Traverse City, Mich. – The Amasé U.S. Jumping Team secured a strong podium finish in the $75,000 Jumping Nations Cup Traverse City CSIO3*, hosted at Traverse City Horse Shows, adding zero faults in the second round to finish the day on their first round score of 16 total faults, placing them second overall. Israel finished the day on four faults total for the win, while Ireland took third on 24 faults after two rounds of competition which featured six international teams. 

“I am so proud of our team and their phenomenal horses today,” said Chef d’Equipe Anne Kursinski. “In the first round they each had a slight error, which we discussed in between rounds, and before round two, I told all of them to go fight for it. It was so exciting to watch them make an impressive comeback, really demonstrating a “fight for it” mentality and jumping three clear rounds to finish second.”

The course design called for both precision and speed and tested each combination’s ability to demonstrate rideability and adjustability throughout. Hunter Holloway (Ocala, Fla.) and Henry Jota Ariel made their team debut as a combination, adding eight faults to their first tour of the track, designed by Peter Grant (CAN). Lacey Gilbertson (Lake Forest, Ill.) and Belle Amie vd Dassenheide Z followed as the second pair for the team, and delivered a four fault round, after crossing through the timers in 74.74 seconds.

Aboard Hector du Ter, Savannah Jenkins (Woodland Hills, Calif.) jumped a strong round for the team, but added a late eight faults in the final line, placing the team on 12 faults after three rotations, with Callie Schott (Wellington, Fla.) and Diamond Touch still to come as the anchors. Schott and Diamond Touch jumped to four faults after a nudging a single unlucky rail from the cups, moving the team forward to the second round on 16 total faults. Only five clear rounds were produced in round one across the competing teams, a testament to the course’s challenging and technical design.

The team quickly rebounded in round two, with Holloway and Henry Jota Ariel, a 2015 Argentine Sport Horse mare (Picadilly Tame x Casparo) owned by Hayes Investment Corp., and cared for by Lorenzo Rugama, notching a quick clear to start the team off with energy right from the start of final round. Gilbertson and Belle Amie vd Dassenheide Z, a 2016 Zangersheide mare (Bamakao de Muze x Emerald Van’t Ruytershof) owned by Seabrook LLC, and cared for by Madde Nord, doubled down and added a second clear, keeping the team within reach of a podium finish after the first two rotations in round two.

Closing out a stellar round two, Jenkins and Hector du Ter, a 2017 Selle Français gelding (Comme Il Faut 5 x Le Tot de Semilly) owned by Ilan Ferder and cared for by Fernando Navarro, notched the team’s third and final consecutive clear, ensuring a finish on a two-round total of 16 faults securing team’s second place finish on the leaderboard. With the first three combinations all contributing impressive clear rounds, Schott and Diamond Touch, a 2016 Holsteiner mare (Diamant de Semilly x Chin Chin) owned by Southern Arches LLC, and cared for by Ignacio “Tolo” Cortez, were able to forgo jumping the second round, as the team’s second round score was final with zero faults.

Competition in Traverse City continues this week with CSIO3* competition and will conclude with the $116,500 B&D Builders Grand Prix CSIO3* set to begin at 2:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 25.

Results

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