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Gina
Miles Earns World Cup Berth at Galway Downs CIC-W*** |
Gina
Miles and McKinlaigh, World Equestrian Games veterans, qualified
for the inaugural Eventing World Cup scheduled for Pau, France this
October. Galway Downs hosted one of two United States qualifying
events, a great opportunity for West Coast riders. Nineteen horses
and riders vied for one of three World Cup invitations during the
March 28-30 event. Miles
rode a very solid dressage test and found herself in third place.
"He is really maturing," stated Davis of the nine year
old Irish-bred gelding owned by Thom Schultz. "His dressage
is much stronger." The second day, cross country, was run under
the CIC format adopted by the FEI. This new format, which eliminates
Roads and Tracks an the Steeplechase, will be used at the 2004 Olympics,
as well as this year's inaugural World Cup. Miles and McKinlaigh
posted a clear cross country round and were easily within the time.
The
stadium jumping course faced the riders with a huge challenge. Under
the new FEI specifications, the stadium phase at a CIC*** is now
held at 4'3". This proved quite a challenge for most riders
with only four of the riders posting clear rounds. Miles had an
eleven point lead going into the final phase and she used up ten
of those points with two rails down for eight faults and two time
faults for exceeding the time allowed. Olympian
Jil Walton kept the pressure on Miles. Walton, aboard Truly Triton,
was third after cross country with a score of 52.92. She was one
of the four riders to jump clean around the stadium course and finished
second. Miles held on to first place with a final score of 51.74. Rounding
out the top three was Jessica Heidemann riding French Twist, an
appropriately named horse given that fact that she, Miles and Walton
will all be representing the United States in France October 24-26.
The top three riders from the Galway event will join the top placed
American rider from the East Coast World Cup Qualifier at the World
Cup. Over
4500 spectators watched world class eventing competition at the
Temecula based Galway Downs. Despite gale force winds, the crowd
was not daunted and cheered for the horses and riders.
Complete
results are available at www.galwaydowns.com.
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