By Sarah Eakin
The four-women-strong USA Nations Cup team took on eight other nations and won the $150,000 FEI CSIO 4* Nations Cup at Wellington International with some textbook show jumping on Saturday, March 1.
“We put together a team that we felt was very competitive,” chef d’equipe Robert Ridland said, after banking his 10th Nations Cup win in Wellington. “That’s the number one thing. This Nations Cup in particular — we’ve done it over the years — has always been an opportunity for the up-and-coming, whether it’s horses or riders.”
The home team was exactly that with Wellington-based young riders Natalie Dean and Acota M, Carly Anthony and Heavenly W, Charlotte Jacobs and Playboy JT Z, joined by seasoned international rider Laura Kraut, aboard a younger horse in Tres Bien Z.
Three clears in the opening round set Team USA on track ahead of defending champions Ireland, sitting on four faults going into the floodlit and sold-out arena for the Saturday Night Lights class. Kraut had a miscommunication with her comparatively inexperienced horse Tres Bien Z in the afternoon. A dropped score is allowed on teams of four, and her teammates’ combined score of just five penalties in the night class meant that Kraut could sit the second round out. She was grateful to her teammates.
“My horse got very green, and we had this miscommunication today,” Kraut said. “And I wasn’t sure that the second round under the lights was the place to fix this problem I was having. I was going to have to do it if I needed to, but I am very grateful to them for being the riders and the tough competitors that they are. They let my horse have a night off, and he can live to fight another day.”
Ireland’s team of Michael Duffy, Cian O’Connor, Bertram Allen and Daniel Coyle were always going to be in the running, and Coyle was a crowd favorite, jumping one of just three double clears of the night aboard Incredible. An unlucky hoof at the water jump for O’Connor and a rail for Allen under the lights did not affect their runners-up placement, ahead of Belgium taking bronze with a cumulative total of eight faults.
Being the only international team contest at the Winter Equestrian Festival, thoughts turned to the Los Angeles Olympics on the horizon in 2028. Kraut, who was inducted the next day into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame, had an optimistic view after the Nations Cup.
“We’ve got three exciting young girls here that I think have a strong chance if things go right and they have the right horses,” Kraut said. “I think we’re looking really strong for LA.”
Read more by equestrian writer Sarah Eakin at www.paperhorsemedia.com.
