March 10—Tallahassee, Fla.

Phillip Dutton’s dressage lead yesterday was daunting enough for his competitors in the Red Hills CIC***, but it’s even bigger after the completion of cross-country today. Even after picking up 4.8 time faults this afternoon, Dutton, of West Grove, Pa., will show jump his new mount Mystery Whisper tomorrow with three rails in hand over the rest of the pack.

Dutton piloted the 12-year-old warmblood, bred and formerly competed by Australian Heath Ryan and now owned by the Ardasin family, to the third fastest round in the division.

“This is quite a unique course,” Dutton said of Hugh Lochore’s track, which twists and turns through the Spanish moss-laden Live Oaks of Elinor Klapp -Phipps Park, just north of Tallahassee proper. “It generally rides a lot harder than it walks. You have to know it pretty well to know exactly where to turn. It’s a more suited to a horse that doesn’t get strong, because you can save a lot of time on the approach if you’re not on a big, pulling horse.”

When pressed, Dutton admitted that Mystery Whisper was, in fact, just the right kind of horse for this design. Although he’s had some jumping faults on his record in the past—more than most Dutton mounts do—he ate up today’s course with a healthy appetite.

“He’s not a huge jumping horse, but he’s very easy to ride,” he said. “He’s very soft and easy to the jump; he doesn’t get strong at all.”

Dutton noted again how especially well-schooled Mystery Whisper was in the dressage, thanks to Ryan’s experience on the Australian Olympic dressage team. In fact, Dutton is learning plenty on the flat from his new mount. But since Ryan, who suffered a blood clot-induced stroke in 2009, is focusing even more on dressage than in the past, it seems that Dutton might be the perfect rider to further hone Mystery Whisper’s jumping skills.

Watch a clip of Dutton’s cross-country ride on Mystery Whisper:

Dutton rode a total of eight horses today, all of which went clean and all but one of which improved its placing. His other three-star mounts, Ben and William Penn, stand fourth and 11th, respectively. In the CIC**, he rode Gran Banks into third place and Fernhill Fugitive to 12th, and in the advanced division he’s ranked second with Fernhill Eagle, fourth with The Apprentice (a catch-ride from Buck Davidson, who’s out with a broken collarbone) and eighth with Atlas.

Little-Meredith Makes Another Big Impression

Marilyn Little-Meredith wasn’t as busy as Dutton, but she did have three rides today, and two went especially well for the aspiring Olympian. She jumped into the CIC** lead after a rare double-clear round aboard RF Smoke On The Water, and she stands second in the three-star with RF Rovano Rex. Her third mount, RF Demeter, struggled in dressage yesterday and picked up a runout at a corner on the CIC*** course today, dropping to 20^th place.

“I have a few take-home messages for myself—things to go home and work on,” said Little-Meredith, a former grand prix show jumper who just began eventing about a year and a half ago. “For instance, terrain is new for me, and water is new for me. So, put them together, terrain and water… My plan for the water was to get three strides to the out [fence], and I should have done four. My horse knew that, and I should have. So we kind of got three and a half.

“But I was really thrilled with [RF Rovano Rex], because I haven’t done him on many courses with this type of terrain,” she added. “The last one was Blair Castle in Scotland, so it’s a really great milestone to come back and tackle something like that again six months later.”

Her proudest moment of the day, however, was crossing the finish line aboard her CIC** mount, RF Smoke On The Water.

“He’s done two intermediates to get ready for this weekend, so it was kind of up in the air as to whether I ought to enter him in the CIC or the intermediate, but he was so good and had plenty left in the tank at the end,” Little-Meredith said. “He’s going to be a heck of an advanced horse, a lot sooner than I thought! I’m really excited to start thinking of him as a horse in my arsenal, rather than just one for the future. I was more pleased with his ride than any other today.”

A Pleasant Day

“It was a really successful day for Red Hills and the organizers,” noted Dutton, referring to the huge crowds, beautiful weather and, most importantly, safe and smooth competition.

There were few problems on course and only three falls at the upper levels, and none caused injuries. In the two-star, Alexa Perkiel fell from Apres Ski at fence 17ABC, Huck Finn’s Folly, the final water complex. In the three-star, Imogen de Lavis parted ways with Rock Point Road at fence 8, the Armadillos coffin. And after completing two successful rides aboard Schoensgreen Hanni and Icarus, who stand ninth and third, respectively, Michael Pollard took a tumble from Wonderful Will near the finish line.

“He was smoking around at the end of the day, until we just slipped in between the third-to-last and second-to-last jumps,” said Pollard. “Which is a bummer, but it just happens sometimes, and we’re totally fine. All we left was a big skid mark.”

The Between The Hedgehogs complex at 4 proved the biggest sticking point today, as several horses seemed unable to cope with its related distances on a bending line so early in the course.

In the three-star, Diana Burnett and Diamond Cut III were eliminated for three refusals there, and Little-Meredith and RF Demeter picked up their 20 penalties at the second element, a brushy corner. In the two-star, Perkiel also had a stop at the same complex with Apres Ski before her fall.

In the advanced division, Jennie Brannigan and Vamor were eliminated for three stops there, and Andrea Leatherman retired Mystic My after two.

Show jumping begins at 9 a.m. tomorrow. Looking for full provisional results? Visit Event Entries.