Will Coleman and Off the Record. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Will Coleman didn’t necessarily expect to hold the CIC2* lead all day at Jersey Fresh, but that’s exactly what he did with Cooley Off the Record, setting the early bar at 43.3 as the first pair of the morning and holding onto first place through all 45 dressage tests in the division.
“I was pleasantly surprised with how he did,” Will said. “He’s an attractive horse and a good mover. He’s capable in all three phases. He can do a good test, but for his first time at this level, it was nice to see him perform well.”
Will bought the horse (VDL Arkansas – Drumagoland Bay, Ard Ohio) as a 4-year-old through Richard Sheane of Cooley Sport Horses. Though Will said “Timmy” was perhaps not the easiest horse at the start of his eventing career, he’s now really starting to show his potential.
“He was kind of stubborn and a little ignorant at first, but he’s come along more and more in the last six to 12 months,” Will said. “He still has a long way to go, but I think he has a lot of nice qualities.”
Looking ahead to tomorrow, CIC show jumping will be held in the smaller East Ring at the Horse Park of New Jersey, which Will said might play a factor in how Timmy performs in that phase.
“He’s a good jumper, but the rideability isn’t quite as smooth as I would like,” Will said. “Jumping in that smaller ring might be a little difficult, but we’ll see how it goes. He certainly can jump a clear round.”
As for cross country, will said Timmy is a brave horse, and he’s optimistic about tackling John William’s course tomorrow afternoon.
“John has a couple of difficult angles and turns that might pose a bit of a challenge for him, but I’ll be there for him where he needs me to support him. He wants to jump the jumps.”
As for what’s next for Timmy, will said he’s planning to stick to horse trials and pure dressage and jumper shows through the summer in preparation to aim for the Dutta Corp Fair Hill International CCI2* in the fall.
“He stepped up to Intermediate just this season, and I wanted to take my time through the summer,” Will said. “He needs to round out his education a little bit more in show jumping and cross country.”
As a funny side note, Will had a very different dressage test today on his second CIC2* ride, Gideon. He was taking the horse for a long hack before starting the warm-up for his test when his wife Katie called and said he was next in the ring; unfortunately, he had picked up a sheet with the wrong time printed on it. He galloped back from his hack and went right into the ring. Way to keep dressage exciting, Will!
Looking to the rest of the CIC2* leaderboard, Hannah Sue Burnett and Cooley Dream LLC’s Cooley Dream are sitting in second place on 45.7. The 8-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding finished seventh in the CIC2* at Red Hills in March.
Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Boyd Martin and Christine Turner’s Tsetserleg round out the top three on 46.1. A former ride of Michael Pollard, the 9-year-old Trakehner gelding bred by Tim Holekamp (Windfall – Thabana, Buddenbrock) is competing in his first FEI event with Boyd in the irons.
The final few horses went this morning in the CIC3*, but they couldn’t catch yesterday’s leaders Caroline Martin and Sherrie Martin’s Effervescent, who will hold first place overnight as we look ahead to show jumping and cross country in that division.
“Landon,” a 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding (Limmerick – Max Pride, Macrocket), stepped up to the Advanced level at The Fork and is competing in his first CIC3* at Jersey Fresh. Caroline told EN yesterday that he’s feeling ready for the challenge.
“We came up (from Florida) a little bit earlier this year to Pennsylvania to have a couple extra weeks to gallop up the hills,” she said. “I think now his overall body has changed. He’s a totally different horse than he was at this time last year and even from Fair Hill two-star last fall. That makes me extremely happy.”
As for her thoughts on the course (which you can preview here): “It’s definitely twisty turny, which is good for him since he is adjustable. That’s why he’s so good on the flat. It definitely is challenging. The skinnies are that much skinnier coming to this show. Questions are just that little bit harder than The Fork.”
Jessica Phoenix and Abbey GS. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Both Kylie Lyman and Sacramento and Jessica Phoenix and Abbey GS did their tests this morning and are sitting in second and third places in the CIC3* on 52.3 and 52.7, respectively.
Sacramento, a 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding (Passion – Queen Lizzie, Candle King) owned by Cristin O’Hara, finished 35th in his first CIC3* at The Fork last month and is having his second go at the level here at Jersey Fresh.
Abbey GS, a 15-year-old Trakehner mare (Heling – Abendmarchen, Marchensten) owned by Charlotte Schickedanz, did the dressage at Rolex before Jessica withdrew with a plan to re-route to Bromont CCI3*, the final Olympic selection trial for the Canadian team.
A little rain doesn’t stop a super groom! Here’s Emma Ford grazing Mr. Candyman this afternoon. Photo by Jenni Autry.
While the forecast predicted heavy rain for most of the day here at Jersey Fresh, we got pretty lucky and dodged most of that. Steady rain did fall around noon and then after CIC2* dressage concluded, which hopefully gave the footing just that little bit of extra water it needed to provide the best possible going for the horses tomorrow.
The grounds crew led by Morgan Roswell has been aerating over the past few days and definitely deserves a shout out for their efforts to improve the footing. It’s possible the ground might get a bit holding in some spots on the course, especially if we get more rain tomorrow as is currently forecasted, but right now the ground is pretty perfect.
There is no live stream or radio coverage tomorrow, but we’ll be running live cross country updates right here on EN. Remember to keep checking Instagram for photos. Go Eventing!
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