The third day of competition at the 2017 Adequan/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC), presented by Gotham North, proved exciting for the Canadian contingent on July 21, 2017, with multiple medals and impressive finishes across all three disciplines of dressage, eventing and jumping.
Double Team Silver Medals for Canadian Jumping Athletes
The Canadian Jumping Teams made two appearances on the podium at HITS Saugerties in New York on July 21, with both the Young Rider and Children’s Teams taking Silver.
In the Young Rider Team Competition, teammates, Veronica Bot of Burlington, ON, Julia Madigan of Vancouver, BC, Jennifer Mattell of Milton, ON and Alexanne Thibault of Boucherville, QC earned their Silver Medal on a combined score of 24 faults. The combined US Zone 2, 5 & 7 Team took Gold on 12 faults, and US Zone 10 was Bronze with 84 faults.
The Team Competition for all jumping divisions followed the FEI Nations’ Cup format, with teams completing two rounds over an identical course. Teams of four had the ability to drop one team member’s score from each round, and the final placings were determined by the lowest number of combined faults.
The team was led by Madigan, 21, who lowered just one rail for four faults in the first round, then returned to achieve a clear second round aboard Farfelu du Printemps (Action Breaker x Darco), a 12-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding owned by John Madigan.
PHOTO – Julia Madigan & Farfelu du Printemps
“It’s my first year at NAJYRC and my last year as a Young Rider, so I’m just really happy that we medalled today,” said Madigan. “I’ve had my horse for almost two-and-half years, and he’s a really great partner to me. He came off the Spruce Meadows Summer Series super fit and came here really fresh so I actually had a little bit of a good time in the second round and was able to relax a little more and produce a better result.”
The Team Competition also acted as the Second Individual Qualifier, and after two days of competition and three rounds, Madigan is currently holding second place individually on a cumulative score of 8.66. The leader is Ailish Cunniffe of USA Zone 2, whose score is 4.14 aboard Baloucento.
Next on the Young Rider Individual leaderboard for Canada is Thibault, 19, who is in fourth place on a score of 12.00 after winning the First Individual Qualifier on July 20, then following up with four and eight faults, respectively, in the Team Competition. Thibault’s success came aboard her nine-year-old Hanoverian gelding, Chacco Prime (Chacco Blue x Le Primeur).
Holding sixth place individually is Bot, 21. Partnered with Cool Down 3 (Chacco Blue x Lysander), a 10-year-old Hanoverian gelding owned by AEI Corp., she is on a score of 12.10 after lowering two rails for eight faults in the first round of the Team Competition, then returning to put a second clear on the board for Canada in round two.
Mattell, 19, is currently in 11th place individually on a score of 36.39 aboard Cherokee (Cardento x Creool), Joe Mattell’s 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding.
The individual scores were tabulated as per FEI Championship rules by applying a time conversion to the First Individual Qualifier, held as a one-round speed class, then adding any further faults incurred in the rounds that follow. The top 25 athletes in the individual standings will be invited forward to the Individual Final set for July 23.All other athletes will contest the Farewell Competition on July 22.
PHOTO – L to R: Jennifer Mattell, Alexanne Thibault, Veronica Bot, Julia Madigan
In the Children’s Team Competition, Anya Bereznicki of Calgary, AB, Kieley McQuaker of Schomberg, ON, and Kyara Semrau and Carly Stevens of Foothills, AB were some of the first athletes to take to the podium in the inaugural Children’s Jumping division held at NAJYRC.
Together, the Canadians finished on a team total of nine faults to claim the Silver Medal. US Zone 10 won Gold on eight faults, and Mexico earned the Bronze Medal on 20 faults.
Bereznicki, 13, was one of only three athletes to lay down back-to-back clear performances in the Team Competition, and one of just two athletes to be on a perfect score of zero after two days and three rounds of competition. She is currently leading the individual standings with Diazella (Diamant de Semilly x Candillo), her nine-year-old Holsteiner mare.
“I’m really happy we are bringing this Silver home,” said Bereznicki. “I think we worked really well together as a team and it was a lot of fun.”
PHOTO – Anya Bereznicki & Diazella
Semrau, 14, is currently holding fourth place individually on a three-round score of five faults. Riding Wings Sublieme (Oklund x Voltaire), a 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare owned by Stone Ridge Farms LLC, she had four jumping and one time fault in the first round of the Team Competition, but returned to finish on a clear.
