Welcome back, everybody. We are reviewing the first leg of the U.S. equestrian open and this week we were at Morven Park and delighted to be joined by Annie Bishop. Annie, you spent, well, I don't think you should count the hours, comment it over the weekend, but safe to say you saw every single piece of Morven this weekend. I did. I didn't miss any of the action. I had maybe the best seat in the house. And it was a fabulous weekend. Virginia really showed off beautiful fall weather and Morven Park is a stunning venue. Before we jump into the action from the weekend, can we give people a little bit of background on event in royalty that is Annie Bishop? Sure. I grew up in the sport. Both of my parents, my mom rode for Canada, Juliet Graham, rode for Canada, the 76 Olympics and the 78 World Championships. My dad rode for the U.S. team, went to the 80 games, which were the alternate games. And that was technically my first event because I was born two weeks before and my mom flew me over so that we could be there. Oh, that's cool. So my first horse show was the alternate games, went to some world championships is, you know, a teeny, tiny person and really grew up in the sport. And I couldn't love it anymore. And I'm so happy to be able to be a huge fan and sort of just to keep up with it all and lucky enough to get to do things like Morven Park. I was talking to your mom, I was lucky to meet your mom over the weekend. And we ended up talking about that famous. I think one of the most famous world championships ever, that Kentucky 78. It was wild. So Sam's dad competed at that and won a medal, I think, at that. I know won a medal at that, but we we watched it back frequently. So I was absolutely delighted to me. We watch it back as well because mom also won a medal that the Canadian team won the gold medal that year. And it was just, I know, one of the highlights of her life. And when you watch it back, it is stunning what those horses did and how hard 78 was. Did you, were you always in Virginia? Done? Yeah, so my mom actually was shipped off to boarding school. She grew up in Canada and was shipped off to boarding school. My dad grew up in Virginia. So in the town that we live in, my dad came up from Alabama to ride with Jimmy Walker and my mom almost and also rode with Jimmy Wofford. And so that's how they met. And then neither of them ever left. And so I have always been in Virginia and I can't imagine living anywhere else. So that that makes an event like Morven, because I know I spoke. We both spoke today, but at different times over the weekend. But I know he speaks about it as a home event and was laughing. I think that he was part of almost a full 50 year history of Morven Park. But it makes new ventures like the open, but equally what I was really impressed by this weekend and what I've been trying to relay to the team at home is it had like Morven has all of the modern infrastructure and facilities of, you know, of a Wellington where you've got these amazing rings, perfectly manicured everywhere. And yet the natural landscape is like a blend of Muraburli, where you've got all of the old, you've got all of the old trees, for example, you know, stuff that you can't just wheel into a venue that you've got. It's an amazing mix of the old and the new. It's really ready for the future while embracing all of that rich history. Yeah, the team at Morven Park has done an incredible job in the last years. As you say, putting in the modern arenas, the surfaces are beautiful. They have walking past for the horses, they have the barns, and then on the other side, they have this really old turf and they have beautiful old trees and just really this landscape that you can't beat. And it is really the only place like it that we have in North America. It's really, it is one of the most special venues. And as David said, you know, he's been there for a long time, but there's a reason people keep coming back. I mean, my dad and a bunch of others would go to Florida for the winter, but they always came back for the spring Morven Park because it would put a base in their horses to start the season and then they'd be ready when they came back to Morven Park in the fall. And you just, every, every rider you talk to, they put it on the calendar for that reason because you can't find another venue like it here. I didn't know what to go. I didn't know what it was, what it was going to be like going. And I mostly, I was just totally, yeah. Like these two, Virginia, where's that? Well, I know it because of, because there's so, there's such an eventing hope in that part of the world and like you read about it and anyone who spends time in eventing, you know the names and obviously I knew of Morven Park, but really when you get there, like, I think Sam is tuning me out at the moment because like, you know, I keep going back to how and what a special place it is. But the reason I was there, Annie was the launch of the US equestrian open. So a new series for eventing in the US, a new series for all the disciplines. But of course, in this case, we're talking about eventing. It's the beginning, I think, of something special and it felt like it had that little bit of a beginning buzz, of course, at the beginning of something. We're still at the early messaging and we're still at the point where people are beginning to learn what it is and how it is, why it is, that's all, all normal. But it certainly felt like a buzz, you know, on the same weekend, that Puckalo was happening in Europe. I was feeling and seeing all of the stories around, well, you know, as they unfolded in each phase around Jenny Brownigan and Connery around Hannah Sue and a business bent, you're getting into these back stories, you know, around Emily Beshear and Rio de Janeiro as it comes out. But we were researching, we were finding the stories and telling the stories. When we do that at scale over the course of 18 events and leading to a big final, back up more than in the four star long next year, that's really the jumping off point. We touched on it a couple of times, like stories are important, but equally stories in a vacuum are hard to tell. So having these 18, you know, 18 calendar events tied together, joined by points, telling a, telling a coherent story over the course of 24 and the rest of 24, two events left in Bucart and Terranova as part of the series this year, and then a full run at all the four star shorts in 2025. It's something that's going to be of huge value, I think, to the sport in the U.S. in the next 13, 14 months. Yeah, I think, you know, every writer I spoke to is really excited about it. I'm excited about it as a fan because it