Early
Saturday morning it was absolutely tipping down rain! The decision was made that
it was not possible to switch the Show Jumping and Cross Country around because
FEI Rules do not permit it.. ( FEI Eventing Rules for Cross Country - Article
528.1 - "The Cross Country Test will always take place before the Show Jumping.") The
following CCI** fences were removed - 2, 3, 4 (First Loop) 6A, 9B,
14B, 22A-B.
The optimum time was reduced from 9 minutes 3 seconds to 7 minutes 58 seconds
and the Start Time was delayed one half hour from 8:30 AM to 9:00 AM.
Nine
riders decided to scratch before the Two Star Cross County started. These scratched
riders were in the following positions after Dressage - 2nd (Leslie Law (GBR)
and Hugo Fast); 42nd; 30thT: 17thT; 34thT; 22T; 5T (Jennie Brannigan (USA) and
Cambalda); 50thT and 34thT. Most
people who had refusals or run outs retired immediately. After about a fifth of
the total riders had gone Doug Payne and Running Order, who had been 8th after
Dressage, led with 4.8 time for a two day total of 55.1.
Much later in
the morning Lauren Kieffer and Ultra Tim, who had been third on 46.1 added 9.6
time to finish on 55.7good for 2nd place temporarily. The
very next rider, Hannah Sue Burnett (USA) ran the first and only double clear
of the day with St Barths to take over the lead on 51.9. The
final rider and the Overnight Leader Rebecca Howard (CAN) ran second to last.
This pair added 11.6 time faults to their overnight score of 42.2 for a two day
score of 53.8, good for second place. (Rebecca and Roquefort are pictured at
the right at the Dansco Village, one of the fences in the arena.)
The
Top Five in the CCI** After Cross Country:
1. Hannah Sue Burnett, St
Barths - 51.9 (DCXC)
2. Rebecca Howard (CAN), Roquefort - 53.8 (11.6
time faults)
3. Doug Payne, Running Order - 55.1 (4.8 time faults)
4.
Lillian Heard, Share Option - 60.5 (8 time faults)
5. Callie Judy,
Call On Me - 62.0 (7.6 time faults)
6. Erin Sylvester, Armani IV - 62.2
(7.2 tim faults)
Hannah,
who is 23 years old, said, "Karen (O'Connor) has had St Barts for 2 or 3
years. He is an ex-race horse."
Doug spoke of his horse, Running Order,
"He had been a steeplechaser in Ireland."
Rebecca rode in both
the Two Star and the Three Star and she mentioned that the going in the Three
Star was noticeably heavier. ( - because it had been raining longer ). CCI*** The
following fences were removed from the CCI ***: 6B, 9B, 10, 11, 13A,16.
17A, 22 A & B, and 26. Only
four riders decided early to scratch from the CCI***. The scratched riders were
in the following positions: 12th (Jolie Sexton); 22nd (Colin Davidson); 29th (Bruce
Davidson, Sr.), and 46 (Boyd Martin).
The rain abated for a while but re-started
with a vengance as the CCI*** Cross Country began. The
Top Five in the CCI*** After Cross Country: 1.
Boyd Martin, Neville
Bardos - 51.0 (DCXC)
2T.
Karen O'Connor, Mandiba - 55.2 (15.6 time faults) (Karen is pictured at
the right.)
2T. Phillip Dutton, Kheops Du Quesnay - 55.2 (4.0 time
faults)
4. Kristi Nunnink, R-Star - 59.8 (14.0 time faults)
5.
Kelly Sult, Hollywood - 60.0 (3.6 time faults) Boyd
said, "Neville was 9th at Rolex last year> He had an injury to his pastern
and thentripped in a hole in Aiken. I bought him in Australia as a three year
old when he had finished racing. He won a two star at Mel- bourne.' Karen
was aske if she had had second thoughts about running in the very rainy conditions.
She answered, "Yes. It felt like a Long Format (because of the ground conditions).
The riders and the horses had to soldier on. You  needed
a thoroughbred that could gallop on top of the ground. Riders had to put horses
on their feet so that they would be able to answer the questions." Phillp
said, and had told Boyd ahead of time, not to stress their horses to keep up with
the minute markers at the beginning. He also mentioned riding close to the ropes
where the going was better.
