Sharon White and Claus 63 won the $200,000 US Equestrian Open Eventing Final CCI4*-L at Morven Park, becoming the first woman to win a US Equestrian Open Final across jumping, eventing and dressage. The pair finished on 30.8 penalties, ahead of Will Coleman and Off The Record on 36.6 and Mia Farley with Invictus on 39.8.
A clear round under rain decides it
The win was built in the show jumping phase, as relentless rain fell on Christopher Barnard's course. White and Claus 63 entered the ring in third, trailing leader Coleman by 2.2 penalties after a clear cross-country round that added 4.8 time faults to their 26.0 dressage score.
Coleman's Off The Record, one of only two horses inside the cross-country time, had two rails fall on Sunday, dropping him from the lead. Isabelle Bosley, just 0.3 behind the lead after cross-country, collected 12 jumping penalties and 1.6 time faults, clearing the path above White.
Claus 63 left every pole in the cups. The clear round moved White to the top of the leaderboard, and she held the position as Farley — clear on 39.8 after climbing from 13th post-dressage — slotted into third. Coleman had finished second at Morven Park the previous year, when one rail cost him the title by 0.4.
Eighteen years, four attempts, one partnership
White's previous long-format four-star win came at Bromont in June 2008 with The King's Spirit.
The $60,000 winner's cheque confirmed the partnership in which she had always believed, through a bell boot sending them into the water one year and a runout at the coffin complex another. The 14-year-old Holsteiner gelding she imported from Germany as a 5-year-old finally delivered on the ground that had long refused them.
White, based less than two hours from Morven Park at Last Frontier Farm, described the partnership as the reason she keeps coming back. "It's an intimate partnership," she said.