gives me, you know, maybe a reason on a west coast event that I would, I would know about and I know it was happening, but I wouldn't maybe be tracking as closely. And I think, you know, as a fan and as someone who follows the sport, you follow personalities. But there's maybe personalities that I don't know or horses I haven't really paid attention to or haven't put on my radar, but are much more on the radar now based on, you know, the series. And if they're going to start showing up at each of these four stars, it gets one more layer to the to this incredible eventing community and sort of another good reason to follow. And I think the fact that they've got it over 18 events is really even more special, because there's all those different opportunities for writers to go pick up points. And then with the finale at the end, it's just going to be incredible. Speaking to David, I know it was a huge part of the why behind the series that actually when you compare our sport to, you know, some of the competing sports in the US, tennis, football, golf, the continuity was actually a really big miss for us. You know, we actually do have a sport that lends itself really well to continuity and storytelling. But each event at the moment is telling their own story and rightly so, but that's where we are. So that concept of continuity, the jumpers have it to some degree, because they jump so frequently, they don't jump frequently and coherently, if you know what I mean, like they're all part of different series at different times, but jumping lends itself to a more frequent, to more frequent competing, which so in our sport, we're probably in these four to six to eight to 12 week gaps between runs, which means to tell the story, to find a horse like to Rio de Janeiro as we get what we really want to ensure is that Emily Bashir and now she will be as the leader of the series. But we want to make sure we're able to reference that story again, so that anyone who loves beautiful grays can actually be on Emily, like I found myself in, in Dulles Airport last night on Emily Bashir's website and on that you see all of her horses and then at the, and then as you're going through the pictures, you're like, Oh my God, there's a lot of grays here. And then as you get to the bottom of the page, she's this lovely picture of like all the grays together, like some of her past four star five star, certainly four star heroes. And then you see a new one emerging this weekend in Rio, a small thing, but there's no other way that on a Sunday night, I'm sitting on Emily Bashir's website, knowing about all the grays. And this is what series and competition and being a series leader, these are all the types of pieces that it facilitates. So if you love grays, you know, you now have a, you have something you can, what I love about this stuff is you can attack this from so many angles. Obviously, we have to look at other things other than just the color of the horses. But if that's your angle in, in the same way as people go racing and pick colors or pick names they like, like silks they like, it's the way to go. Yeah, you can, yeah, you can get in on that. Um, let's have a, let's talk through some of the phases. We arrived and we kicked off, um, we kicked off on a very sunny, I mean, we'd great weekend, we'd great weather all weekend, but I actually have a cousin in Arlington, so not too far away. And they had texted me to say, you got really lucky that it was like two weeks of rain in advance. Last year, it bucketed down rain at Marvin Park. And so everything was a bit different. So it, you definitely got lucky on the weekend you chose to come. It really lent itself to a real kind of festival feeling like there was a great mood, great excitement, great ease everywhere. Um, Friday morning, we watched horses coming into the dress as arena. From a data point of view, it was probably pretty close to what we were expecting. You know, we saw, um, we didn't see any tests going into the twenties. We saw good clustering just above the probably 31, 32 mark. Things stayed pretty tight there. Um, but really what we were looking for was an ordering. Um, I think that was probably a fair enough reflection on what we saw on Friday. Yeah, I think that's exactly right. I think looking at the entries going in, I didn't think anyone was going to knock our socks off or sort of be really low because that just wasn't that what that field of forces was. But I thought the judging was really consistent throughout the day. And I think they were rewarded where they could. And I think some of the horses talking to the riders, they were a bit more tense than they were probably. It was the first kind of proper jillier day that we've had. So I think the horses came in a bit for skier than riders were planning. But again, I think it was right where we would have expected it to be. One other piece that feels really important in a series, we've seen this, uh, we've seen this previously in the UK, uh, event writer masters. We've seen it in jumping in some of the world cup shows. Every, every event has a theme as its own unique characteristics. And again, learning that and understanding that is a big part of storytelling. For me, as soon as I saw it in more of an data, um, and our team were beginning to prep on this site, this big number jumped out, which is, you know, one person in history, um, has finished under drastically score in the 4 star short at Morven. And only three people from over a hundred have actually made the time in the 4 star short. Now we didn't add any this weekend, but this is a venue that is in the UK, similar to maybe a chat's worth, where you get a speed test, and equally you get a terrain test. So, and sometimes by the way that plays into the dress I'm scoring, because often people take horses that are suitable for that type of test. Equally, I think we saw that. We probably on Saturday, we were treated to a great cross-country day. The cross-country jumping clear, it was a little bit higher than in previous years. So, we were probably up around, what, 80, 90% in terms of the jumping clear and it didn't feel unexciting. But, um, we'd had a very tricky, uh, tree star division earlier in the day. Yes. But it was, it was a pretty fair jumping test. Um, but then it was all around who could capitalize on the time. And I think Hanosu was probably the, the, the main player in that regard, her round was, was a key round. Yeah, she had a speedy round and we, I mean, you and I had spoken to her on Friday evening and she was planning on, you know, putting her foot down and really going for it. And she really could, because she's on a great thoroughbred