Beth Underhill, Chef d’Équipe of the Canadian U25 team took home 2nd place in Friday nights Artisan Farms U25 Team Event Grand Prix! Check out the article below published by Equine Canada for more details.
Ottawa, ON, Feb. 6, 2016 – Canada earned a hard-fought spot on the podium, finishing second against 17 teams, in the Artisan Farms Under 25 Team Event Grand Prix, held Feb. 5, 2016 at the CSI 4* Ariat Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) Week 4 in Wellington, FL.
Four of Canada’s up-and-coming young riders, Ben Asselin of Calgary, AB, Sarah Bagworth of Toronto, ON, Quincy Hayes of Aurora, ON, and Sarah Johnstone of Collingwood, ON went head-to-head over two rounds in the Team Event, which followed FEI Nations’ Cup rules and saw a total of 65 riders compete.
“I could not be more proud of our team, not only for their accomplishment of second place out of a 17-field team competition, but also for the professionalism and team spirit they exhibited,” said Chef d’Équipe and Jump Canada Young Rider Development Program Advisor, Beth Underhill of Schomberg, ON. “Each and every rider contributed to this great result.”
Bagworth, 24, who also competed for Canada in a team setting at the 2011 North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC), was the pathfinder for the team aboard Goldfinger VD Hengstenpoel (Winningmood van de Arenberg x Fantastique), her 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare. Together they tackled the 15 jumping efforts set by FEI 4* level course designer Richard Jeffery of Great Britain, finishing with eight jumping faults, well inside the time allowed of 77 seconds.
Second in Canada’s lineup was Hayes, 24, a seasoned equitation champion who has both CET Medal and Jump Canada Medal national final wins under her belt. Partnered with her 10-year-old German Warmblood gelding, Calgary 56 (Carinjo x Cassini I), she lowered just one rail, an oxer at jump 10 that would continue to fall often throughout the evening, for a round one score of four faults.
Next in was Johnstone, 24, a fellow equitation star who previously spent time training in The Netherlands, qualifying two horses for the 2012 World Breeding Championships Young Horse Finals. Paired with Bolocia (Tygo x Lancelot), a 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Johnstone Stables Ltd. and L.A. Morris, she had a foot-perfect round, adding no faults.
Riding in the anchor position was Asselin, 21, son of Canadian Olympian Jonathan Asselin, and no stranger to team competition, having won team and individual gold medals at the NAJYRC in 2010, before making his senior Canadian Equestrian Team debut in a nations’ cup in 2012. Riding Wahrhaftige CR (Clearway x Coronado), a 10-year-old Holsteiner mare owned by Spruce Meadows Ltd., Asselin lowered just one rail for four faults.
At the completion of the first round, Canada was in a three-way tie for fourth place on a total of eight faults, after the advantage of a drop score given to four-member teams as per traditional nation’ cup rules. This secured Canada’s invitation to return to the second round as one of the top eight teams.
In the second round, which allowed riders get a second crack at the same course, Bagworth, Hayes, and Asselin all went clear, and Johnstone kept it to eight faults, resulting in Canada moving up to a three-way tie for top honours after the drop score gave them a perfect score of zero.
One rider from each of the three tied team was invited forward into the high stakes jump-off, with the fastest round on the least number of faults to break the tie. As anchor rider, Asselin was selected to represent Team Canada, and was the second rider into the ring to face the jump-off. Although not quite fast enough to beat the time of Emma Heise of U.S. Team 3 (34.995 seconds), Asselin secured second place for Canada after stopping the clock at 36.80 seconds. U.S. Team 8 finished in third place to round out the podium after the efforts of Brett Burlington in the jump-off.
“The opportunity to compete in an event as prestigious as the Artisan Farms Under 25 Team Event is very important for the development of our young riders and horses, particularly with the quality of competitors we see at this event,” commented Underhill, a veteran CET athlete and Canadian Olympian. “Representing your country as part of a team creates an entirely different pressure and our riders certainly rose to the occasion. The first round being set during the day and the second round under the lights brought a whole new element and different challenges to the competition.”
The Artisan Farms Under 25 Team Event Grand Prix was part of a series of classes targeting up-and-coming athletes from around the world during the WEF circuit, with individual classes set to continue throughout the remaining eight weeks.
For more information and full results from the Artisan Farms Under 25 Team Event, visit http://pbiec.coth.com.