Kim Severson rode Plain Dealing Farm’s Royal Venture into a decisive lead after the dressage in the Jersey Fresh CCI***, May 13, near Allentown, N.J. Severson, fresh off a win at the Rolex Kentucky CCI**** two weeks ago, produced a seemingly flawless test, which judges Wayne Quarles, Jane Holderness Rodham and Susan Graham White unanimously placed first with a score of 39.6.
Buck Davidson, who led the dressage on Thursday with Hyperlite, stands second (43.5), ahead of Bruce Mandeville of Canada on Kowhai (44.1). But Severson didn’t think “Venny’s” test was as good as his winning test at last fall’s Fair Hill CCI*** (Md.). “He was not quite as focused [today],” she said. “He’s quite happy to be out and about, and he’s more interested in looking at the people.”
The New Zealand-bred survived multiple colic surgeries two years ago, and then overcame an EPM-type illness this spring. He and Severson placed second at the Fair Hill CCI last fall.
Davidson, who is based in Ringoes, N.J., just started riding Hyperlite over the winter for owner Wendy Lewis. He competed the Thoroughbred for the first time in the intermediate at Poplar Place (Ga.), then in the Red Hills CIC*** (Fla.) and the Foxhall Cup CCI*** (Ga.), where he placed 12th.
“But his dressage has definitely stepped up a notch [since Foxhall],” said Davidson. “He’s starting to know me. He was ridden by a small girl, and I probably put too much pressure on him at first. Now he knows me, and I can put my legs on and produce a better trot and canter. He’s a good mover, with a great brain, and he’s pretty easy to ride.”
Hyperlite spent a year trying to sell as a show hunter. “But he was just a hair too ‘up’ for that,” said Davidson, who also stands fifth aboard Idalgo (47.2), behind Mara Dean on Good Stuff (46.7) in fourth.
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Like Davidson, Mandeville is riding Kowhai for a student, Ashley Dalton, who won the North American Young Riders Championships aboard the New Zealand-bred in 2003. The pair won April’s advanced division at Plantation Field Horse Trials (Pa.).
Riders were impressed with the cross-country course designed by John Williams—and a little surprised at the difficulty of the first three-star to be held at the Horse Park of New Jersey.
“At Foxhall, John said to me that it would be a nice first three-star, so I told my dad and several other people that, and I think I’m a little bit in trouble,” said Davidson with a laugh. “It’s a fair three-star, and they’ve done a fantastic job. I like John’s imagination. There’s not a lot of terrain here, but he’s done a fantastic job of using it. It’s an interesting course and really imaginative. The last water is what everyone’s worried about—it didn’t ride great in Atlanta [1996 Olympics, where there was also a roof over the island].”
Severson was impressed that the three-star course, which does not parallel the two-star track, has so many of its own fences. “They’re not sharing a lot of jumps-hey’re two separate courses,” she said. “For sure, it’s a solid three-star. But you gallop by a lot of the intermediate jumps, and I’m concerned about [the horses] understanding that they’re going to be jumping this one and not that one.”
Likewise, riders thought the two-star course was more challenging than it has been in the past. Last year’s winner of the two-star, Sarah Cousins, is standing second after dressage aboard Top Deck II, 2.8 penalties behind Adrienne Iorio-Borden on Better I Do It (42.2).
“That last water is going to be influential,” said Cousins. “And there are a few new skinnies.”
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Iorio-Borden brought Better I Do It to Jersey Fresh to get to know him better, as she just purchased him from Abigail Lufkin several months ago. “We’re new to each other, and we’re having issues we need to work out,” she said.
The pair jumped about a quarter of the way around Rolex Kentucky two weeks ago, when Iorio-Borden pulled him up. “He was jumping well, but I was ready to go home,” she said.
New Moon is also a last-minute ride for Stephen Bradley, who stands in third place in the two-star after dressage. New Moon’s regular rider, Jane Sleeper, had to have emergency surgery last week. “She has an intestinal blockage as a result of a fall she had last fall,” said Bradley. “They had to take out part of her intestine, and it was quite serious. One of her owners called me Saturday while I was at the MCTA Horse Trials [(Md.) and asked me to ride New Moon at Jersey Fresh].”
Although he’s only jumped the horse once before, Bradley isn’t too worried about their cross-country. “He’s a really good guy and a good jumper,” he said. “He’s done a number of intermediates with Jane and with Bonnie Mosser. I feel lucky to get to ride him and very confident. I’m just going to try to stay out of his way and let him do the job.”
The two-star, which does feature the steeplechase phase, will start at 8:00 Saturday morning, and the three-star, which is without steeplechase, runs all afternoon.