and new partnership. So, you know, that's always a question, the sort of, you know, she hasn't had the horse that long, but they really set the tone. I mean, they went out and she meant business. And really, she and business been really like, brought it. And I thought they had a lovely round. You know, it's interesting. I think as we were saying, you know, some of those horses, I think people know now that Morven Park is a place where you have to bring a serious jumping horse. And so we did see it play out on the dressage. But I think that's probably why the jumping clear rate on Saturday was a bit higher than what we've seen, because I think riders really understand what it's, what Morven Park is about and what Derek's horses are. And I, but I also think riders really trust Derek. And so I think that they will come out and give it a crack. But it is maybe not the place people step horses up, although we did see a lot of horses step up to the level this weekend, which I think is heartening because you want horses that jump around a place like Morven Park and are going to be better off for having been there. I thought there was some really stand out rounds in that regard. I think it's a really interesting dynamic of a four star series that you'll have a horse like business band who has competed up to five star with Allison Springer and then moves to Hanasu. And I thought that was, you know, you're referencing that Friday night conversation we had with Hanasu and she said to us, now I can, I said, you know, I was asking how is this going to go? What do you think? And she said to me, like, Oh, no, I can, I can do this. Like, I'll go, I'll be gone for it. And I'd seen like, they do have time penalties on the record. And I was saying, like, okay, but really, if I'm honest, I thought there's no way, I think there's no way it'll be the fastest. And she said to me, I was just like, quite a bit. Yeah, she said, I'm an experienced writer and it's an experienced horse and we haven't done it together. Like, they hadn't been like, Hanasu hadn't been to Morven. But it was really interesting. And I have a brief interview with her from from Saturday night. Now it was difficult to use it immediately because, because what ultimately ended up happening was as our Saturday night leader, unfortunately, they had to withdraw from a kind of a superficial bang point of view. My business plan is fine, but wasn't really probably feeling as fresh as she would want him to be for jumping on to Sunday. But it was really interesting interview with her and we'll play it in here from from from anyone listening on the audio. But it's another part of the story that comes out of the series. You have a writer like Arlen Woodanson, who will come on to the moment, who I think is, you know, showed us with Billy Beaufort, some like stepping up ability ultimately end up on the podium, but like, foundationally built on a brilliant, on a brilliant round on Saturday. Hanasu, though, is a totally other, it's a totally other profile. And I think it's something that we're going to see over the course of the series, there's going to be superstar writers. And I think Hanasu, I'm probably Jenny Rannigan, who's here in the same class and was one of the other big moments for us on Saturday, when they had the pain of 13. Yeah, it was a it was a it was a bank, it was a rail before a bank. And he just she said it was just unlucky. But it was it was one of the biggest moments of the day because knocks our leader off the top of the leader and gives Hannah a place to come in. And then as you say, Hannah comes out Saturday night. I mean, we had a lot of felt like a lot of drama for, you know, a smaller field size. On top of the the other piece that was interesting for me in terms of the drama of Saturday was not just that she was leading from to Friday. This is Jenny Rannigan and Connery, but they were also the best show jumper on ratings in the field. And ultimately, they did did the jump player and they did move up. But had they not had the pin, even if they'd had time, anywhere in the top three for me would have still been potentially leading them with a really big shot at, you know, holding the leader or getting back into the lead because of that counter. So putting 11 onto your score there was a huge moment. But to go back for a moment on Jenny Rannigan and Hannah Sue, you know, probably alongside Aaron Canary, you could probably put into the same bracket, Lynn Simanski. This group were and are the superstars of US eventing who probably always found themselves somewhere having to compete against probably a time when Phillip had huge dominance and then Boyd arrived and had huge dominance. And like, for everyone involved in the sport, we know it's hard, like horses changing some of your top horses, like coming and going, having to maintain enough horses at the level to keep up with that relentless pursuit of trying to stay at the top. And it was really interesting talking to Hannah Sue this weekend. And to be in the lead of a four star short on a Saturday night is a hard thing. Like these girls are familiar with it, but it's still not, it's not that it's not that frequent. Does it happen every weekend for them? And it becomes a it's a different kind of pressure. Yeah, for anyone, you know, for anyone, like we saw, we saw it in bookolo at Laura Collet, we've seen it all around, we've seen it all around the world, like to put yourself into that position is hard. So I thought it was a tough moment on Sunday morning when we got the news that business band wouldn't be jumping. It just, you go to both, you go to the sporting story, like the first thing we met when we met on the Sunday morning, you're like, business band is out. And immediately our, you know, our from a commentary point of view and from a storytelling point of view, our journey immediately has to go to what's the new story and what's next who's coming through. What does that mean for the rest of this division? You know, we had the story of, okay, can business band jump clean? That's a question. We want him to, but that's a question. Okay. Well, then who's behind Emma, Emily, do those two jump clean? Well, not at this level, you know, it's like how do you do you immediately start to think like, well, what, how does this story unfold now? As we're looking at Sunday morning and you're like, we have some and jumping at Morven Park, everyone says you have to ride it like it's a whole higher than it is because there's something about that ring and a Chris Barnard track and they jumped tough. And we saw it on Sunday. Yeah, so over the last, so it's about two from five is what you'd be expecting on