PrintDespite a stomach full of butterflies, Danica Moore piloted Dunlavin’s Token to a double-clear show jumping round on Sunday, Nov. 15 in the Poplar Place CCI**. They finished the weekend with a blue ribbon for their efforts and posted a final penalty mark of 56.4.
“I was very nervous going in there,” said Moore, Middleburg, Va. “It definitely showed in a couple jumps where I got too close, but he jumped over it and didn’t touch anything. I was holding my breath!”
Kelli Temple put the pressure on Moore when she jumped clean with Veelion and ended on 58.4 penalties. Moore had no room for error.
“I thought the course was going to be tough because he does a lot better on a bigger, more open course,” said Moore. “But he saved me over quite a few.”
Moore has owned Dunlavin’s Token for the past five years and has been bringing the gelding slowly up the levels. She hopes to move him up to advanced in the spring after some well deserved time off.
Temple is also planning on giving her string of horses a vacation after their top 10 finishes in the two-star. Veelion finished the weekend in second place (58.4), Axel Rose was third (63.9), and Valentine ended up sixth (67.0). All three horses added only time penalties to their original dressage score.
“I was really pleased All three of them jumped around really well,” said Temple. “This is their first two-star, and they’re all relatively green, but they’re all great show jumpers.”
Temple pinned Axel Rose as having the best trip of the three.
“He jumped a really beautiful, smooth round,” said Temple. “Valentine is one of my best show jumpers, so I pretty much know he’s going to go clean, I don’t worry too much.”
While Veelion is also a talented jumper, Temple said he’s a very spooky horse and is often thinking about other things.
“Axel and Valentine understand the point is to jump clean,” she said with a laugh. “Veelion, although he will jump clean, just has a lot of other things on his mind. He’ll grow out of it, it just takes time.”
Imtiaz Anees and Interwin knocked down fence 7, but maintained their fourth-placed position with 65.1 penalties. Tucker and Jesslyn Woodall had rails at fence 9, a vertical, and fence 10B, the middle element of the triple combination, which dropped them from second to fifth (65.8), and John Williams and Sweepea Dean took down 10C, the oxer at the end of the triple to finish sixth (67.0).
Finals results on EventEntries.com.
