DUBLIN, Ireland--Laura Kraut’s double clear performance with Zeremonie anchored the U.S. Jumping Team’s effort at the Nations Cup on Friday, Aug. 10, at the Dublin Horse Show CSIO5*.
The class served as the final observation event for the FEI World Equestrian Games in Tryon, and as such gave Kraut a platform for making her bid to be a part of that team.
Chef d’Equipe Robert Ridland led the U.S. team, which placed fifth and also included Jaime Barge of Malibu, Calif., riding Luebbo, Lucy Deslauriers of New York, N.Y., riding Hester, and Adrienne Sternlicht of Greenwich, Conn., riding Cristalline.
"It was a tough course, but a very fair course, a typical Alan Wade-designed course,” Ridland said. “Overall, I was pleased. We’re over here for a variety of different reasons, but obviously the preparation and selection for the World Equestrian Games is part of it. It’s what our summer has been all about, and we’ve been using these shows to work toward our goals down the road.”
RIDLAND HAS done a fabulous job of bringing up-and-coming riders onto Nations Cup teams, and in doing so has won a great proportion of them, but as the time to choose the team for this fall's World Equestrian Games in Tryon draws near, it looks like the team will probably consist of three veterans with one new shining star.
McLain Ward of Brewster, N.Y., has two wonderful mares in HH Azur and Clinta, and he is sure to make the team; with HH Azur unless something happens to her.
Ward already has two Olympic team gold medals and team silver, an individual Pan American gold as well as team silver and bronze at WEG and the 2017 World Cup on Azur,
Despite all those winnings, Ward just gets better and better.
Beezie Madden of Cazenovia, N.Y., has two Olympic team gold medals, a team silver and an individual bronze, a WEG team and individual silver and a team and individual bronze , and she won this year's World Cup on Breitling LS.
Along with Breitling LS, Madden also has Darry Lou, with whom she has posted a number of clear rounds.
Like Ward, Madden just gets better and better.
Devin Ryan of Long Valley, N.J., was second to Madden in this year's World Cup on Eddie Blue and, as a newcomer on the world scene, has posted an amazing, excellent record, including jumping good rounds at Aachen.
With that record, Ryan also has a platform for making a bid to be on the WEG team.
Kraut of Wellington, Fla., is also an Olympic gold medalist, and with her performance in Dublin on Zeremonie, an 11-year-old Holsteiner mare, she looks like she might be the fourth WEG team rider.
Zeremonie had just one outing in which she didn't fare that well, but in Dublin she and Kraut were one of just three horse-and-rider combinations to turn in two clear rounds over Alan Wade’s track.
Deslauriers and Sternlicht both had four faults in each round, while Barge was eliminated at the water jump in both rounds.
Deslauriers, at only 19, but with consistent rounds throughout the summer, makes her bid to be the alternate.
“We didn’t have a bad day,” said Ridland of the team's performance in Dublin. “Laura’s double clear was spectacular. Adrienne and Lucy were right there. To have the misfortune to have what happened to Jamie at the water, it’s one of those things you can’t really correct mid-class. It puts everybody else a bit on their heels. She was tough to go back in and did her best."
Mexico won the class on a total of eight faults, while Italy, France and Ireland tied for second with 12 faults. The U.S. team finished with 16 faults for fifth.