Becky Holder and Courageous Comet (Leslie Threlkeld/USEA Photo)

Fairburn, GA - The cross country portion of the Nutrena USEA American Eventing Championships presented by Bit of Britain (AEC) took place today for the Merial Advanced division at the lovely facility of Chattahoochee Hills. Making the time on cross country proved to be a challenge on this hot and humid day as almost the entire field incurred time penalties except for two riders. Becky Holder (Palmetto, GA) was one of those riders, piloting Courageous Comet to a double clear round and keeping a firm hold on their first place position in the USEF National Advanced Horse Trials Championship. She confidently rode "Comet," her & husband Tom Holder's 16-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, around Hugh Lochore's championship course, increasing her lead on the rest of the field to 8.7 points.  

Laine Ashker (Richmond, VA) rode Anthony Patch, her 13-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, to the only other double clear round of the day moving up from eighth to second place. In the pair's last start, they finished second in the Advanced division at Millbrook.  

Sitting in third place is Bruce "Buck" Davidson Jr. (Unionville, PA) and Ballynoe Castle RM, a 12 year-old Irish Thoroughbred gelding owned by Cassandra Segal. The pair moved up from 11th place after only receiving 1.6 time penalties.  

The competition wraps up tomorrow with the show jumping rounds over Mark Donovan's course to determine the winner of the USEF National Advanced Horse Trials Championship. 

Follow the live scoring here.

For more information about the event, click here.