Kristen Vanderveen (USA) and Bull Run’s Faustino De Tili charged to a victory in the $35,000 Welcome Stake CSI 2* to open Tryon Summer VI competition at Tryon International Equestrian Center last week on Thursday, completing the short course in 34.252 seconds to once again land on top of the podium.

Second place was claimed by Samuel Parot (CHI) aboard his own Harley David, a 2007 Dutch Warmblood gelding (Harley VDL x Randel Z), finishing on a time of 36.149 seconds, with Darragh Kerins (IRL) guiding Chill R Z, a 2003 Zangersheide stallion (Chellano Z x A Lucky One), to third on a short-course time of 37.351 seconds for Eve Jobs.

Twenty-six horse-and-rider pairs tested the Oscar Soberon (USA) course, with nine pairs moving forward for the jump-off round. Vanderveen explained that she was able to use the design to her advantage with “Frosty,” a 2005 Belgian Warmblood stallion (Berlin x Udarco) owned by Bull Run Jumpers Six LLC, and was happy to see so many bending lines throughout the course.

“I really, really like the designing this week — the course was great. It’s just right for us since we’re getting Frosty going again for some bigger shows, so this was a nice warm-up for him,” Vanderveen said. “The bending lines were nice today because he was quite excited since he’s had a week off, so I was actually able to just leave out strides in the first round, which for me is a little bit easier than if it’s a super technical course with a lot of straight lines. I can’t really get away with that, so it was nice today that I could kind of ad lib the lines a little bit and make it work for the first round. In the jump-off he was calmer and ready to go.”

Mattias Tromp (USA) bookended the podium after Wednesday’s $5,000 1.40m Power & Speed CSI 2* competition in the George H. Morris Arena, claiming first aboard Beyaert Farm Inc.’s Crack Elle Chavannaise, a 2008 Belgian Sport Horse mare (Carving x Nackel de la tourette), clearing the jump-off course in 30.476 seconds, and also piloting the Swede Ventures LLC entry, Chicago Hof Eversem Z, a 2008 Zangersheide gelding (Con Spirito R x Papillon Rouge), to third after a 33.161 second short-course performance. Ireland’s David Blake received second-place honors for his efforts aboard Pine Hollow Farm’s Keoki, a 2009 Holsteiner male (Catoki x Cassini I) stopping the timers in 31.601 seconds.

For more results, people may visit tryon.coth.com.

-Submitted by Tryon International Equestrian Center