CALGARY, Canada--Olympic two-time team gold medalist Beezie Madden of Cazenovia, N.Y., riding Breitling LS posted a double clear roundin the Nations Cup on Saturday, Sept. 8, at the Spruce Meadows ‘Masters’ in Calgary, but despite that the U.S. Team missed the podium, placing fourth.
Beezie Madden and Breitling LS Photo by Jump Media)The team of Andrew Welles on Brindis Bogibo, Zazou Hoffman on Samson II, Lucy Deslauriers riding Hester, and Madden, led by Chef d’Equipe Robert Ridland, finished with 20 faults.
Germany won gold with six faults, while home team Canada earned silver with 13 faults followed by Ireland with 15 faults for bronze.
“Beezie goes without saying," said Ridland. "Her double clean is what you’re used to expecting from her as anchor rider.”
For the other three riders, who only have three Senior Nations Cup performances between them before this week, Ridland said, “This is their most important Nations Cup experience, and certainly the most prize money they’ve jumped for in a Nations Cup. It was a respectable day, finishing fourth with a tough course but a really good course. Leopoldo Palacios did a great job. We hoped to do a little better, but it was a good finish. To have these three riders get that experience is invaluable. It was absolutely a productive day.”
IT WAS A challenging track from course designer Leopoldo Palacios of Venezuela.
“I thought it was difficult,” said Madden of the course. “It started right off with some pretty impressive fences. Horses that have been here before had an advantage. It was a difficult approach to the water, especially since the time was tight enough. It was also a difficult line to the liverpool. I ended up adding a stride, which wasn’t really my plan. That last jump was really wide. Horses jumped it funny in the first round and jumped it better in the second round, knowing how wide it was. It’s tough jumping here always.”
In the first round, Deslauriers, 19 of New York, N.Y., posted a fault free first round along with Madden, Welles of Wellington, Fla., had 8 faults and Hoffman of Santa Monica, Calif., was the drop score with 16 faults, so the U.S. sat in a strong second place position heading into the second round behind Germany who had zero faults and in front of Ireland with 10 faults.
“I thought he went beautifully,” said Madden of her winning mount from April’s FEI World Cup Jumping Finals. “He was right back on form from the World Cup Finals. During the summer we lost that a little bit, but he has recovered. Sometimes after a big championship like that, that can happen. I was really pleased with him today.”
The U.S. dropped to fourth place following the second round with unlucky faults by Deslauriers, who had 4 faults, Welles, who had another 8 faults and Hoffman, again the drop score with 17, which added 12 faults to their first round of 8 faults to finish on 20 faults.
