Chase Robertson Adds to Canada’s Dressage Medal Count

“I think I rode my hardest,” said Robertson. “I really went for things and tried my very best, and it paid off. This is just an incredible experience, and I’m blown away with how this has all come together. I’ve only been doing Juniors for six months, so I could never picture anything better than this. I’m extremely happy with how it went, and I couldn’t have asked for a better ride or a better partner to ride it with.”

Brooke Mancusi of Winnipeg, MB also found herself in a top-10 tie. She danced her way to a score of 67.167% with Wellknown (Wynton x Havidoff), her 10-year-old Westphalian gelding, to tie for seventh place with Raegan McCool and FHF Racharee from US Region 2.

Following Mancusi on the leaderboard was Anna Swackhammer of Rockwood, ON in ninth place, who scored 66.824% with Melissa Sinclair’s 15-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, Wrazzmatazz (Jazz x Darwin). Jade Buchanan of Newmarket, ON rounded out the top 10 with Cassandra Jessop’s nine-year-old Oldenburg gelding, Qaro GS (Quaterback x Florestan I). The pair’s score of 66.059% earned them the 10th spot.

Samantha Starratt Closes Out NAYC 2018 Experience with Second Place Finish

Following the first two Jumping Individual Qualifiers, the top 25 athletes were invited to move on to the Individual Final on Aug. 5, with all remaining athletes invited to participate in the Farewell Competition, consisting of an initial round followed by a jump-off.

Samantha Starratt of Calgary, AB represented the maple leaf in the Junior/Young Riders Farewell Competition with Akolito (Acodetto I x Polydor), a 10-year-old Westphalian gelding owned by Tonia Anderson. After the initial round, all competitors were invited to move on to the jump-off, where a clear round in 39.86 seconds clinched Starratt’s second-place position. Top honours went to Barbara Ruziska of US Region 3, who edged out Starratt with a clear time of 38.01 seconds aboard Elonie. Lukene Arenas Saravia of Guatemala and Icarus van de Kalevallei earned third place, stopping the clock in 53.81 seconds with 10 penalties.