October 28, 2015 — The inaugural $100,000 USEF U25 Show Jumping National Championship presented by the Porter Family, the Jacobs Family, & the Keenan Family is set to begin at the CP National Horse Show. Held October 28-31 in the Kentucky Horse Park’s Alltech Arena, this Individual Championship will be based on the FEI World Cup format with fence heights up to 1.50m. Twenty-eight athletes between the ages of 16 and 25 will compete in three phases of championship competition in hopes of claiming the prestigious title.
Twenty-one-year-old Catherine Tyree (Chicago, Ill.) has been in fine form this season and is currently the highest-ranked U25 rider eligible for the USEF U25 Show Jumping National Championship. She began the year with top placings in the Artisan Farms U25 classes during the Winter Equestrian Festival and had solid results over the summer in Grand Prix and Junior/Amateur Owner classes, highlighted by a fifth-place finish in the American Gold Cup CSI4*-W with Enjoy Louis, Mary and Joseph Tyree’s 2004 Belgian Warmblood gelding. Tyree is coming off a second-place finish in the $35,000 International Welcome Stake 1.50m CSI4*-W Washington at the Washington International Horse Show.
Right behind Tyree on the USEF U25 Rider Ranking List, 19-year-old Hayley Waters (Sparr, Fla.) has had a number of top finishes this year. She began 2015 with a win in the $34,000 HITS Jumper Classic during the HITS Ocala Winter Festival aboard Qurint, Chuck and Dana Waters’ 2003 Swedish Warmblood mare. The pair then collected a win in the $25,000 U25 Grand Prix during week six of the Tryon Spring circuit. Waters and Qurint claimed top honors in the Vetera® XP Vaccines $250,000 Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Prix during Hits-on-the-Hudson VIII, and hope to maintain their winning form.
Lucy Deslauriers (New York, N.Y.) has had a spectacular year in 2015 and looks to add another title to her resume. With Hester, the 16-year-old phenom earned Young Rider Individual Gold and Team Silver at the 2015 Adequan/FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North (NAJYRC) in July. Earlier this month at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show, she and her mother Lisa Deslauriers’ 2005 Belgian Warmblood gelding teamed up again to collect Individual and Team Gold in the Neue Schule/USEF National Junior Jumper Championship.
On Wednesday the $15,000 Faults Converted competition class will kick off the championship, followed by a $20,000 Jump Off competition on Thursday. The championship will be decided after Two Rounds in the $30,000 competition on Saturday evening. The overall winner will be the competitor with the lowest number of penalties after the three phases of the championship, with $35,000 in prize money for the top 10 in the overall results.
The first phase of championship will begin Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Find out more about the championship and the CP National Horse Show.
