Rain couldn’t dampen the spirits of the next generation of top eventing athletes as the USEF Eventing Young Rider Championships at The Maryland International CCI & H.T. wrapped up with a horse inspection and show jumping to decide team and individual medals.
Sterling Pollard has already shown herself to be a rider of multiple talents – she was selected to compete both at these Eventing Young Rider Championships as well as at the Gotham North/FEI North American Youth Jumping Championships (NAYC) in Michigan at the end of July. On Sunday, she got her championship tour off to a strong start by taking home individual gold and team silver in the CCIU253*-S with Michael Pollard’s Tinto. Pollard and Tinto ended the weekend on a score of 31.1, never needing the two rails they had in hand to secure the individual win.
Pollard was feeling confident on Saturday after her cross-country, knowing that the 7-year-old Belgian Warmblood (purchased at auction by Carl Bouckaert and started by Belgian Olympian Karin Donckers) was a strong show jumper. But, “anything can happen” she said, keeping her emotions level for the task ahead.
She needn’t have worried, as she left no doubt with her double clear round on Sunday. “I felt [some nerves] when I was going in the arena, but you know, I’ve got a really good help behind me, my dad and [John and Beezie Madden]. I’ve heard a bunch of really cool stories of just brush it off and take a deep breath and it’ll be okay,” she said. “It felt really good. I was really surprised with how well he was jumping. He does like to be expressive and show how big he wants to try for me, and I really enjoyed the course.”
As for Pollard’s next goal of competing at NAYC in about a month’s time, she remains ever the realist, believing in the system she has at home. “I’ll be excited. I’ve just got to always remember to stay calm and focus on the next step and not get ever too low or too high.”
Pollard now joins the line as the latest generation to achieve Young Rider success: her mother, Nathalie Bouckaert, an Eventing Young Rider champion who won back-to-back Young Rider titles in 1997 and 1998, as well as her father, Michael Pollard, who was the USEA Young Rider of the Year in 2001.
Joining Pollard on the podium are Riley Zgrebnak and Cooley Criminal Mind, who also jumped double clear around Chris Barnard’s (GBR) show jumping course to retain their silver medal placing on a score of 40.9. Zgrebnak made her Young Rider Championships debut this weekend, building off of ongoing success at the three-star level with the 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding initially ridden by Olympic medalist Kim Severson.
The CCIU253*-S gold medal team. Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.
Also competing in her first Young Rider Championships, Sarah Ertl and Redwood Quality finished in bronze medal position on a final score of 42.4.
Team 2, comprised of Areas 3 and 6, took home team gold thanks to the collective efforts of podium finishers Riley Zgrabnak and Sarah Ertl as well as Sydney Shinn (HSH Crypto) and Caitlin O’Roark (JustIceTheBeast), with a final score of 131.9 sealing the medals.
Lauren Crabtree Wins Bittersweet Title in CCIYR2*-S
Lauren Crabtree and Derroon Diamond. Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.
It was a sentimental ending to this stage of Lauren Crabtree’s eventing career as she, having shuffled back into second place after cross-country, got herself back into the leading position and took home a gold medal in the CCIYR2*-S with her own Derroon Diamond. She and the 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding jumped a double clear to end on a 30.1 overall.
Crabtree, who is a recent transplant from California to South Carolina, is hanging up her riding gear (temporarily, at least) after this weekend to focus on shifting to studying nursing at the University of Utah in the fall. With that in mind, she wanted to leave Young Riders having given everything she had.
It paid off in a big way.
“I feel so incredibly lucky and so grateful, especially since this is my last show that I was able to take home the gold, that’s an incredible feeling,” an emotional Crabtree said. “I’m so proud of my horse – he did not have to jump that well at all, but he did, and he really showed me why he’s such an incredible horse.”
While she won’t sell Derroon Diamond – instead, the gelding will go to professional rider Seth Chapman to campaign while Crabtree is in school. She hopes to make her way back to riding and eventing as soon as she can. For now, though, she’s enjoying this moment.
“I mean, we all hope for it, but I had no clue what was going to happen going into today, if I was going to drop to 10th place or if I was going to move up,” Crabtree said of her result. “So, I’m really, really happy with the outcome. I just put it into God’s hands, and He figured it out for me.”
Taking silver and just missing out on gold by the price of one rail, cross-country leader Eleanor Winter finished on a score of 31.0 with her own Mosstown Rebel. Finishing third is University of Kentucky recent grad Madyson Hsue and her own ISO Cambria, who finished just a pinch off of their dressage score with two seconds of time added on cross-country Saturday and a clear card on Sunday for a score of 31.6.
Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.
Team 1 comprised of Areas 8 and 9 took home team gold in the CCIYR2*-S, with strong efforts from individual podium finisher Madelyn Hsue and ISO Cambria as well as Finley Powell and Pioneer Archibald, Claire Maloney and Phoenyx, and Lola Lonesky with Cooley Quicksilver. The winning team finished well in hand of silver, on a cumulative score of 108.5.
Langmo Goes Wire-to-Wire in CCIJ1*-S
Kennedy Langmo and Knock Out. Photo by Kira Topeka for Erin Gilmore Photography.
Kennedy Langmo may have felt a bit of pressure coming into Sunday’s show jumping with the two-phase lead aboard Jennie Jarnstrom-Dennis’ Knock Out. The pair had one rail in hand and did need to call upon it, lowering fence 7 on Chris Barnard’s track, but they’d done more than enough to secure individual gold in the CCIJ1*-S on a score of 28.0.
Langmo leases Knock Out, an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, from Swedish four-star rider Jennie Jarnstrom-Dennis, who is also Langmo’s coach in Florida. Though they’ve been paired for just under a year, they’ve built a partnership and a level of trust in each other that gives Langmo much of her confidence for big moments such as this.
“I feel like what we’ve built over the past few months has been a lot of trust,” Langmo said. “He started out a little bit more tense, and he was a little panicked in the show jumping sometimes. So, over time, building trust has helped us to get smoother rounds.”
“Knowing that all of our practice leading up to this has shown through a performance here,” she answered when asked how she’d managed the pressure that comes with the leading position. “I’m just really happy with how he was. He behaved super well, so I was confident and handled the pressure well, because he was handling it well.”
Lula Carney stuck in for second place and individual silver with her own Excel Star Vero Amore, adding one second of time but retaining her positioning on a final score of 30.7. This weekend was Lula’s FEI and Young Rider Championships debut with the 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding. Kaitlyn Cobey and her own Redfield Need for Speed moved up from fifth onto the final spot on the podium thanks to a solid double clear round. After adding a small amount of time on cross-country Saturday, Cobey and Redfield Need for Speed finished the weekend on a score of 33.6.
Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.
Langmo and Cobey’s contributions lent themselves to team gold in the CCIJ1*-S, joined by Molly McLaughlin and Fly Boy as well as Nicole Nair and Cooley Vita.
The Maryland International CCI & H.T. extends their gratitude to all who attended this weekend’s 20th anniversary celebration, whether competing, supporting, sponsoring or spectating. Full scores from the weekend can be found here.
The Maryland International CCI & H.T. / USEF Eventing Young Rider Championships (MD): [Website] [Scores]
