Icarus Flies To The Top Of The CCI***

After more than a week of rain, sunny skies and puffy white clouds made for a pleasant ambiance at the Jersey Fresh CCI and CIC, but many riders found John Williams’ cross-country courses a bit less friendly than the weather today, May 9.

While the leaderboard endured a dramatic shuffling all day, Michael Pollard and Icarus made the CCI*** course look easy, coming home with just 2.4 time penalties to put them on top with a mark of 46.4.
   
“It was a difficult course with the rain [over the past week] and heavy ground,” said Pollard, Chatsworth, Ga. “[Icarus] doesn’t get tired, but he was even struggling at the end. He never backed off the rein, but he didn’t have as much gallop. It was definitely a day to get it done instead of trying to have a beautiful round.”
   
Pollard, who usually only has a short warm-up on the horse, was delayed for about 30 minutes at the start box during one of three emergency holds on course in the division (Hawley Bennett and Christian Eagles both had falls and were taken off the course in ambulances but later released with only minor injuries; Phillip Dutton's Bailey Wick fell at Fence 20).
   
“Normally at a three-star, you’re feeling you have to hold them together during the last minute on course,” he said. “But here, after Fence 20, the horses became tired. You were nursing them through the last three minutes. The only way you could be close to the time was to see the distance from the stride you were on rather than setting them up.”
   
Jan Byyny, Purcellville, Va, was back in Waterfront’s tack, and they also posted a clean trip with only 8.8 time penalties for a two-day total of 50.8. She was also affected by a hold in the start box and felt that Waterfront became very anxious to get out on the course.

“He was a little bit tricky in the beginning,” Byyny said. “I took it easy with him, and it rode how it walked. The organizers really, really tried to make a huge effort to pick the best footing and surface for us that they could.”
   
The overnight leaders from the dressage, Leslie Law and Fleeceworks Mystere du Val, had a clean jumping trip but racked up 12 time penalties, dropping them into third (51.0). After incurring a runout with his first horse, the usually-brave Private Heart, Law knew he’d have to ride an especially forward round on the somewhat-cautious Mystere du Val. They took the long route at the final water to avoid the corner that had spoiled Private Heart's round.
   
“I was very pleased with the horse today,” he said, adding that he knew the long route was the safer bet. “I felt like he would have to come down to that water and be full of it, and I knew by the time I jumped through the coffin that he’d have to jump the long route. I made up my mind [well before I got there].”
   
For many CCI*** riders, problems occurred only in the final few minutes of the course. Four riders had trouble at the final water complex, particularly the corner that was placed in the water. Two fell there—Holly Hepp on Last Monarch and Wendy Southam on Ruba Z, and Andrea Leatherman on Mensa fell at the preceding fence, the drop into the water itself. Colin Davidson on Draco had two stops at the corner, then retired.