Land Rover USEF Competition Grant Recipient Kieffer Maintains Top 10 Position at the Les Étoiles de Pau CCI4* Heading into Cross Country

Lauren Kieffer and Veronica © Libby Law Photography

By: Helen Murray/USEF

Pau, France- The Ground Jury of Jane Tolley, Eric Lieby, and Polly Ann Huntington saw 34 horse and rider combinations head down centerline during the first phase of competition at the Les Étoiles de Pau CCI4*.  After the dressage, Germany’s Ingrid Klimke with Horseware Hale Bob and Great Britain’s William Fox-Pitt with Parklane Hawk stand tied atop the leaderboard on 39.3 but the Americans have slotted two combinations into the top 15, with Lauren Kieffer leading the charge in seventh.

Kieffer (Ocala, Fla.) and Team Rebecca, LLC’s Veronica earned a mark of 44.2 on Thursday to lie within striking distance heading into the cross country. On Saturday, the Land Rover USEF Competition Grant recipients will look to replicate the form that led them to a second place finish at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by Land Rover.

“This course is much tighter; the lanes are narrow, there’s a lot more twistiness to it. So I think it will be very different but hopefully it suits the Americans,” said Kieffer in comparing the Pau and Kentucky tracks.

Standing 13th after scoring a personal best in the dressage are Sharon White (Summit Point, W.V.) and her own and Richard Weber’s Wundermaske on a score of 48.7, while Erin Sylvester and her own and Jill Tallman’s No Boundaries are 30th on a 59.3.

Clark Montgomery (Wiltshire, UK) had been scheduled to ride Jessica Montgomery, Carole Montgomery, Janet Higgins, and Elizabeth Smith’s Universe on Friday afternoon, but chose to withdraw when the gelding was found to have a minor injury.

To learn more about the Les Étoiles de Pau CI4*, visit: http://www.event-pau.com/.

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