Martin Flies Across the Soggy Turf
to the Lead the 2009 Dansko Fair Hill International CCI***
By
Joanie Morris Elkton, MD – Mother
Nature wouldn’t quit but smart riding prevailed at the 2009 Dansko Fair Hill
International as Boyd Martin flew to the lead in the USEF National CCI*** Championship
with Neville Bardos. Newly an American citizen after changing citizenship from
Australia earlier in the year, Martin and the nine-year-old Australian Thoroughbred
literally skipped over the muddy ground making Derek DiGrazia’s course look
easy. “He came ninth at Rolex last year, and he was a little bit lame
afterwards he had an injury to a pastern,” said Martin. “So he had some
time off, and then I was gearing up for Kentucky and he tripped in a hole in Aiken
and had to have some time off. He had two small injuries that haven’t been
much but in the timeframe he’s missed some major events.” Martin
bought the Thoroughbred as a three-year-old to resell in Australia and when he
couldn’t get that done, he brought him over to the US after winning a CCI**
in Melbourne. They were the only combination to make the time in the testing conditions
and their score of 51.0 moved them up from 16th after the dressage to the top
spot going into Sunday’s show jumping. “I bought him in Australia
as a three year old for about $1000,” said Martin, who lives just up the
road in West Grove, PA. “I planned to sell him but couldn’t, he was
fourth here in his first CCI*** last year, he’s only nine years old. He’s
a real thoroughbred so he is quite suited to these sort of conditions and he galloped
on top of the mud. I didn’t feel like I was pushing him much. I talked to
Phillip (Dutton) and he said in the beginning to look after the horse and try
to find good footing, if he had a bit of energy on the turning fences to kick
on a bit.” Like much of the country, rain and cold temperatures have
gripped Fair Hill for three days. Hours of rain and hours of work went into the
cross country courses, but a modified version of the original track proved challenging
enough. “It definitely made it not a true three star,” said Martin
about the modified course. “But with the conditions and mud I think it was
still a three star test.” Tied for second are two of the most experienced
riders in the US, with two very different horses. Phillip Dutton, who rode Kheops
du Quesnay in an impressive effort, and Karen O’Connor who’s Mandiba
won the dressage on Friday but put some time on the clock, are even going into
the show jumping on a score of 55.2. “I think it is an interesting
parallel, it felt like the long format,” said O’Connor about riding
in the conditions. “The horses had to soldier on and the riders had to soldier
on. You didn’t start a bad jumper today. You just didn’t do it. You
had to have a good horse out there and gallop on top of the ground. You had to
work at it. You had to work very hard at keeping the horse together.” Dutton
has ridden Mandiba (owned by Joan Goswell) in his last two competitions because
O’Connor broke her shoulder in a motorbike accident and the 10-year-old Irish
Thoroughbred gelding lost his confidence right before that after a uncharacteristic
performance at the Burghley CCI****. Two good performances with Dutton set O’Connor
up for a good first event back after her injury. Dutton and O’Connor
went back-to-back on the cross country course today and O’Connor joked that
the notoriously speedy Dutton would catch up to her. “I was actually
quite scared that Phillip was going to catch up to me and yell “GO!”,
as Phillip prepared the horse,” said O’Connor. “Phillip did a great
job, my horse was very, very straight for me at the accuracy questions, which
both of us had struggled with. He was point and shoot. My shoulder got very tired,
so I slowed down a bit at the end.” O’Connor is also seventh in
the CCI** with Allstar. Dutton has found Kheops du Quesnay very challenging
to bring along, but his faith was rewarded and the 11-year-old Selle Francais
delivered for his rider and owners Rebecca Broussard and Anne Jones. Bought from
Debbie Adams in 2008, Kheops du Quesnay realized his potential in the damp conditions.
“It’s been one of the highlights of my career seeing this horse
come around,” said Dutton (West Grove, PA). “I had a few sleepless nights
about what to do, I think the horse frustrated me and I just had to let it go.
I changed my training a little bit, I’m excited about him, he went bloody
well today. He’s a good horse and the ground wouldn’t suit his type.”
Dutton had four time faults in the impressive effort. “When
the conditions are like this you nearly have to forget about the scoreboard and
horsemanship really comes into play,” said Dutton. “When the conditions
are good they spin off the top of the ground, but not today and some horses, Boyd’s
horse in particular, made it look very easy. My plan was to let the horse settle
in the first part and get used to the conditions.” It was one of O’Connor’s
protégés who rose to the top in the CCI**. Hannah Sue Burnett
and Richard Thompson’s St. Barth’s made light work of the course, and
the eight-year-old Thoroughbred also skipped across the heavy going, one of only
two horses to make the optimum time and stay on their dressage score of 51.90
and lead the National CCI** Eventing Championship. “I’ve been
riding him for about a year,” said Burnett (Ocala, FL). “Karen trained
him, we’ve had him for three or four years. He got EPM badly two years ago,
but he completely recovered. He’s really gotten good in the dressage, I was
nervous yesterday and had an error, but he’s an awesome cross country horse.”
O’Connor had nothing but praise for her student who worked diligently
to help the horse recover from EPM. “Dick’s new focus is to help
some of the next generation and Hannah had dome such a good job with him that
we talked and decided that she should keep the ride on him,” said O’Connor.
Burnett’s determined performance today comes off of an impressive
summer of success, but she is less than two pointed ahead of dressage winner,
Rebecca Howard and Roquefort (last on course in the CCI**), who picked up 11.6
time faults to drop into second. “With my two star horse, he went
at the very end of the division and I didn’t know him very well,” said
Howard.” I was really, really proud of him. He got tired but he kept fighting
through it and jumping.” Howard, who rides for Canada , is also 13th
in the CCI*** with Riddle Master. “Both jumped quite well, but in the
three star the galloping lanes were harder to find good ground on,” said
Howard. “The biggest difference was in the galloping lanes.” Doug
Payne (Pottersville, NJ) went first in the CCI** so he got the very best of the
ground but limited time to familiarize himself with the modified course. His horse,
Running Order, who has been eventing for just over a year, galloped easily around
the course for a good result for owners Stone Hill Farm. The former Irish steeplechaser
and foxhunter looked like it may not have been his first time and soggy conditions.
They picked up 4.8 time faults, but their score of 55.1 leaves them in striking
distance for Sunday’s show jumping. “I would rather go first
than last,” said Payne. “The conditions were as good as they were going
to get early on... He’s the real deal, especially after today.” The
Organizing Committee, course builders and Ground Jury worked diligently to make
the event happen and were rewarded for their efforts with a great competition
despite high numbers of withdrawals. For more information, photos and results
please visit: http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/breedsDisciplines/discipline/alleventing/fairHill.aspx.
ENDS Please contact Joanie Morris at jmorris@usef.org with questions.
The vision of the United States Equestrian Federation®
is to provide leadership for equestrian sport in the United States of America
by promoting the pursuit of excellence from the grassroots to the Olympic Games,
based on a foundation of fair, safe competition and the welfare of its human and
equine athletes.
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