Bouckaert-Pollard Writes A New Three-Day Ending With Fair Hill CCI*** Win

Every time she show jumps, Nathalie Bouckaert-Pollard battles an irksome memory that goes back to the final day of competition at the 2004 Rolex Kentucky CCI****.

She'd entered show jumping in the lead, on the brink of a major win that would all but guarantee her a spot on that year's Olympic team, but her nerves took over, as she accumulated a stop, rails, and time penalties that dropped her to seventh.

Now, though, she has a better memory--that of keeping her cool to retain her lead in the Fair Hill CCI***. With just one rail on Oct. 13-16, she secured her first senior three-day title, in Fair Hill, Md.

On both occasions, she rode West Farthing, a 12-year-old English Thoroughbred her father, Carl Bouckaert, briefly competed before her. Nathalie took over the ride before the 2003 Foxhall CCI*** (Ga.), where she finished third, again losing the lead in show jumping.

Still, that performance qualified Bouckaert-Pollard for her first taste of senior team competition, in the 2003 Pan American Championships at Fair Hill. They also finished 17th in the Luhmuhlen CCI**** (Germany) in June, and they won the advanced division of the 2004 American Eventing Championships (N.C.) in September.

"Every single time I show jump [the Rolex Kentucky round] will be in the back of my mind," she said. "But I do feel I've established more of a rhythm."

Bouckaert-Pollard, 26, won the 1997 and 1998 North American Young Riders Championships, although she hadn't garnered a major senior title before now. But Phillip Dutton had promised her, on that grim day last  April, that her time would come, and 18 months later, his words rang true, at his own expense. Bouckaert-Pollard left Will Faudree and Antigua behind her in second, while Dutton climbed to third aboard Hannigan and fifth with Connaught.

Still, Dutton, who won Fair Hill last year, didn't have any complaints about Bouckaert-Pollard's victory--or the fact that his student, Faudree, beat him too.

"I'm always encouraged in this country because the competition is good," said Dutton, an Australian who has made West Grove, Pa., his home for more than a decade. "I don't shy away from it."

Bouckaert-Pollard rode to second in dressage on a score of 40.4, less than a point behind Robyn Fisher and Le Samurai (39.6). But Bouckaert-Pollard wants to be even more competitive on the first day. "I still feel like I need to make a huge improvement in dressage," she said. "I'd like to have a little more breathing room."

She--and Faudree--have benefited from U.S Equestrian Federation training sessions with six-time dressage Olympian Robert Dover.
Dutton agreed that dressage would continue to play a more and more important role in the sport. "The standard keeps getting better all the time," he said. "The horses need to be closer to straight dressage. The bringing in of Grand Prix trainers is new to our sport. But I think to win the World Championships [next year], you're going to have to have a horse who is 'passagey' in the trot and has a very collected canter."