Washington, D.C.—Oct. 29

Elizabeth Benson could only improve her hunter phase placing by moving up one spot, so she did just that. Finishing yesterday’s hunter phase of the Washington International Equitation Classic in second place, Benson, 17, entered the ring this afternoon after seeing 33 of her competitors tackle the jumper course set by Michel Vaillancourt, as the riders returned in reverse order. Her scores of 92, 91.5 and 87.5 gave her the round’s highest score of 90.33, and she sits in the top spot going into tonight’s work-off phase.

Hear what Benson had to say:

Vaillancourt’s course was compiled of 15 obstacles, including a one-stride in-and-out combination (5AB), a triple combination (9ABC) and a liverpool (fence 11). He incorporated several bending lines as well. Fences were set at 1.10-meters.

Originally the time allowed was set for 68 seconds, but after Ashley Foster, the third rider to go, completed her round, it was recalculated for 71 seconds. Any time faults a rider accrued during their round were deducted from their score.

Top 10 finishers in the jumper phase were as follows:

Elizabeth Benson
Sarah Milliren
Chase Boggio
Hannah Von Heidegger
Lauren Tyree
Hayley Barnhill
Brittany Hurst
Charlotte Jacobs
Michael Hughes
Molly Braswell

Combined scores from the hunter and jumper phases determined the 10 riders who will ride in this evening’s work-off, where they will jump the same course as this afternoon, but on one of their competitors’ horses. The top 10 returning for the work-off are:

Elizabeth Benson
Chase Boggio
Hayley Barnhill
Lauren Tyree
Sarah Milliren
Charlotte Jacobs
Shawn Casady
Meg O’Mara
Victoria Colvin
Allison Toffolon

Full results can be found here. And live streaming of the work-off is on WIHS’s website, or just click here.

Visit the Chronicle’s WIHS page for more news coverage from the show.