the date at Morven. There's two angles. As soon as you get that news around Hannah Sue, the two places that you go are one is your, your job, the storytelling piece. But equally a big part of this series is the ability to have heroes, to have stories, to follow horses. Business band with Hannah Sue has been kind of prepped behind the scenes for some time. They've been like, you know, again, having the opportunity to sit in chat or you're learning about she's feeling confident that the horse is good in the first phase. She knows that the horse is a top cross country horse who's being to five star level. She knows she's a top writer. I mean, she has 20, 25 stars behind her now and she's been in the top 10 and five of them. Like she is and she knows she knows what she's doing. But she spent all her time, folks, in today's with business band on the final phase, on the show jumping. So we were going in there with that story. But when we talk to USCF and when we talk today, when we talk to the team at USCF around their real purpose and the way behind the series, helping fans have heroes, helping people access the business band story, helping people access Hannah Sue, Jenny Brannigan, Erin Kanara, helping people find, you know, I know Emma Klugman, Emily Beshear and they're wonderful stories to tell. I mean, these ladies are impressive and it's really exciting to have this moment where you're on Emily Beshear's website looking at all her gorgeous grades and learn more about her. Like, that's an exciting moment as a fan and for the sport. Like, there's new there there. Like, there's something there's a new thread to follow, which I think is really exciting. But there's even a thread to follow in the disappointment of the Sunday morning news around business band, because if you're invested in that story, and I was more invested in that story because I spent 10 minutes interviewing around business band on the journey and the story. So I had that little bit of context that I needed. I was devastated. I felt something, you know, and that's ultimately the goal of what this is all about. Can you help people feel something? And I felt something, I felt something, yes, from a sporting point of view in terms of the story, but I felt something around, oh, this girl has been waiting and waiting for this moment. She pushed the button on Saturday. It paid off. She's been training in this phase. It's been a while since of big, I mean, no, she has had a four star win already in 2024. But like, again, launching the series, a girl who has the firepower to make a big play in the series, there was also a human piece. I think that's the great thing about what I think the series can do. Yes, you've got a data piece. Yes, you've got data driven storytelling. Yes, you've got points in a league and all of the things. But also, if you can connect with writers, you can feel something else as well. And honestly, on Sunday morning, I was just feeling for how to Sue Holberg and that whole team, I mean, just think about how, I mean, we all know this and we talk about all the time within the context of our sport, but it's not just Hannah Sue and business Ben. It is her entire team behind her. It's the owners. It's the physios. It's her husband who's been helping her with the show jumping. I mean, it is literally, it takes so many people to get them to this moment. And so you feel immediately for Hannah Sue because, again, she's had a rough year so far, you know, I mean, she's not 2024 has not gone the way she had planned. And so you see her on Saturday night and you think, yes, this is the moment. And then as you said, Sunday morning, it's the first thing I say to you. And we're just both like, what now? Like, you just think your heart just feels for them. And that's what you need and want in this sport is you want people to feel that. And we're lucky because, again, we've talked, we had talked to Hannah and we sort of know that. But but I think a lot of people saw her come out on Sunday morning and thought, man, that's a tough break this year. My goal is that you that more people can feel that, because I think it's easy for us to see a WD on our results list. And actually, it takes a while for you to go back to what that feels like, what that is, who who is that person, who is that horse, and emotional connection. We didn't see her jumping, but we did, it did mean that we had Emma Clubman leading. So immediately we were turning to Emma versus Emily, they looked like the two best, they were the leading two and they looked like the two lightly challengers. So we focused on those in terms of our prep, we obviously go through everybody, we try to figure out a narrative angle on what the angle is for everyone who wins. But we have spent a little bit more time focusing on if Emma wins, it's this story, if Emma wins. And I always feel bad doing this because because they don't win, then you're like, but don't go on about what it would. I remember, I was chatting to Kirsty Shaver recently, Annie, and I was sitting beside her at lunch up early and I said, you know, she had that really late. I think it was the year, it was actually the year Will won Akken. She had a really late run out in the arena in Akken, two basically lose. Yeah. And sitting beside her at lunch and I said, like, what happened at Akken? I don't know if they should have said that. But anyway, she said to me, like, like, like, what do you mean? I ran, I ran out and I was like, I know, but like, why? Tell me about it. They're like, oh my god, you're bringing me here. Anyway, after the initial conversation around what had actually happened, which was, there was no real explanation on it, just is something that happened. She told me that the worst moment of it was, you know, in Akken, you get your name plated onto the wall, kind of immediately, like, it's like, it happens right at night. Yes. That moment and like, you get, like, you know, like, it was a big moment for Will and it was all those pictures around that year of Will having his name on the wall. And what a huge part of eventing history you become for that win. And they had her name prepared. And here's the even worse bit. They gave it to her husband. They said, do you want that? And he took it. So she has a constant poor Kirsty. She has a constant reminder of the name that's not on the wall. