MILLSTREET, Ireland--The U.S. is fifth and last of the five teams in the inaugural Eventing U25 World Championship after two of the team riders had falls and were eliminated.
Alice Casburn on TopspinBut despite that, there is some better news.
Molly Duda on Disco Traveler, who is competing as an individual, is eighth on 45.2, just a little over two rails behind the individual leader, Alice Casburn of Great Britain on Topspin.
Olivia Dutton on Jewelent is 12th on 47.8, Meg Pellegrini on Dondante is 13th on 48.9,and Jack Curtis, competing as an individual, is 14th on 49.2.
If those four had been on the team, the U.S. would be fourth on 141.9, just a rail out of third.
The British team, led by Casburn, leads on 121.1
Great Britain and Ireland each had all four team riders clear around Mike Etherington-Smith’s influential and beautifully presented cross-country course and the two nations are only separated by a mere 4.7 penalties – the cost of just one showjumping rail.
British team riders Jasmine Underwood on Indian Girl G, Cerys Macaulay on Kananaskis and Tom Bird on Lenny, are in fourth, seventh and 15th places.
IRELAND'S Tom Nestor on Cooley Diamond Dancer has risen 11 places to the silver medal slot in the individual standings with the third fastest time of only 4.4 time penalties.
His team mates Godfrey Gibbons on Ballyvillane OBOS, Jennifer Kuehnle on Sammy Davis Junior and Isny O’ Donnell on Vital DK Z are in fifth, 10th and 19th positions respectively.
The German team is currently three fences behind Ireland in bronze medal position, with dressage leaders Calvin Bockmann on Altair de la Cense in the individual bronze spot with 12.4 cross-country time penalties,
Ann-Catrin Bierlein rose 28 places to sixth on Sir Scotty with the second fastest time of the day, 3.2 penalties, and Linus Weiss clear in 17th on Astrello.
All four French team members completed; Clara Cazeneuve riding Dolce Gabana is the highest placed in ninth place individually.
The USA team incurred an extra 200 penalties after two riders, Quidley Kellermann and Cassie Sanger, had falls.
No rider achieved the optimum time of 6min 30sec, but Casburn came closest with 2.8 penalties and rose 16 places to the individual gold medal position on her home-bred Topspin, veteran of nine five-star completions.
"I am beyond delighted," she said.
‘Topspin is such a professional. He really shines on the cross-country," Casburn said. "I did really feel the heat, as if it goes wrong, it’s on my shoulders. I wasn’t given team instructions. I was told to do my thing, and he is a horse that loves getting down to the nitty-gritty.’
‘It has been a long day waiting, so there is always a bit of pressure, especially being on home ground,’ said Irish anchorman Godfrey Gibbons. ‘This competition has given us all a great opportunity to get our names out there and it is great for the sport.’
Thirty-three of the field of 39 completed with 21 clear rounds.
The final horse inspection takes place at 8am tomorrow and the final jumping test starts at 1.30 pm., 8:30 am Eastern.
In the concurrent long-format competitions, Sam Ecroyd retained the lead in the CCI4*-L on Bloomfield Manuscript; Hallie Coon from the USA heads the CCI3*-L leaderboard on Boleybawn Oliva; and Ireland’s Ian Cassells and MGH Rioja still lead the CCI2*-L.
