Temecula, Calif.—Nov. 1  

The man of few words had nothing but praise for his two mounts after the Galway Downs CCI*** after they finished in first and fourth. Fernhill Fugitive took the blue, with his greener barnmate Mr. Candyman picking up the white ribbon.

Want to get to know the winner better? We went Behind The Stall Door with Fernhill Fugitive earlier this year.

Third to start on Ian Stark’s revamped CCI*** cross-country track, Dutton had scant feedback to use before heading out on Ann Jones’ Mr. Candyman since the first two starters Jessica Phoenix and James Alliston elected to retire after having run-outs on course.

Crowds watched and cheered as Dutton, from West Grove, Pa., sent the young gelding through each of the direct options, finishing 3 seconds under the optimum time of 10:23, eventually moving the pair up the rankings eight places to fourth place overall on 50.9 penalties.

Dutton repeated the performance on his Pan Am Games partner, Fernhill Fugitive, to within a second, to take over the lead on a score of 43.4. Dutton produced two of the three hard-to-come-by double-clear rounds in the division. He praised both horses, noting they were much different rides. 

“The first one is quite green,” he said of Mr. Candyman, adding that this was the gelding’s first CCI***. “I haven’t had him that long [but] he’s got all the makings of it. I’ve got to put a bit more of the basics into him. He is a great prospect for the future.

“[Fernhill Fugitive] has got a bit more experience about him, although not quite as fast so I had to chance things a bit on the approach. I couldn’t be more pleased with him, he just really dug in deep the whole way round. I was down on the clock, and I asked him to come home strong, and he just put his head down and kept going. It’s been a great year for this horse. Hopefully it will build for next year,” Dutton said.

Run-outs on cross-country caused dressage leader Marilyn Little on RF Demeter to retire on course.

Clean show jumping rounds on the final day cemented Fernhill Fugitive’s win and Mr. Candyman’s fourth place. Allie Knowles claimed second behind Dutton with Sound Prospect, as she moved from seventh after the dressage to third after a clean cross-country trip in the quickest time of the day—16 seconds under the time—and then a faultless show jumping round.

Dutton’s Pan Am Games teammate Lauren Kieffer gave her Pan Am partner Meadowbrook’s Scarlett a steady and accurate ride on cross-country to finish just 2 seconds over the time for a score of 45.8. It was the first real outing for the young Thoroughbred mare of Marie Le Menestrel’s since the Games. That moved them up from sixth after the dressage to second, but a rail in the show jumping dropped them back into third in the final scores.

Both Kieffer and Dutton noted the USEF Land Rover Competition Grants that provided support to fly the horses west to compete at Galway Downs.

In the CCI**, the cross-country time also proved challenging to make and shuffled the overall standings. Dressage leader Tamra Smith, of Murrieta, Calif., had no problem with The Chatwin Group’s Chatwin, who required an extra two laps after the finish to pull him up.

“He was amazing,” Smith said. “Nothing backed him off, and he is so fit, he was still pulling me at the end!” A clean show jumping trip polished off the win for her on the last day.

Little and the attractive Hanoverian gelding RF Overdressed also finished on their dressage score to maintain their second place standing on 42.7. Moving up to the top three with clean jumping efforts was Jonathon Holling and the Kildalton Group LLC’s Kildalton Cooley, adding 5.2 time penalties to finish on 55.6.

Holling was meant to be the trailblazer on the two-star course, but an excited Kildalton Cooley spooked and reared on the way to the start area, losing his balance and unseating Holling, whose protective air vest was deployed. Tamra Smith was nearby and loaned her vest to Holling so that he could start just one ride later.

 “I had to take it a little steadier in the beginning because he was so unsettled at the start,” said Holling. “He came away smarter and more confident, so I think I made the right decision even if it cost me some time.”

Smith was leading the one-star on Lagos Star after the dressage, but a run-out on cross-country took that horse out of the running. It didn’t stop Smith from winning, however, since Fleecework’s Royal stepped up for the blue, moving up from third after dressage to second after cross-country. Another clean round in show jumping brought them the blue on the last day.

Find full results of the Galway Downs CCIs and horse trials.