One rail separated the top six in the Fair Hill CCI***, but Amy Tryon never imagined her clean round in the sixth spot would catapult her into the lead with Coal Creek over Corinne Ashton on Dobbin and Will Coleman on Twizzel.

Tryon jumped Coal Creek early in the order because she also had Leyland in the top 10. She started to move up when fifth-placed Boyd Martin took three rails on Belmont II. Then Phillip Dutton had a surprising five rails down, which ended up dropping him and Bailey Wick from fourth place down to 10th.

When Tryon jumped her third-placed horse, Leyland, disaster struck and four rails fell. “I rode him horribly,” admitted Tryon. It looked like Coleman was going to put the pressure on Ashton, who held the lead after cross-country, but then he dropped the last rail on course with Twizzel. That fence, a liverpool, proved to be a costly bogey fence for many riders, and Ashton and Dobbin couldn’t avoid its curse either.

So Tryon finished on top with Coal Creek, just .2 penalties ahead of Ashton.

“You’re always humbled by the sport, and you just want to go out there and not let yourself, your owners or your horse down,” said Tryon.

She blamed herself for Leyland’s mistakes, explaining that she hadn’t been able to ride him, or ride at all, as much as she’d have liked due to the travel surrounding the Olympic Games and an infected knee after the Games. But Leyland won the Jersey Fresh CCI*** this spring with a clear show jumping round.

“I couldn’t be happier,” said Tryon. “When you have two 8-year-olds, and one wins the three-star in the spring, and the other one wins the one in the fall, I can’t complain.”

Ashton admitted it would be a long ride home to Massachusetts as she re-rode the final line in her mind. “I would have found more room. I was in too much of a hurry to get to that finish line,” she said.

But she couldn’t complain about second place, since the pair has won many advanced events, but never finished in the top three at a major three-day.

Ashton also endured a bit more drama when she was announced as the top amateur rider. While she was the highest-placed owner-rider, she renounced her amateur status this year after someone complained that she was making more money teaching than the $2,500 allowed for eventing amateurs.

“It wasn’t true, but it doesn’t make any difference,” said Ashton.

For Coleman, the liverpool came down as a result of Twizzel working too hard to be careful.

“He was trying really hard behind around the whole course, and I was having to hold him off the front rail more and more. I think it just came to a head at the last fence,” he said. “I think it was just a bit of a snowball rolling down a hill. He was jumping too well, and it was just hard to keep his front end off that rail.”

Only five riders jumped double-clean rounds of the 38 starters in show jumping. Allison Springer moved up to fourth place with a clean round on Destination Known. Jan Byyny moved up six places to seventh with a faultless go on Syd Kent. Tiffani Loudon-Meetze on Above ‘N’ Beyond and Buck Davidson on My Boy Bobby also jumped clean.

Cayla Kitayama, 22, ended up as the leading amateur as well as the highest-placed rider under 25 years with Esker Riada. Kitayama finished last year at Fair Hill, but fell off in the show jumping, so this year’s ninth-placed finish was sweet redemption.

Prather Jumps Up To Win The Two-Star

Kelly Prather and Ballinakill Glory came into show jumping just .4 points behind Molly Rosin and Havarah’s Charly. The four horses before her had jumped clear, so she knew she had to do the same to keep her second-placed standing.

The pair put in a textbook round, and when Rosin missed her distance to fence 5 and had the rail down, Prather knew she’d just won the inaugural Fair Hill CCI**. Coleman and Nevada Bay tied with Sinead Halpin and Manoir de Carneville for second place, but Coleman was closer to optimum time on cross-country, so he ended up with the red ribbon.

Rosin dropped to fourth over Martin on Remington XXV and Will Faudree on Pawlow.

“My horse had a great go. She jumped great, and we get to go home feeling good and move on to next year,” said Prather.

Prather, Bodega, Calif., has competed the 9-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare to advanced, but a few problems last year made her decide to take more time at the lower levels.

“I want to move back up to advanced next year and do a three-star,” she said. “She’s a great jumper, and every time she has a clean round, it does a ton for my confidence, but having a good go on cross-country yesterday and feeling like she really flew around and wanted to take me, ears perked, was huge for my confidence.”

Although the top riders made Sally Ike’s show jumping course look easy, only 13 riders managed double-clear rounds in the 58-horse field.

“You hate a course that nobody has rails on, because that makes Sunday a moot point,” said Coleman. “It was nice to see that they built it to size, most of it.”

Coleman plans to aim Nevada Bay at a three-star next year. This is the second two-star for the Dutch Warmblood gelding this year, and he finished in 14th place at Jersey Fresh with a run-out on cross-country.

Halpin expressed delight in finishing in the top three. “I’m really proud of my horse,” she said. “He was just a star all weekend. He just got better and better, and I didn’t know what would happen today. He tries to jump so carefully, but he’s not always the most orthodox-jumping horse.”

Only one rider was eliminated in show jumping—Elissa Estes missed a fence with Medici. However, Krissy Smith fell off Clifton Vitori in the show jumping warm-up and was transported to the hospital with a shoulder injury, so she couldn’t complete.