The 2019 Alberta Power Speed Challenge continued today with the AKITA Drilling Cavalry Charge. Over the previous two legs riders competed over the same track designed by FEI Course Designer Leopoldo Palacious (VEN) attempting to not only win individual competitions, but accumulate the most points (based off of placings in each competition) in the Alberta Power Speed Challenge.
Going into the third competition of the series, only one point separated first place and second place held by Beezie Madden (USA) riding Jiva and Jordan Coyle (IRL) riding Picador respectively. It looked like it was going to be another win for Jordan Coyle but teammate Dermott Lennon (IRL) and MJM Pursuit were slightly faster with a time of 75.73s against Coyle's time of 75.80s. But the Irish dreams were dashed when veteran American rider Rich Fellers, one of the final riders to go, aboard Steelbi, knocked the Irish out to claim victory in the AKITA Drilling Cavalry Charge with a time of 75.51s.
The U25 ATCO Grand Prix was the final competition for the U25 riders of the 'Pan American' CSI5* Tournament, presented by Rolex. Twenty-six young riders made their way into the Meadows on the Green in hopes of a Spruce Meadows victory. In order to advance to the jump off, riders first had to jump a clean round one.
Eleven horse/rider combinations jumped a clean first round to advance to the jump off. Natalie Dean of the United States and her partner Ceitasi had their sights set on a second victory for the week. The pair jumped the fastest clear round in the jump off with a time of 36.85s to take the win.