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I say that in the context of like, is it fair to be going through the emmatlogment narrative of what would have happened if she went, but I think it's, it kind of shows what you're, it shows the behind the scenes of what you're prepping. And or I've read for it is a really, is a really top jumper, particularly at the level below and they've been coming through really the conversation for us was they've had a, they've a long line of clears at three star level. Under two occasions previously at four star level, they've had a rail in each, but it's really hard to call whether that means it'll be a rail today or whether that means we're, you know, we're true. And particularly when you're at the beginning of a four star career, something similar with Rio de Janeiro, who was coming in off the back of a four star clear, but still very early in their career together. It was, it was a lot of unknowns, even with those, but we were trying to prep, if Emma wins, we've got, you know, the Australian win on US soil angle. If Emily wins, we have probably got the Rio story, you know, it'll be three wins from their last four events. And it was ultimately, it was ultimately Emily. So she jumped first. You were, you were coming to it and on both of those. She did. She jumped first. And you know, it's interesting. I mean, the horse is striking, as you say, he's a beautiful gray and Emily's a lovely rider who I've seen ride for years. And they came in again, a little bit out of order. So I was on, she came in and I was like, Oh, and here we have our second place, right? Here we go. A little bit earlier than planned. And she had just a lovely round. And it was interesting because the horse never felt like he was putting in a huge amount of effort. He just looked like he was like, Okay, there's another jump. And there's another jump. And they just put together this beautiful, very easy round. And Emily was clearly pleased. I talked to her last night after the awards. And I, you know, I said, he's, he just looks like a dude. And she's like, yeah, he just is kind of a dude. And she's like, you know, he doesn't really put a ton of effort into everything. And so he came here and he was like, Oh, I have to do a little bit more. Okay. Like she's like, that's just kind of his personality. Sarah and I were joking in the live stream that she had sort of nicked the horse from her son. And she set the record straight saying that basically she'd gotten the horse. She ended up getting hurt. And so she had Nicholas take over the ride for a little bit. And she's happy to have him back. So it's good to hear that off. Yes. I think Nicholas would be sad that if that horse had been nicked from him. But you know, she said he just is a dude in that he just finds it easy. And he just keeps sort of answering the questions, which is what you really want to hear. And the other interesting thing about the Rio story is he's 15 just stepping up to the level. And I think that that is that's wonderful. I think at this four star short level, you know, we have the eight nine year olds who are stepping up to the level. And then you have a 15 year old who's stepping up to the level. And he made it look like he'd been there for a while. So it is a really fun story. And it was Emily's first win at the level. Well, in her 34th run. And Sarah, Sarah mentioned it on the live stream during the commentary when, you know, for someone who gives so much to the sport. And how highly regarded her coaching career is becoming now. And how highly taught up she is. There's something special there, you know, you get drawn into like, and again, it's the depth of stories that exist in the sport. You can go to the that kind of that generation of Hanasu, Jenny, Erin, Lynn, you know, there's that group. And then also you've got someone who's given 33 previous rounds at the level and top of multiple other rounds. And then all of a sudden Rio de Janeiro comes back for you. And your three wins from four, and you're leading the you're leading the US equestrian open. Yeah, yes, it's one leg. But yes, you know, your name is back in headlines. I think as a sport, we everyone needs that every so often. You know, it's it's tough. It's tough as a sport. It's relentless in terms of disappointment that is available. So to be able to to be able to have just the moments every so often to be like, enjoy, enjoy still the night at Morven. Yeah, it worked. It worked. And I think especially when you like Morven Park, because you know, again, people don't come there thinking like this is going to be easy. They come knowing like this is going to be in Derek says this all the time. If you come to Morven Park, you will understand if you have a five star horse. Yeah. And I think that's true of the long at Morven. And I also think it's true of the short because there's you know, there's obviously the long is longer and there's some loops taken off for the short. But I think that terrain and the questions that Derek asks, I think really let you know what kind of horse you're sat on. And I think Emily came here very purposely. She does not do none of these writers do anything by accident. I think she came here very purposely thinking about what's ahead for that horse. And like you said, she's put 40 points on the board the first weekend out of the US equestrian open. And I mean, the ladies that put points on the board this week, I mean, Emma Klugman right there in second with relatively young mayor and Emma's a wonderful rider and producer of horses. And I think, you know, she's got points on the board now. And then, you know, Arden Wildesen, we mentioned earlier, but with a, with a, you know, debut at the level for this partnership, it's unbelievable. There shows up and around. And again, you guys were commenting and I actually thought that was one of the smoothest and, you know, Sarah was referencing it as they were going around. It was really in rhythm and flow. And actually, it was kind of standout visually. And they haven't been together that long as a partnership did only two, there are only two internationals before this. I think they'd been clear in one and had two down in the other in terms of their show jumping record today. I saw them at Bromont. And again, you know, again, people don't go to places by accident. Bromont is also a really tough testing cross country course. And she and Billy Beauford had a wonderful round at the three star level at Bromont in June. And I think they won there. We're definitely on the podium there. And then you see a horse come from a place like Bromont to a place like Morven Park. And it just looked polished. I mean, their show jumping rail was stunning. And the way Arden rides across country is impressive. She is brave and those horses trust her. And it, it always looks like it's exactly going to plan, even maybe when it's not. I mean, you know, she's brave, like Ros Canner's brave. And I know Ros said she's not that brave sometimes, but