they've entered from Novice to Intermediate.
Brannigan was thrilled with the weekend, and especially her win in the Gold Cup division. "I thought the course was lovely and rode very well, with lots of very inviting jumps. Cooper felt super and this was a great confidence builder before the Ocala CCI2* next weekend," she said. Brannigan originally hails from San Diego, California, but has been training with Canadian Mike Winter in Georgia since last summer. Look forward to more exciting wins from this promising pair in the very near future!
The second best score out of all three Intermediate divisions was held by Pippa Moon, 26, of Southern Pines, North Carolina and her 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Ribbo. Moon and Ribbo were tied for seventh after dressage with a 36.6 and were fault-free for the rest of the weekend.
Third place finisher in the Intermediate Gold Cup division was Sharon White, sporting her customary orange colors on cross-country, aboard Peter Barry's Irish Thoroughbred gelding Ashwood Lad. Based out of Summit Point, West Virginia at Last Frontier Farm, White had a fabulous weekend with a win in her Intermediate division and two top five finishes in the other Intermediate divisions as well.
For her win in the Advanced division, Heidi-White 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.
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.
This year, the Gold Cup Series is proud to offer a bonus incentive: the SUCCEED® Challenge Series, a specially created competition, will be run in conjunction with all 2008 Gold Cup Series events and will award more than $5,000 in cash and prizes at the 2008 USEA Annual Convention, December 11-14 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Click here to find out how you can be part of this exciting series.
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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