Corinne Ashton and Dobbin may have led wire-to-wire to win the CIC** at the Stuart Horse Trials, July 21-24, in Victor, N.Y., but their victory wasn’t a shoo-in.

Mara Dean and Good Stuff were hot on their heels the whole weekend.

Dobbin, however, gave himself some breathing room by romping around the demanding and hilly cross-country course without time or jumping faults–a feat only five of the 50-plus starters accomplished.

While Good Stuff collected 5.6 cross-country time penalties, Ashton and Dean’s one-two positions still held going into show jumping. Dean kept the pressure on with a double clear round over Sally Ike’s challenging course.

Ashton needed one of the two rails she had in hand, but that was all, as she skillfully piloted her 11-year-old Thoroughbred through the forward, related distances in the relatively tight arena. This victory came on the heels of her advanced-intermediate level win at Groton House Farm Horse Trials II (Mass.) in June. Ashton was elated and took a well-deserved impromptu victory gallop at the end of her round.

“I wasn’t too worried about the margin [to win] going into show jumping because he rarely touches a fence. It was unusual that he had even one rail down [in the last element of the triple combination]–usually he jumps out of his skin,” said Ashton.

“He always does the right thing. He’s been my buddy–I’ve had him almost all his life ? and he’s allowed me to do these higher levels,” she added.

Ashton found the chestnut standing in the field where he was born, through a classified ad that described him as a “nearly broken 3-year-old.”

“He was going to be a re-sale project,” explained the mother of two, “but he was great from the beginning. He did five training level events and won them all. He has amazing ability, and as [trainer] Jimmy Wofford says, ‘a brain to match.’ “

In contrast to several other competitors, who remarked on the degree of difficulty of Derek di Grazia’s cross-country course, Ashton noted that she was looking forward to riding an intermediate cross-country.

“I was at Rolex [Kentucky CCI****] in the spring [where she finished 16th in her first four-star], and that course was huge! Dobbin’s first two-star was three years ago, so he’s something of a pro at this level. He was able to skip round,” she said.

Nonetheless, the course included technical challenges, including skinny elements, corners and offset combinations that required precision and elasticity. That, in conjunction with Stuart’s trademark hilly terrain, led to significant changes in standings for those having clean and fast cross-country rides.

In the CIC**, for example, third-placed finisher Ralph Holstein and Arctic Dancer began their weekend in ninth place but added .4 time faults to vault six places in the standings. Of the next eight riders behind Holstein, five moved up 10 slots from their dressage scores thanks to faultless jumping and minimal time penalties.

For the first time in many years, di Grazia flew in from California to watch his course being ridden.

“Each year we make some changes to every level,” he said. “I don’t like to keep the same course year after year. That means, after three or four years, we end up with [an entirely] new course to make it interesting.”

Urban Legend’s Success Is No Myth

In winning the open intermediate division, Adrienne Iorio-Borden felt redeemed from her last time out with Urban Legend at Rolex Kentucky. Iorio-Borden and Urban Legend had begun their show jumping round at Rolex in 10th place, but they ran into trouble at the liverpool and were eliminated in an unusual judging decision.

Iorio-Borden was justifiably thrilled with their return to competition. “This was a really tough course. There was a lot to do, and the terrain here is always a challenge,” she said.

Iorio-Borden was the only competitor in the open intermediate division who completed cross-country with no penalties; her flawless round jumped her from 10th after dressage to lie third behind Karen O’Connor with Jacqueline Mars’ A Phar Cry and Kate Ditchey on Belmont II. O’Connor added 2.4 cross-country time faults to her dressage score, giving her the overnight lead heading into the last phase. Ditchey was second after dressage and retained that position with 4 time penalties on cross-country day.

Iorio-Borden didn’t expect show jumping to improve her position. “I don’t think he has ever jumped clean with me,” she said with a laugh. “If I’d bet going in [to the arena], I’d have said he’d have two rails!”

Nonetheless, she and the 13-year-old Thoroughbred that she bought a year ago left all of the rails up. They had only the second double-clear performance in the 17-horse division to that point, and Iorio-Borden was satisfied to be third.

But O’Connor and Ditchey each had a rail, so Urban Legend’s faultless and fast rounds in both jumping phases were justly rewarded with the blue ribbon. Iorio-Borden concluded, “Our partnership is getting better and better. I just love this horse!”

Top Gallant In Top Spot

Birch Hill Farm’s Top Gallant followed his win at the Virginia International CCI* in May with a victory in open preliminary, division A, at Stuart. Top Gallant and Mark Weissbecker led from start to finish.

The 9-year-old former race horse has been eventing “the last half of last year and the first half of this year,” but Weissbecker noted that his dressage is becoming more confirmed.

“He’s a big, impressive mover and an easy ride,” he added.

Top Gallant finished cross-country with 1.6 time faults. Weissbecker said that the unique terrain makes these courses what they are.

“If the fences are taken apart [from each other], they’re friendly and not too demanding, but Derek has done a good job of incorporating the terrain to make the questions the fences ask very significant,” he said.

Second-placed Samantha Taylor and Scarva kept Weissbecker’s feet to the fire with a double-clear cross-country round, which put them at 39.0, within two rails of Top Gallant’s 32.1 score. They kept knocking at the door with another double-clear round in show jumping, one of only two in the division.

But Top Gallant added just one rail to his score and maintained the top spot. Other than Top Gallant, almost every placing in the division changed after show jumping.

Weissbecker described Ike’s course as fairly technical. “The arena was a little smaller this year, I think, to make more room for spectators,” he said. “You had to go forward for the related distances but then you were confronted with balancing and turning. There were lots of questions. Because the arena was smaller, I don’t think the terrain was as important this year, but the show jumping phase was definitely influential.”

Open preliminary, division C, winner Carol Kozlowski had a similar observation. “There were rails [down] all over in show jumping. The track was simple, but it was hard [for people] to jump, turn and gallop with light rails in flat cups. Course designers are starting to require more technicality, and eventers aren’t used to that,” she said.

Kozlowski’s mount, Take Time (bred and owned by Lynn Blades of Arkport, N.Y.) handled the technicality and clinched the win with a clean round in show jumping.

The 12-year-old, Thoroughbred-Conne-mara gelding is a “work in progress” according to Kozlowski, who said his “acceptable dressage” is well-supported by his real strengths of galloping and jumping.

In the cross-country phase, “Howie’s” strengths served him in good stead over what Kozlowski called a fairly serious course of almost championship level. But Kozlowski wasn’t surprised that Howie was up to the challenge because he’s sired by Erin Go Bragh, her former advanced partner.

As other contenders in the division accumulated cross-country time penalties and show jumping rails, Take Time’s position kept improving. He moved up from eighth to third to first, winning by .5 points over Julia Steinberg and Carlos B, who had also been making progress up the rankings.

Kozlowski was especially pleased because Erin Go Bragh won a division at the first Stuart Horse Trials. “So it’s great to win here again with one of his sons,” she added.