you see Arden out there in her horse's trust her. And she's on a long reign. And she did, they just kind of loop along. And she is, it's wonderful to watch. And it's really, really fun. And it's an exciting partnership for the future for us of hunting. And Arden has a great string of horses. She was meant to have a second horse in this division, who I think she withdrew after the dressage. So, you know, you think about the series coming up. I mean, Arden's got one who was just on the podium. She's got points on the board. But she has another mayor coming through to the level who you could start to look at what's happening next year. And Arden could probably put together pretty, pretty good run around these, these four star shorts for the, for the qualifiers. You mean, it's, this is a difficult to do thing to do life because you can't rotate on a lot of horses. So, but did Arden make the time in the, in the lung? Was it one of Arden's that made the time in the lung? And when mixing that up, they did. No, she did. I mean, that's, that's another like thing not to miss because that's where the, that's the final, you know? And if you've already got a horse who's made the time at the track in the lung format, what, one of only four to do it. For this year, but only seven in the last three or four years have done it, including this four. I think you could easily miss that the way, you know, when you talk about bromance, then going on to Morven, like podium finishes, venues like that, I think it's easy sometimes to miss the detail. And I love when you find the detail, like there's something happening there with Arden. Yeah, it's not a mistake for, yeah, it's not a mistake for someone like Arden. I mean, she really, it's, it was impressive. And that Sunday times horse again, in the four long, because you say, you know, I think she has other spring goals with that horse, because you know, he's not getting any younger. I think he's 17 or 17, I think. But she knows she can make the time as you look at the final, you know, a year from now, Arden could rock to a tough, I mean, and by the way, we got lucky this weekend with weather, who's to say next year isn't like we had last year where it's raining. And the good news about Morven Park is it can take some rain. I mean, it's not one of those courses, the terrain, it old turf, so it drains well. But it makes a difference. I mean, there's a reason not one person got inside the time last year is because it was raining and it was proper, proper cross country. I mean, those guys had to dig deep. But again, Arden had a great spin around the country, cross country last year on Sunday times two. So he has, you imagine some of the stars of the eventing world arriving for the next year, you know, some people who will have qualified all the way through, some people who will not out see a huge price fund. You know, I think it's going to be half a million over the course of seven days when you have hopefully Marlin next year. Yeah. And the US question open file back to back in 2025 in the same week, and you've got 200,000 pounds, or dollars price part available here. No doubt, you're going to have stars flying in. But if you imagine us as like a golf tournament, or you imagine how you would cover Arden, that feels like, I mean, it won't be for us because we will know that that's part of the fun of it, is that actually what a surprise it could be to the world where which won't be to people following the series that actually you've got a writer here already done it at the venue, building points steadily, enough horses at the venue. And then now we begin, we begin to see that depth. We have a depth of storytelling again, like you've got your, you've got your, your winner in Emily on, you know, run number 34 at the level gets a win with a 15 year old horse. You've got the Hannah Sue, Jenny Brannigan, Generation here, both who had disappointments this weekend, won a pain, won a withdrawal. And then Arden, you know, building a strain, quietly taking over across divisions here, we're in, you know, this is only event one. And you can save all the stories going. Yes. But then it's even more exciting because you wake up and you look at the initial entries for book art, which is just in two weeks, two weeks, and, and so not all entries are in yet, but who pops up, Philip Dutton on Joolen. And you're like, oh yeah, he wasn't here this weekend. A very different, very different story, Boyd wasn't in this weekend. So, you know, you have those two, you have Carolyn Pamuchu, like there's, there's other people with big strings of horses who weren't here. But also at the same turn, Jules Batter's Ennis was in this weekend and got some points on the board in seventh place. She centered at book art. So, you know, you start to, you start to be able to track these people in a way that you maybe haven't tracked them in the past because you're like, oh yeah, okay, they were seventh, but you're like, oh, that actually means something now because they've got points on the board. That's it in a nutshell, you know, Jules Ennis Batter's put me back, put me back a year ago, seventh place finish at Morven and entered for, for child hails and for boot card. I'm not connecting that with anything, you know, I'm like, amazing, but I, you know, okay, just run, but now is now, now you're saying, okay, what has Will Coleman got? Because this time last year, if you run this series over 2023, Will Coleman wins this? Yeah, but Will Coleman was here on young horses this weekend. Where's Will Coleman? What's he got at the level? Has he enough firepower in 2025? You know, he's coming off the back, I would say, probably a disappoint. Like, I'd say Paris is still staying in for Will Coleman. So, you've got, you know, he has to, well, look, we'll get on to that. And he went all of the storytelling that has to unfold. But you've, but you can feel already like just the debt of before we just go down to total meander on the whole series. Exactly. Exactly. And a quick look at the, a quick look at the points. It's, it's 40 points on the board for, for Emily Beshear. And with Will Coleman 35, Arden, who we've talked about 30, Mia Farley, big moment there. Again, it was, we haven't touched on the Mia, but Invictus jumped very well to secure 25 points in the series four plus finish, probably still learning with calculated chaos. And that, you know, there could have been more. And but I certainly feel that Mia has the string available to her, Annie, that this will be a series where I think we'll see Mia Farley feature. Oh, I think so. And I think if she hadn't had a little bit of a break issue on Saturday, I think the mayor