Buck Davidson was looking for a chance to redeem himself. Disappointed after his show jumping ride on Ballynoe Castle RM resulted in two dropped rails and a move from sixth place to 11th in the CIC*** today, April 4, at The Fork, he knew he had to do better on My Boy Bobby.
Fortunately, Davidson, 34, made the most of his opportunity. He and “Bobby” went into the show jumping in second place just a few penalties behind Allison Springer and Arthur, and jumped around clean. When Arthur pulled down the back rail of fence 7, a square oxer off a turn, Bobby and Davidson clinched the victory. The win was especially meaningful to Davidson because he was competing less than a week after his grandmother, Nancy Penn Smith Hannum, passed away at the age of 90.
“I’m so happy to win [for my grandmother].” Davidson said. “That’s what mom told me to do, and it’s what we tried to do. Gran will be happy with that.”
Davidson and Bobby were winners in the 2009 CIC*** at The Fork, and then followed that victory with a third-placed finish at the 2009 Rolex Kentucky CCI****. Although he won at The Fork both years, Davidson said Bobby felt much stronger this time around.
“He was unbelievable,” Davidson said. “He was so much better here this year than he was last year. I remember coming down the hill to the water, and it took all I had to get down it. This year he was in the bridle the whole way. Even this morning he was bucking and playing.”
Though Davidson, Riegelsville, Pa., and Ocala, Fla., is not planning on taking Bobby to this year’s Rolex Kentucky, he will ride Ballynoe Castle RM, or “Reggie,” and Titanium, also owned by Carl and Cassandra Siegel. Reggie hasn’t always received the same attention as Bobby, but he is still Davidson’s favorite.
“I have two other ones that are pretty nice,” Davidson said of his decision not to run Bobby at Kentucky. “Reggie was great here. I feel terrible for him. That horse never has a rail, and we had two down here last year also. I’ll take the blame for that one. I didn’t ride well enough. He was fantastic in the warm-up, and I didn’t do my job.”
Springer, Marshall, Va., left with second, but she wasn’t too disappointed. She’s already looking forward to Kentucky at the end of April, and said this weekend’s competition was a perfect preparation for that.
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“I’m thrilled with all the improvements we’ve made in all three phases,” Springer said. “I was really thrilled with this competition. We got a tad too deep to that one oxer, but he was very, very good overall.”
Springer credits much of her improvement in the show jumping to high performance training sessions over the last year with show jumper Katie Prudent.
“She is an amazing horsewoman,” Springer said. “She’s helped me be much more consistent than I used to be.”
Phillip Dutton put in impressive show jumping performances to finish in three of the top six spots. He earned third with Truluck, fifth with Inmidair and sixth with Woodburn. Will Faudree squeaked into fourth with a double-clear round on Pawlow.
The CIC*** field was whittled down to 36 starters by the time show jumping began. Will Coleman’s preliminary ride War End fell on the cross-country course earlier in the day, resulting in a broken collarbone for Coleman, and forcing him to withdraw both Twizzel and Nevada Bay. Sara Kozumplik withdrew Somerset II after he was held at the horse inspection.
Marc Donovan’s show jumping course proved influential in the standings. Dutton and Truluck moved from seventh to third, while Dutton and Woodburn went from third to sixth. Laine Ashker moved up from 12th to seventh, and Faudree jumped from ninth to fifth.
Michael Pollard, who was standing fourth going into show jumping, suffered a disastrous round with Wonderful Will. The 13-year-old Thoroughbred gelding appeared quite unrideable, and they ended up taking six rails to drop them down to 18th place.
The show jumping course proved equally influential in the advanced division today. Hannah Sue Burnett and St. Barths moved from fourth to take the win over Davidson and Titanium. It was only St. Barths’ second advanced competition.
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“We’ve had issues in the show jumping before,” Burnett said. “I was just going for a nice, confident show jumping round. I wasn’t going to be upset if he had one or two down. He tried so hard.”
The original leaders, Phillip Dutton and Jan Byyny’s Waterfront, pulled two rails, including one on the first fence of the course, and dropped down to fifth. Boyd Martin and Bruce Davidson’s Rock On Rose moved from eighth to third, and Holly Hudspeth and Last Monarch’s clear round let them jump from 10th into fourth.
At the second fence on course, a fake stone wall, it looked like Burnett might not get her win today. “Nike” took a bit of a long spot to the fence and just made it over.
“I really went fast at [fence] 2.” Burnett said. “I just wanted him to be in front of my leg, so I really pushed him down to it. And then I was like, ‘OK, now I’m going to ride the rest correctly.’ The rest was quite good. I couldn’t be any happier. I wasn’t expecting this at all.”
Burnett, 23, works for the O’Connor Event Team and splits her time between The Plains, Va., and Ocala, Fla. She won the Fair Hill CCI** (Md.) with St. Barths in 2009, and she hopes to qualify him for the Bromont CCI*** (Que.) this year. She said the horse’s transition to the advanced level has been a fairly easy one.
“I was worried that the change in the flatwork was really going to blow his mind with the flying changes,” Burnett said. “In the beginning it kind of did, so it’s been a lot of repetition and getting him used to it. The jumping is nothing. He doesn’t even notice a change. He just gallops down to the big tables.”
For complete results, visit EventingEntries.com.
