Sinead Halpin and Manoir de Carneville return to the CCI3* arena again this weekend
While we are on the ground at the NSW State Championships at the Lynton Horse Trials in Goulburn, Australia and the FEI World Young Horse Eventing Championships at Le Lion d’Angers in France we will also be keeping an eye on the USEF Three Star Eventing Championship in the USA this weekend.
The first horse inspection has already taken place at the Dutta Corp Fair Hill International at Elkton, Maryland where the CCI3* will field 38 competitors and 57 in the CCI2*
There are some great incentives on offer in the Dutta Corp/USEF Three-Star Eventing National Championship to go with the National Title, one being that The Dutta Corp will provide travel for the top-placed U.S. rider to be used for an international competition agreed upon by the USEF (wouldn’t this be a great incentive that could be used at major events in Australia e.g. top placed rider to be provided travel grant for international competition?)
One combination that will draw attention this weekend is Sinead Halpin and Manoir de Carneville in their first CCI start since they very nearly took the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials CCI 4* in 2012. It seems that Manoir de Carneville (Tate) is in great shape with Sinead tweeting that
“Tate added his flair to the Fair Hill trot up by bucking down the jog strip, out the gate, through the tunnel and back to his stall….. accepted”
Sinead and Tate recently won the CIC3* at the Plantation Field International and will definitely be ones to watch (especially as they are such a delight to watch – even William Fox-Pitt says that)
Ex-Aussie Boyd Martin has recently returned from Boekelo where he finished as the best U.S. rider of the Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team. He doesn’t have a 3* ride here but will be busy with three entries in the USEF National Two Star Championship - Pancho Villa, Steady Eddie and New Cadet.
Well known rider Buck Davidson has two rides in each class and says "Fair Hill is always an awesome cross country course, one of the best in the world. You can see if your two-star horses are good enough and if the three-star horses are ready to move up to the next level,"
"It's the end of the year, so you're always fired up for one more. I'm excited to be here; I've got four fantastic horses."
The CCI2* dressage kicks off at 8am ET today with Australia's Ryan Wood and Fernhill Classic - another combination we’ll be keeping an eye on
