Lexington, Va. – With the completion of the dressage phase behind them, Kelsey Ann Quinn and Dandy Longlegs command the field in the USEF CCI1*-JR/YR Eventing National Championship at the Virginia Horse Trials. A three-way tie for second overall, and first in the USEF CCI1* Eventing National Championships between Ariel Grald with Monbeg Game Face, Sharon White with Highlife’s Je T’aime, and Colleen Rutledge with C Me Fly, sets the pace after dressage.
Sitting on scores of 28.30, Grald (Vass, N.C.), White (Summit Point, W.V.), and Rutledge (Frederick, Md.) will head into cross-country on Saturday looking to break the tie and claim the overall lead in the national championship, awarded to the highest-placed U.S. combination in the CCI1* that is 22 years of age or older. Grald rides Monbeg Game Face, a six-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding owned by Anne Eldridge. White rides Highlife’s Je T’aime, an eight-year-old Oldenburg mare owned by Madeline Hartsock, and Rutledge rides C Me Fly, her six-year-old Westphalian mare.
Closing in on the top three in the USEF CCI1* Eventing National Championship are White on her second mount, Masterel, a nine-year-old Thoroughbred gelding she owns with Denis Glaccum, on a score of 28.80. Just behind them Lauren Sumner (Damascus, Md.) and Crossfire, her eight-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, sit on a score of 29.10.
Quinn (Finksburg, Md.) and Dandy Longlegs, a 12-year-old Thoroughbred gelding owned by Julie Quinn, sit definitively in the first-place position for the USEF CCI1*-JR/YR Eventing National Championship, awarded to the highest-placed U.S. combination in the CCI1* between the ages of 14 and 21, with a score of 27.70. The 16-year-old and Dandy Longlegs are a fairly new combination, only working together since March.
“It was awesome; [Dandy Longlegs] was super chill and he couldn’t have been better,” said Quinn. “We have been working on our lengthening and he really did that well. We are just trying to have a consistent ride and keep him as calm as possible. I just got him in March, so it is a fairly new ride. This is our first CCI, so we have been trying to get it together. He has been cool!”
When asked how Dandy Longlegs’s performs on cross-country, Quinn said: “He is awesome – he is so straightforward. He just crushes it. We walked [the course] last night and it looks good; there is nothing too scary.”
Closely on Quinn’s heels is fellow competitor Emma Ayre (Virginia Beach, Va.). She and Dad Arewethereyet, her 11-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, sit solidly in second on a score of 29.90. Katherine DeLaney (Rockville, Va.) and Canto Royale, her eight-year-old Holsteiner gelding, round out the third-place position with a score of 30.90.
Competition Information
CCI1* and CCI1*-JR/YR cross-country gets underway on Saturday, November 3 beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET.
Find out more about the Virginia Horse Trials.
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