United States Eventing Association

Dutton Takes the Lead at Jersey Fresh CCI***, Payne and Crown Talisman win the CIC***

A clear cross-country round with no time faults placed Phillip Dutton and Fernhill Fugitive at the top of the leaderboard today at the 2014 Jersey Fresh CCI***, held at the Horse Park of New Jersey in Allentown.

Dutton said the 9-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding, owned by Tom Tierney and Annie Jones, is still green at this level. “I think I moved him up to the three-star level a season too early, but he’s comfortable now and jumped well today,” he said.

As news of the world’s top eventers crashing and burning across the pond at Badminton popped up on smart phone twitter feeds around the course, Jersey Fresh saw its own share of drama, with only half of the CCI*** division completing the course. The “Jersey Shore” water jump was particularly influential, with several run-outs and falls, but problems were scattered around the course. Overnight leader Michael Pollard retired Ballingowan Pizzaz near the end of the course, slowing to a walk as they cantered up “Cardio Hill”, a steep incline just before a difficult downhill combination.

“I thought the designer did a good job on the course,” said Dutton. “Obviously with the amount of land here the course loops back and forth, which takes a mental toll. And with the tailgating at the water there’s a lot for the horses to look at. I told my students to think about coming forward into the water; each horse canters differently, and if he backs off you have to get things moving again.”

Dutton also finished third in the CIC***, which wrapped up today, riding Boyd Martin’s WEG-hopeful Shamwari 4 while Martin recuperates from a broken leg. Martin rode his other mount Otis Barbotiere in the dressage and show jumping, but opted out of the cross-country this weekend as he works on his own soundness in preparation for the Luhmuehlen CCI**** Germany next month.

“I’m very happy with Shamwari and Otis. They’re coming into form heading into Luhmuehlen, and after watching Badminton I think Luhmuhlen will be very competitive so both horses have to be firing on both cylinders. Both scored below 45 in dressage which is a must; both are proven cross-country competitors and we’ll be working on show jumping in coming weeks.”

Buck Davidson had four horses entered in the CCI3* but retired Mar De Amor and had two run outs with Petite Flower, who now sits in 12th place with 101.0 penalties. Buck held onto second place with Copper Beech, with 50.8, and moved up from 5th to 3rd with The Apprentice (51.4).

“I thought the Apprentice went well; I’m very proud of him,” said Davidson. “Copper Beech is quite green; Petite Flower had a run-out at 6 and the corner at the end and Mar d’Amor I just missed my line at fence 6. I’m happy with all the horses. Flower’s a good show jumper and Copper Beech is green at this level. They’re all nice horses and if I ride them well tomorrow they’ll be okay in the show jumping. I’ve gotten a lot of help from Silvio [Mazzoni], our new show jumping team coach over the winter, and it has really helped a lot. I think I’m riding better in show jumping – we’ll see how we do tomorrow, it’s always a work in progress.”

Davidson also praised the course designer, John Williams, for a job well done: “The course this year was a lot more difficult; I like how John presented the fences, the distances were good, and he used the brush well. I think it’s the best course they’ve had at this event. At the end of the day you can’t blame the course designer, it’s a tough piece of ground and they did a good job. Some people didn’t have the best day, but for example Caroline Martin is 19 years old and went around clean. I’d just like to see that hill [“Cardio Hill”] gone, or earlier in the course. It just sort of takes the horses’ heart out. Still, I really think John did a good job.”

New Jersey-native Doug Payne led from start to finish in the CIC*** riding Crown Talisman, whom he owns in partnership with Larry and Amelia Ross. Payne recently relocated to Raleigh, North Carolina with his new wife, eventer Jessica Hampf, and made the trek back to his home state in hopes of a solid run in preparation for the Pau CCI**** in France.

“Coming away from the event, I think it’s about the most ideal test I could hope for as I prepare to take him to Pau. You sort of learn something new each day – I think he warmed up really well for dressage but I warmed up a touch too long. He’s a hell of a mover, but there’s a fine line of keeping him rideable but not overtired. Silvio was there helping in the show jumping and we also worked on a few things at Rolex on Friday; it was really helpful, working on Tali popping off the ground and being just a little bit sharper. It worked out really well in show jumping here at Jersey Fresh.”

Doug hopes that the Jersey Fresh course, with all its twists and turns, will be the ideal preparation for the notoriously twisting, turning course at Pau. “It doesn’t give the horse a lot of time to read the questions, but Tali was awesome, he’s a very genuine horse. I had ten time penalties; I was going out to be about 80%, I didn’t want something stupid to happen going too fast. I did sort of press him up the cardio hill, but it was sort of a measured thing rather than opening him up all the way. Cross-country was a challenge, for sure, but Tali was great.”

Finishing second was Erin Sylvester on No Boundaries, who is a student of Boyd and Silva Martin. This pair had a fall at Rolex Kentucky, and Sylvester succeeded in rebuilding her confidence with a positive run this weekend. She is planning to go to the CCI3* at Bromont next.

“I schooled with Boyd last week and that was helpful, but I was really scared of making a mistake this weekend and falling again,” she said. “I’ve never had a fall on a course like that where I was having the ride of my life and then, snap, it’s over. That rocked my brain a bit that I could have that bad of a fall and not have any idea it was coming. I really needed this weekend to just get out and have a good run and it felt like my horse was a little wary for the first few jumps, but after we got through the first big combination he kicked out and felt awesome the whole way around.”

The CIC** also wrapped up today, with last year’s CCI*** winner Lauren Kieffer claiming the division riding Meadowbrook’s Scarlett (47.10). Sarah Cousins was second on Ideal Contini (52.4) and Tik Maynard rounded out the top three on Sapphire (60.2).

Tomorrow morning the event continues with the CCI** and CCI*** veterinary inspections. Show jumping for the CCI** takes place at 11:00am, and show jumping for the CCI*** will be at 1:00pm.

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