United States Eventing Association

The top of the Adequan USEA Gold Cup CIC3* leaderboard remains unchanged after a full day of show jumping at Plantation Field International Horse Trials. Chris Barnard’s track tested horse and rider combinations and rails relocated many on the leaderboard, but Phillip Dutton and Ryan Wood’s expert riding kept them solidly in the top three.

Dutton extended his dominance over this 36-strong CIC3* division today producing three double clear rounds. “It was a very fair course. I thought it tested all types of training. It was generally a forward riding course, which I like,” Dutton said of today’s course, and no wonder with the success he had. “I’m on a bit of a roll with my show jumping coach. The horses are jumping really well, so I’m trying to keep it going.”

Phillip Dutton and I'm Sew Ready. USEA/Shelby Allen Photo.

His first ride was with the lead horse I’m Sew Ready (Lupicor x Jarda), a 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood owned by Kristine and John Norton. Normally ridden by Kristen Bond, Dutton has reunited with “Jackson” while Bond is pregnant with her second child. Though this pair have only been back together for a short while – six days to be exact - they fell into an easy rhythm today laying down an easy clear round.

“He’s an incredible jumper. He’s a fun horse to have because when he’s in the ring you know he’s going to try really hard. My job was just to get him there with enough power at a decent distance for him. I haven’t ridden the horse for a while either, so I wasn’t sure how it was going to work, but it started to come back to me,” Dutton said.

Phillip Dutton and Mr. Candyman. USEA/Shelby Allen Photo.

Mr. Candyman (Canto x Montara), a 9-year-old Holsteiner owned by Bridget Colman, Ann Jones, Caroline Moran and Tom Tierney, also found his stride in the show jumping today, which Dutton was thrilled with considering they changed up their show jumping game plan with this horse this week. “He tends to get in there and get a little bit hesitant and not jump as high, so we jumped at Boyd’s this week and I was really riding aggressively, a little more like you would on cross-country,” Dutton explained. “I think that’s definitely the way to go. He needs confidence in the ride up to the jump, you can’t come in tentatively to the jump, you’ve got to come in and let him know in certain terms that he’s got to go and think forward.” “Elmo” stays in second place on 46.9 points going into tomorrow’s cross-country.

Ryan Wood piloted Summit Sporhorse’s Powell (Pablito x Dinara) to a clear round in his third trip around this course. The 10-year-old Oldenburg looked in top form, and he’s fresh of his recent win of the Adequan USEA Gold Cup Final two weeks ago. “You had to ride a bit out there. It was challenging, and if you rode well you went clear,” Wood said. He’s a big boy. He’s got a massive stride, but he can collect very easily, so just finding that right balance with him. He was very good and careful and left them all up, so I was happy with that.

Ryan Wood and Powell. USEA/Shelby Allen Photo.

Wood has three in the three-star, and one in the Advanced, so his plan this weekend has been to prepare the horses for their fall CCI3* events coming up soon. “This is their last run before their fall three-day event, so I want to make sure they finish as confident as I can make them before they go into Boekelo and Fair Hill,” he said, but added confident doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t reach for the time. “I think riding around Advanced or three-star you’ve got to have the right mindset to be riding forward. If you set out to be too careful with the time, you can end up being tentative and having backwards riding which isn’t good, so I’ll just read on how the horses are feeling and reacting to how much I’ll push them along.”

Boyd Martin and Crackerjack also had a clear round to move up into fourth place, and Buck Davidson and Park Trader finished this phase in fifth.

Scores

About the Adequan USEA Gold Cup

The Adequan USEA Gold Cup features 11 qualifying competitions throughout the United States at the Advanced Horse Trials and CIC3* levels. The final will take place at the Nutrena USEA American Eventing Championships, September 1-4 in Tryon, North Carolina. Riders who complete a qualifier earn the chance to vie for $40,000 in prize money and thousands of dollars in prizes in the Adequan Advanced Division and the title of Adequan USEA Gold Cup Champion.

The 2016 Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series is made possible through the support of its many loyal sponsors: Adequan, Standlee Forage, Nunn Finer, Nutrena, Merck, Broadstone Equine Insurance Agency, and FITS.