Helen Claire McNulty Wins Individual Gold in Kentucky

Dressage Junior Individual medalists - Chloe Taylor (Bronze), Helen Claire McNulty (Gold), and Camille Bergeron (Silver) (Photo: SusanJStickle.com)

Lexington, KY - Dressage riders from across the United States and Canada competed for Individual medals at the 2015 Adequan/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North (NAJYRC) on Friday at the Kentucky Horse Park. In the USDF/Platinum Performance North American Junior and Young Rider Dressage Championship, it was Helen Claire McNulty (Region 2) who claimed the Gold medal in the Junior division. In the Young Rider division, the Gold medal went to Natalie Pai (Region 3).

Endurance riders competed in their 75-mile race on Thursday, and on Friday morning Kelsey Russell was presented with the Individual Gold medal. The Team Gold was awarded to Team USA Southeast. CH-J 1* Junior eventing competition also got underway on Friday with the dressage phase of competition.

The top three in the Junior Individual dressage competition all finished within less than one percent of each other, but at the top of the list was Helen Claire McNulty of Region 2. The 15-year-old and her mount, Checkmate, finished the day on a score of 70.816% to claim the Individual Gold medal. "I did [the NAJYRC] last year, and I finished 11th individually and fifth in the freestyle. It's pretty cool to come back here and win it," McNulty said. McNulty (Holland, Mich.) continued, "My horse and I, we have had a lot of problems. Last night I said to myself that if you want to do well, you have to start pushing a little bit more and asking a little bit more because he can give it to you. I just did that today, and it paid it off. I took some risks that maybe could have ended badly, but they didn't."

Camille Bergeron (15, Mascouche, Que.) of Team British Columbia/Quebec rode Delfiano to the Silver medal after earning a score of 70.079%. "We train all year to get here. Just to be here and to win is a dream come true. It proves all of our hard work paid off," Bergeron said. The Bronze medal was awarded to Region 9's Chloe Taylor (17, Wimberley, Texas) riding Calecto V. "I'm really pleased with my test and my horse, and I really want to congratulate my teammates because I think everybody did a really, really good job today. All of the tests were beautiful," Taylor said.

For full results or to learn more about the Adequan/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North, please visit www.youngriders.org.

USEF Network presented by SmartPak will live stream the entirety of Saturday's events from the Rolex Stadium and Stonelea Ring during NAJYRC. Visit www.usefnetwork.com to tune in and to find out more.