Partnered with her nine-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare, LCC Hello Kate (Luidam x Courage), Stevens, 14, had two rails for eight faults in the first round, but also achieved a clear in round two of the Team Competition. McQuaker,14 had a single rail in each round for a two-round total of eight faults aboard Karley Hopwood’s 17-year-old British Sport Horse, Encore 3E (Class Action x Emilion).
Stevens is currently sitting right behind Semrau in sixth place in the individual standings on a score of eight faults, while McQuaker is holding 11th place with 12 faults.
With the Team Competition also acting as the Second Individual Qualifier for the Children’s division, the top 60% of the athletes will move forward to the two-round Individual Final on July 23, while the remaining 40% will close out NAJYRC in the Farewell Competition on July 22.
“I was absolutely thrilled with our athletes today,” said Canadian Olympian, Beth Underhill of Schomberg, ON, who is the Chef d’Équipe for all Canadian jumping athletes at NAJYRC 2017. “Silver medal performances from both our Children’s and Young Rider Teams was an absolutely outstanding result. I am most proud of all our riders today, they gave top class efforts.”
PHOTO – L to R: Carly Stevens, Anya Bereznicki, Kyara Semrau, Kieley McQuaker
Canadian Young Rider Eventing Team Dances into Lead after Dressage
The Canadian Young Rider Eventing Team kicked off their NAJYRC 2017 performance on a high note, taking over the lead after the dressage phase on July 21 at Rebecca Farm in Kalispell, MT.
Team members, Anne-Sophie Levesque of Cochrane, AB, Annick Niemuller of Goodwood, ON, April Simmonds of Uxbridge, ON, and Emily Thompson of East Gwillimbury, ON, closed out the day on a combined team score of 158.4. US Area VII is currently in second with a score of 162.0, and US Area I/IV is third (173.6).
Thompson finished dressage as the highest-placed Canadian, currently sitting in fourth place on a score of 49.4 penalties with Paddington, a 12-year-old Thoroughbred/Connemara-cross gelding sired by Yavari and owned by Lisa Thompson. The current leader is Cornelia Dorr of Area I/IV, who has a score of 37.0 with Louis M.
PHOTO – Emily Thompson & Paddington
Simmonds, 19, earned a score of 54.3 penalties for her dressage test, putting her in seventh place individually aboard Impressively Done, a 12-year-old Thoroughbred gelding she co-owns with Faydon Enterprises Ltd. Niemuller, 18, will move forward into cross-country in ninth place with 54.7 penalties, partnered with FE Black Jack (Blackstone x Severus), a nine-year-old Dutch Sport Horse owned by Karl Niemuller, while Levesque, 19, will start cross-country in 11th place (59.5) aboard Eskapade (Portland L x Golden Art), her 11-year-old Canadian Sport Horse gelding.
“I am very excited about our Young Rider Team’s performance today; all the athletes stepped up to the plate and did Canada proud,” said Penny Rowland of Mono, ON, who is Chef d’Équipe for the Ontario eventing athletes at NAJYRC. Julie Simard of Cochrane, AB is the Alberta Chef d’Équipe, while Maeve Drew took on the role for British Columbia athletes on the Junior Team. “The overall team spirit is amazing and Rebecca Farm is spectacular. We are looking forward to cross-country tomorrow.”
Top 10 Finish for Ava MacCoubrey in Junior Dressage Individual
The highlight of the Canadian dressage results at HITS Saugerties on July 21 came in the Junior Individual Test, where Ava MacCoubrey, 15, of Cobourg, ON took eighth place on a score of 67.474% with her veteran partner, Pablo (Cordial Medoc x Voltaire), a 20-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Lori Bell.
Junior Team Competition Update: As stated in the July 20 EC NAJYRC Daily Wrap-Up, the Dressage Junior Team Competition results from July 20 were unavailable at the time of publishing. However, EC can now confirm that the Ontario Junior Dressage Team finished in seventh place on a combined score of 189.689. US Region 7 won the Gold Medal with 206.027. Silver went to US Region 1 with 201.081, and US Region 4 took Bronze (197.621).
In Store for Day 4
The fourth day of NAJYRC competition on July 22 will feature the cross-country phase for both the Young Rider and Junior eventing athletes at Rebecca Farm. At HITS Saugerties, the Young Rider Freestyle will take place for dressage athletes, while jumping athletes will compete in the Children’s, Junior and Young Rider Farewell Competitions.