Jonathan Holling knew that Derek DiGrazia’s course wouldn’t be easy, but Lion King thrilled him with a perfect round over a tough test to move into the lead of the Fair Hill CCI***, Oct. 21 in Fair Hill, Md. Phillip Dutton galloped to another double clear to move into second place with TruLuck, and Gina Miles advanced to third place with just .8 time penalties, a mere 2 seconds over the time allowed.
Dressage leader Mara Dean retired after Nicki Henley stopped at fence 4, the Broken Log, which caused no other problems. Jan Byyny and Waterfront now stand fourth, after earning just 4 time penalties, and Darren Chiacchia is fifth aboard Better I Do It, after finishing with just 2 time penalties. Bruce Davidson’s textbook round inside the time with Jam moved him from 18th to sixth, and Kristin Bachman is right behind him, having advanced from 26th to seventh with a double clear. Likewise, Kristin Bond jumped up from 32nd to eighth with a double clear on Fleeceworks Blackout. Other double clear rounds came from Jane Sleeper and UN (currently 10th) and Julia Steinberg on Mr. Big (12T).
For Holling, once he’d jumped through the new double corners at fence 13, he knew his horse was on track for a good round. “I knew where I was then, and if I could just continue on track from there, I’d be in good shape,” he said.
Miles said the first 3 minutes of the course was power-packed, with 10 fences: “After the oxer and double corners going downhill [at fence 13] and the bank in the woods [fence 16ABC, the Foundation Drop followed by two chevrons], if you were on there, you felt you were confident together as a team.”
The riders thought the deep footing held up decently—Lion King lost both front shoes, but Holling, of Ocala, Fla., couldn’t even tell until he pulled up. “He lost one shoe before the second water [fence 10], but he kept himself together, so I didn’t notice,” said Holling. “To be as good as he was makes me really proud of this horse. He deserves all the credit.”
Miles, of Creston, Calif., thinks that McKinlaigh’s round proves he is healthy again, after bleeding on course at Rolex Kentucky in April. “His immune system was depressed [at Kentucky], and he had some allergies when we came East; his lungs were inflamed,” she said.
Now she hopes he will be considered for more U.S. teams; they competed as individuals at the 2002 World Equestrian Games and earned a bronze medal at the 2003 FEI World Cup Final.
Dutton, of West Grove, Pa., is hoping that TruLuck (“as nice a horse as I’ve had in a while”) will be a team horse for his future after mastering the toughest course of his career to date. “The course rode quite hard with the conditions [deep footing], so it’s good for this horse to do this and come through it well. It was not easy; he was working hard, and it was hard to get the time,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Dutton said there was nowhere on course to coast or relax, and in fact, difficulties were spread throughout the course. Of the 56 starters (three riders withdrew before the start today, most notably Stuart Black, who hadn’t had the dressage score he wanted), 23 jumped clear, and seven horses made the time. Seven horses retired, and 10 were eliminated, so 39 horses are slated to present at tomorrow’s horse inspection.
As the last horse on course, New Moon was on track to jump up into a top spot with Buck Davidson, as the pair was 11th after dressage and jumped clean through the final water, with just two fences to go. But they fell hard at the Magnum Oxer, fence 25, the next-to-last obstacle. Although the screens were drawn around New Moon, he soon recovered and was back on his feet, and Davidson was walking around, apparently without injury.
Of the other top contenders after dressage, eighth-placed Suzy Pettman Elliott retired Sambuca after stops at fences 15 and 16, the Elk Chapel Crossing and the Foudation Drop complex. Ninth-placed William Coleman retired Twizzel at fence 20, the Aqueducts, after already having stops at fence 18, the new corners in the main arena. Jenna Schildmier and her old campaigner Tumble Dry were eliminated after both fell at the corner at fence 6, and Ruba Z and Wendy Southam fell after Ruba Z jumped incredibly huge over the first element of the Aqueducts and tipped on landing.
“It rode well for those who rode it well,” said DiGrazia. “The faults were scattered. I loved the [new complexes] in the ring and the new corners [at fence 13]. The corners connected the two parts of the course, and it was fun to have something in the arena. I opened up the course more to make it more galloping, which is why you see more rounds inside the time than usual.”
“This shows that the cross-country is still as influential as we’d like it to be,” said Miles. “Derek presented us with enough to jump to make it a cross-country and jumping competition, and tomorrow will be a nail-biter, for sure.”
In the driving competition, advanced single horse dressage leader Kirstin Brunner had to retire after breaking the axle of her carriage early on course. Robin Groves overtook the lead in that division, with 129.49 penalties heading into cones, ahead of Donna Crookston (138.59).
Suzy Stafford leads the advanced single pony division on a score of 139.3 over Sybil Humphreys (145.91).
