United States Eventing Association

Mary Burke and Prince William have positioned themselves for a repeat win in the Adequan USEA Gold Cup at Aspen Farms Horse Trials in Yelm, Wash. after a clear cross-country round inside the time today.

“Overall I’m very pleased,” says Burke. “My horse is super crafty and efficient with his feet. It’s one reason he does really well with cross-country. The whole course felt good. I think I had a little bit of a pilot error coming to the first water; I should have gotten him back a bit quicker just to make the bounce in easier for him; I didn’t so he put a little shuffle in there. He was super through all the other questions. His speed and his ability to turn quickly gets him in on time.”

Compared to last year’s Adequan USEA Gold Cup Advanced course, Burke reflects “they changed the track a bit. I thought it was a good course; it’s a course that sets people up to have confidence for Woodside and Galway. I didn’t find it to be overly technical. It had some big jumps on it and some good questions—a good confidence building course.”

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s show jumping, Burke notes “we’ve been working on making time for show jumping. Because he can be tense, he gets short and tight in his stride. We’ve been much better with that this year and have made time in every show jump this season. That is what we’ll be trying to do tomorrow.”

Sara Sellmer and TF Kreisler moved up to second place thanks to their convincing clear round. They also delivered the fastest time over the course at 6 minutes 11 seconds, finishing on their dressage score of 30.7.

According to Sellmer, “Brad was fantastic. He was hunting all the jumps. I knew by fence 3 he was on, and then I just enjoyed it and let him do his thing. He got a bit long to the water, but he is so quick and honest it worked out.”

Of the course, Sellmer says, “it’s so fun! It’s really clear to the horses—big bold fences and the horses can read things well. I felt safe.”

Sellmer is looking forward to show jumping tomorrow. “He felt great at the end of cross-country,” she says. “I think I’ll have enough horse for tomorrow; he’s much fitter than he was at Rebecca Farm. Show jumping can be hard for us because he gets a bit long, but he is capable of a clear round. Pressure’s on!”

Jordan Lindstedt and Revitavet Capato had a clear jump round, but picked up a costly 2.4 time penalties that dropped them from a tie for first to third. Louise Leslie and Santarae retired after a run-out at Fence 4B, a narrow table. Emily Pestl-Dimmitt was eliminated after falling from Airlington at fence 20 when attempting the direct route over the open corner. Andrea Nielsen and LC O'Shawnisee incurred 20 penalties for a run-out at the same fence and moved to fourth place.

Adequan USEA Gold Cup show jumping will begin at 8 a.m. Pacific. on Sunday with cash and prizes on the line. The winner will receive $1,000, two 7-dose Adequan certificates, a $350 Nunn Finer certificate, a FITS breeches certificate, and other Aspen Farms prizes.

Scores for all classes including the 10 USEA Area VII Championship classes can be found on Startbox Scoring, here: http://eventingscores.com/eventsr/aspen/ht0916/.

Stay tuned to live show coverage by following Aspen Farms Horse Trials on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AspenFarmsHorseTrials.

About the Adequan USEA Gold Cup

The Adequan USEA Gold Cup features 11 qualifying competitions throughout the United States at the Advanced Horse Trials and CIC3* levels. The final will take place at the Nutrena USEA American Eventing Championships, September 1-4 in Tryon, North Carolina. Riders who complete a qualifier earn the chance to vie for $40,000 in prize money and thousands of dollars in prizes in the Adequan Advanced Division and the title of Adequan USEA Gold Cup Champion.

The 2016 Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series is made possible through the support of its many loyal sponsors: Adequan, Standlee Forage, Nunn Finer, Nutrena, Merck, Broadstone Equine Insurance Agency, and FITS.