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Holder and Courageous Comet, Coleman and Kiki du Manoir Named 2007 Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series Champions

Release: October 18 2007

Author: severs

By Amy Daum

Becky Holder will need to make more room on her trophy shelf after becoming “Keeper of the Cup” for a second year in a row—this time winning the Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series advanced division with her and husband Tom’s Courageous Comet. Holder, who hails from Mendota Heights, MN, and last year won the series’ intermediate division with Ann Bower’s Rejuvenate, was thrilled to hear that she and Comet, an 11-year-old gray Thoroughbred gelding, would be the next pair to have their names added to the perpetual Gold Cup Series Trophy at the USEA’s headquarters in Leesburg, VA.

"This is super," Holder said after finding out about her newest title. "The Gold Cup is great. It gives us alternative goals for the season and rewards consistency, and I feel like it was a close race right up until the end. The sponsors are tremendously generous, not just with the year-end awards, but with each individual competition. You really are rewarded at each event with great products; Adequan is always a good thing!"

The Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series is comprised of 12 USEA-recognized events running from March through September. Throughout the year horse-and-rider combinations receive points on separate intermediate and advanced leaderboards based on their performances at these events, and the pairs with the biggest tallies at the end of the year in each division earn the title of "Keepers of the Cup."

Holder and Comet finished the year with 615 points that they earned at three Gold Cup events, starting in March with a second-place finish at Southern Pines Horse Trials in Raeford, NC, and followed in July with a win at the Maui Jim Horse Trials CIC*** in Wayne, IL. They clinched the champion title with a victory the following month at the Richland Park Horse Trials CIC*** in Michigan.

Throughout the year there were several pairs jockeying for position on the top of the leaderboard, most notably Will Faudree of Southern Pines, NC, with his 19-year-old New Zealand Thoroughbred gelding Antigua, as well as Corinne Ashton with Dobbin and Kelly Prather and Ballinakill Glory. By the end of the season it was Faudree and Antigua, partners for nearly seven years, who earned the reserve champion title with 555 points. They had a shot at the win, but missed the final two East Coast events, Richland and Poplar Place Horse Trials, in order to compete at the Burghley CCI**** in England (where they finished 21st).

"I think it’s a great series," Faudree said. "Our focus with the horses obviously is the major three-days—Kentucky, Badminton, Burghley—and I think it’s great that the USEA rewards and promotes the CICs and horse trials this way." For his second-place finish, Faudree earned a $3,500 gift certificate from Bit of Britain, which will certainly help him start his 2008 season off in style. He said that the certificate was especially appreciated since he is also a Bit of Britain-sponsored rider.

Ashton, of Princeton, MA, and Dobbin, her chestnut Thoroughbred gelding, finished in third on the leaderboard with 440 points. While she may have missed the two top spots on Gold Cup leaderboard, Ashton was likely satisfied with her September win with Dobbin in the Wellpride American Eventing Championships Advanced division. Prather, of Bodega, CA, and Andrea Pfeiffer’s Ballinakill Glory—2006 Gold Cup Series Intermediate reserve champions—had a shot at the top with 400 points, but ultimately finished fourth after skipping the final event of the series at Twin Rivers in Paso Robles, CA, in order to make the trip to the East Coast to prepare for the Fair Hill CCI***.

Expect to see these top riders at the upcoming USEA Annual Meeting and Convention, presented by Nutrena, December 6-9, in Colorado Springs, CO, where Holder will be presented with her keeper Gold Cup as well as a check from the USEA for $6,000, logowear and a gift certificate from Adequan, a $2,000 gift cer

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