would have been further up the order. She had an issue in the roping, but I think it became a breaks issue. So that'll get sorted, but that's a really exciting mayor for this series as well. Jenny Brownigan next, six-place finish with Connery climbing back up again. A key moment from Saturday, but still, still brings 15 points on Jules Annis-Battles, who, as you say, entered a bouquard 10 points on the board, and Erin Kanara with Charmin Victory, with five points on the board, eight-place finish. We are up and running, Annie. And it's really exciting. And I cannot wait. I mean, I will be watching entries closer than I've been. Then I usually watch them just to see who's in where and who's going to start to rack up series points. The other exciting thing that I can't think we don't quite forget, there will be horses that are going to step up at bouquard at Terranova. Maybe they're going to get their three-star long qualification, because I think we're going to have a new school of four-star horses in the spring join this ranks as well. So I think it's not just looking at the strings that we have in the four-star right now with people with four-star horses, but who are these three-star stars that are going to be stepping up to really, you know, to enter the series as well, which I think is going to be a great thing to watch. And it'll be really fun to see who has what coming through. It's a really interesting angle. It might be something that we do on the US equestrian fan site. So it's us equestrianopen.org, and you'll have all of the leaderboards, all of the stories. But it's definitely an angle for us to look at who's qualifying, who's got, say, like firstly-- Who's qualifying's they can enter next year? Exactly, exactly. Annie, thank you for the time. Great to see you this weekend. Delighted to join you. It was a wonderful weekend. And I'm so glad you got to experience more of in Park and sort of all of its glory this weekend. It really put on a show. Well, look, we will all rose lead to Pukart now. And again, thanks for taking the time, and we'll catch up soon. All right, be well. Talk to you soon. David, we've been preparing for the Open for some time, but now we find ourselves on a Sunday morning, a Sunday, Sunday morning in Mover Park getting ready for final phase of the first qualifier. Talk with us a little bit about everything that's come today. We've talked about the sport on our side, but it's been a journey behind the scenes for some time at board level. And within the USCF, multiple parties involved to try and get us all here and to make this a real thing. Yeah, I mean, two years ago when we started this process was specifically asked, you know, to create what we call in the Federation big, right? So big initiatives, right? And across multiple different sports, not just eventing. And so, you know, you started to study other sports, right? You started to study golf, and you started to see tennis, and you started to see these type of things where somebody could follow somebody on an athlete that they like, an athlete that they become a part of it. Equine and human, because I'm a big believer of making equine stars, that somebody could follow it. And the one-off competitions that the sport has been very good at, and they're fantastic, you know, the burleys and the volunteers, the techies and Maryland coming up. I mean, these are great competitions, but they're one-off, right? So how could you follow somebody through a year and follow a horse through a year and be excited about them become part of their, be part of their program? And then looking at like FedEx Cup and golf and things like that, you started to look, okay, we could come up with something that not exact, but, you know, similar along the lines. And that's when we decided in eventing that we would tie the four-star shorts together, and create a series, and then leading to the open. And now the, you know, I have to qualify for this series to get to the open because of right to play, right? But you can come to the open here at Mova Park next year. Hopefully it will track some international riders, you know, I expect because of the two weekends back to back between here and Maryland. So I think that will be an attraction where there's $500,000 worth of price money in a week. Those are good attractive things. So that's where the pieces started to come together. When you're playing with numbers, you know, calculations off of results in places in over the years, you know, in that first year of developing it, trying to see a model what will come up. And the model, I think, which could be tweaked in a little bit of the future, but this model, I think, is going to be very beneficial for the sport now. You mentioned it casually, but it's a big moment, isn't it, when you consider that in 2025, there will be, you know, a seven-day period in the U.S. at which half a million can be won in a venting? Absolutely. That's not something I think that we've had or was there ever a point? I don't think there was ever a point that we've had that around around the world. No, there's no question. I'm going to you've had these one off the five stars or, you know, the big five stars are very, very successful and there's successful financially and there's there's still the largest spectator sport in a question sport that we have is a venting. Same thing at the Olympic Games. The biggest spectator day is the cross country. So we had even in Paris, we had 44,000 people there on that day. And so, you know, it is a very much of a real enjoyable live spectator sport as much as anything. And to give the opportunity for the athletes to go for something that's, you know, substantial will make a difference. I think that makes it all the much more exciting and exciting for spectators as much as exciting for just the riders themselves. So you, I can see the planning of a rider's career happening. Okay, I, I've got a couple really good horses, four stars, five star horses that, okay, I'm going to do a little mini tour and come over here. And, you know, it's not always this sunny here, but the two places that we have with here at Maryland, they're iconic places. They've got a ton of history within this work. There's 50 years of eventing here. This is probably, I think, one of the most educational four stars that we, there's definitely the most educational four star for horses are preparing for future teams that we have in the country. You know, the terrain is here, the turf is here, the lay of the land and the lay of the course is so educational for preparing horses for whatever they're going to do in the future. So I think that is also a huge part of here. More