United States Eventing Association

Will Faudree started out his cross-country day a bit rough as he hit the ground early in his run on his first horse, DHI Colour Candy. Luckily he still had two more opportunities to tackle the Hugh Lochore-designed course in the Adequan USEA Gold Cup & PRO Tour Series Advanced division at Southern Pines. Will came back on his two remaining rides and laid down the two fastest ones of the day giving him the top two places heading into tomorrow’s show jumping finale.

There were quite a few pre-planned withdrawals as well as riders taking their time across the country, but Andromaque and Pawlow, both Irish Thoroughbreds owned by Jennifer Mosing, only added 6.8 and 2.8 time penalties to their overnight dressage scores to move into first and second respectively. Susan Beebee and Plan Bee Equestrian’s 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, Wolf, added 9.6 time to move up into third.

“I am very frustrated with myself,” said Will. “[DHI Colour Candy] is a very green horse at this level. His last run was a month ago at Pine Top and he was just excited to be out there and a bit strong. I then went out on Pawlow, and I mentally put that in a bubble and threw it away.”

“I had a good go on Pawlow,” continued Will. “He is typically lazy, today he was wanting to go but also spooking at things so I was just like go. He was great, I took all the direct lines and he felt good so I was very proud of him. I always ride him a bit quick because I don’t want him to think that he can go slow.”

“Andromaque was a star. She was very excited to be going, and she jumped a really good round. I was mad at myself because she was quite strong I overdid the balancing to them, so I have to sort that it, but it is still early in the season and I really want her to be confident and she felt fantastic. So I am very, very pleased with them.”

This is the first competition at Southern Pines at which Hugh Lochore designed the courses, and the riders had great praise for his design. With only two falls and a few scattered stops the results speak for themselves.

“I thought it was a great fitness run,” said Will. “Hugh did a really good job with the flow of the course, and it was really fun to ride around the track in a different direction. He really used the terrain the best that we have seen here; hats off to him because it was a really fun course to ride around.”

The Adequan USEA Gold Cup & PRO Tour Advanced Division concludes tomorrow with the show jumping. Keep up with the live scoring here: http://www.evententries.com/livescoring/15227.html

The Adequan USEA Gold Cup features 11 qualifying competitions throughout the United States at the Advanced Horse Trials and CIC3* levels with the final at the Nutrena USEA American Eventing Championships September 26-29 in Tyler, Texas. Riders who complete a qualifier earn the chance to vie for $40,000 in prize money in the Adequan Advanced Division and the title of Adequan USEA Gold Cup Champion.

The Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series is made possible through the support of its many sponsors: Adequan; Nunn Finer; SmartPak Equine; Nutrena; Broadstone Equine Insurance Agency, Point Two; and FITS.

The PRO Tour Series consists of 13 premier destination events in the United States and Canada in 2013 featuring the best riders and most entertainment. Riders and Horses are awarded points on the PRO Tour Rider Leader Board and PRO Tour Horse Leader Board. Riders can also earn points on the PRO Tour Series at the Intermediate or two-star level for the Multi Radiance Intermediate Challenge. The 2013 Multi Radiance Challenge Leader Board Champion will win a Multi Radiance MR4 ACTIVET Portable Laser System.

The Professional Riders Organization would like to thank the following sponsors for their support of the 2013 PRO Tour Series: Martin Collins USA, The Official Footing of PRO; Multi Radiance Medical, The Official Laser Therapy of PRO & Sponsor of the Multi Radiance Medical Intermediate Challenge ; Tex Sutton, the Official US Equine Air Carrier of PRO; SSG Riding Gloves; Finish Line Horse Products; Midlantic Ltd.; and Mythic Landing Events.