of a park is done just an exceptional job in this last 10 years of reforming the park. I've been coming here from almost the beginning of a eventing here. And they've done a fabulous job of infrastructure. And so it's, you know, it's an iconic place. It has that feel, it has that iconic feel to it. It has that feel because you can see so much history around you, and equally then the natural, the landscape, you know, it's not, you can't wheel this stuff in and make it look like, you know, this is, this feels. Tell us a little bit about that. You mean, you said you've been coming here for a long time, but tell us a little bit about the history of it. Why, you know, particularly for a final next year, where I think we will have the eyes of the world on Northern. Yeah, it's a, you have to, I mean, basically, you're just talking about that. I'm old. I'm old. So, in all 50, all 50 years, I think I've been here for all 50 years, because, you know, I'm from in this area. So this was a place when I was a kid and even part of it and stuff like that, this is where this is one of the places we came here in Fairhill, basically. And so the land around here in Northern Virginia is, you know, it's such good rolling, not huge, long sharp hills, but just short hills with a terrain. So you can, the courses here play into that aspect of not just communication, but horses footwork and the instinctual side of cross-country riding. That a lot of flat courses can't get into, right? You're on a measured thing. This is going to happen. Here, the horses could change a little bit and you've got to support them. And that, that to me, is cross-country riding or true cross-country riding. And so on a place like this, which could hold, I mean, this has the scope, this, you can hold the world here. You know, this could be a place where the United States could hold the world championships at that event. It has that type of field scope, cross-country courses, you know, it lays itself to it. You could do a whole, you have to figure out when you're designing here what, where not to go, because you have so many options. So it has that full range of scope. So it's very exciting for us to have a place and on the east coast, you know, not far from, you know, flying it from quarantine stations and all like this stuff. There's even talk about putting a import station here in Delos, you know, Washington Delos, which is only 20 minutes away. So, you know, there's, there's pieces around that are coming together that is, you know, it's, it's good for the sport, it's good for a question sport, it's good for the US program. We've talked about different ways behind it. But what, what makes it a success for USF? Like, what will you guys be reviewing as you come to the end of the year or the end of the review period? What are you looking at as you go along? Is this participation? Is it funds? Is this, um, number one thing is fans. Yeah, right? Are we creating a fan base and we have a fan, uh, subscription for the USF and it's, uh, we have over 300,000, uh, yeah, I think it's 380,000 people. So it's almost 400,000 fans, just fans that are people that are just interested in watching and getting information and all kinds of stuff. So increasing the fan base would be the number one thing. I think that supporting the riders in their careers, you know, is the other part from education point of view and giving them opportunities to be able to, uh, you know, have some prize money. I mean, those are all a real benefit or be a benefit to the sport. But the number one thing is actually trying to increase fan awareness, which is why it's in all three different disciplines, right? There's one in precise. There's, uh, another, uh, type of, uh, explosion of an event for show jumping. So, and we're actually even doing it with the breeds. I mean, with the Raybians, we're at this battle of the breeds going on. Okay. Um, so in the hundred divisions, you know, put the Raybian against the Saddlebird, against the Morgan and see who wants you or who, who is the champion of it. Um, so, and it's all very much about trying to put a questionings port out in, in front of people and creating that fan base that they'll be able to, that they'll be able to follow. Super. I mean, from our point of view, speaking to Sally Swichert from Eventing Nation, I know our equidings gives us, it gives us something, it gives us something, yeah, it gives us a base for the stories. The stories are actually almost always either written by the data or are already there in the back story of so many of the horses and so many of the athletes. But a reason to tell them is what you've been looking for, a reason to actually say, God, there's this horse here, Emily Beshear has a horse here their second now because of an overnight withdrawal of the leader. Then Rio de Janeiro, 15 year old horse hasn't done that much, but is now arriving off the back of a big result in Aiken has jumped there at Aiken, sit second first qualifier in the open. And you've got a reason to tell the Emily Beshear Rio de Janeiro story. Younger riders, you know, um, or riders that have, you know, gone through a quieter time and coming back. I mean, these are all stories that are, that horses bring to them and to celebrate those, those horses and the, and the day to day side of who they are and what they do and how they get here. I think is, you know, that's, that's, that's an amazing part of, I think your question for it is that those stories have relationship that those horses bring to the equation, which, you know, generally, I would say in the past have not, in this country, probably have not been expressed enough. You know, and we need to tell this story of the horses. And if we tell the story of the horses, everybody benefits from it because it's because, you know, because there's an emotional side to it. There's an emotive connection there. Well, certainly, US equestrian open has given us a huge platform, an opportunity to do that. So, we will, we will see you multiple times in between, but we'll be back here in the year time. Yeah, I'm really excited about it. I mean, the board really stepped up for the USEF and they, they, you know, it's been a successful organization now and they're investing back into the sport to grow the fan base here and in multiple different sports. And it's a, it's a great vision. And I congratulate the board for, you know, stepping up and saying, let's do this. And we're going to back it for a number of years to get it on its feet. It's a unusual situation. And, and I'm, I think very, very excited about what the possibilities are going to come out of it. Likewise. David, thank you for your time.
