Phillip Dutton and Shamwari 4 after their winning CIC3* test at The Fork. Photo by Jenni Autry,
It can’t be easy for Boyd Martin sitting on the sidelines at The Fork while his top horses are campaigned by another rider. But if it has to be another rider, at least it’s Phillip Dutton, who’s managed to get to know Boyd’s top horses well enough after just one ride on each to manage very good scores on all. Today, Phillip piloted Shamwari 4 to the lead in the CIC3* division on a score of 45.9, and he said in the press conference this afternoon that this is a pretty cool horse. “He’s got plenty of gears there, so whatever you want to ask for, he’ll do,” Phillip said. “It took me a little time to get used to him in the canter, and we got the break there (in the counter canter loop). It’s exciting for Boyd, and he’s going to be a good horse for him in the future.”
Since Phillip didn’t ride until later in the afternoon, he would have normally hopped on Shammie for a school in the morning, but Boyd said the horse is so quiet he didn’t need the extra ride. While they were still getting to know each other in warmup today, Phillip said David O’Connor has ridden the horse and was able to offer some helpful pointers before the test. So now that he has the lead, what’s the goal for the weekend? Simple — “not to fall off,” Phillip said. The goal is to get the horse feeling good and confident so he’s prepared for what comes in the next few weeks, which remains to be seen. Shammie is entered at both Rolex and Badminton, and it’s really a question of when Boyd will come sound as to which event we’ll see them tackle.
Will Faudree and Pawlow also had a very good day to sit in second place in the three-star on a score of 46.8. He’s been working in the training sessions with David to get Ernie more steady in the bridle, as well as experimenting a bit with different bridles. “I rode him in a double at Carolina, and the double is great when there’s a lot of atmosphere, but when there’s not a lot of atmosphere, it’s too much,” Will said. To counter that, he rode him in the double this morning and then put him in a snaffle for the test, which worked very nicely as a strategy. Will said he was very happy with the communication during the test, though not as pleased with where he left some points on the table — like the halt before the rein back, which didn’t come square, and a loss of rhythm in the first steps of the medium canter circle.
But overall he’s very pleased with Ernie, who didn’t get to run cross country at Carolina International due to tweaking a shoe in the show jumping. He’s going in frog support pads now and feeling much more comfortable, Will said. Ernie’s entered at both Rolex and Badminton, and Will said if he runs well here this weekend, he’d love to take him to England. “He’s been a horse who has surprised me with everywhere he’s gone,” Will said. “When I first got him, I thought he would max out at Intermediate. And now he’s jumped around Rolex a couple times and Luhmuhlen.” Ernie will be 15 this year, and while Will said he thinks it would be a lot of fun to take the horse to Badminton, he’s also thinking of the big picture in a WEG year, and he knows two trips to Europe might not be the best thing for the horse. So we’ll have a much more clear picture of where we’ll see them this spring after cross country on Sunday.
Will said there’s a lot to do on Tremaine Cooper’s course, which is very technical, especially in certain combinations where there’s not much time to react should something go wrong. “It all depends on how they jump at the B or the C element,” Will said. “You have to react very quickly to what you feel underneath you as to whether you bend out or go straight.” Will said he likes the course better than last year and commended the changes Tremaine has made. He did say he wished the horses going to Kentucky could have run the nice long hill on the back of the course for fitness prep, but overall he thinks it’s a very good track.
Phillip echoed the same sentiments, saying he also liked the changes Tremaine brought to the course this year. “It’s a big course but fair, which is what you need before Kentucky,” Phillip said. He’s hoping for a bit of rain, as the footing is more firm than he’d like right now. Tremaine said he’d also like to see some rain before Sunday, and the forecast does currently have thunderstorms predicted, so we’ll have to wait to see how the going looks as the weekend progresses. Phillip also said he would have liked to see a sunken road added to the course since it’s an element at Rolex that always causes trouble, but overall he thinks the course will be a very good experience for the horses.
I was glued to the three-star ring today and didn’t get to watch much of the second Advanced division. Katie Frei and Houdini were the only pair to crack the 20s on a score of 29.4, followed by Lauren Kieffer and RF Cosima and Sarah Dunkerton and Matapeake in equal second on a score of 30.3. In the CIC2*, Emily Beshear and Shame on the Moon are continuing the very good start to their new partnership with a score of 43.3 for first, followed by Lynn Symansky on Osborne 9 on 48.3 and Jennie Brannigan and Henry on 48.6. Show jumping for the Advanced divisions starts tomorrow morning at 8 a.m., and I’ll be bringing you all the photos, videos and reports I possibly can. Stay tuned for much more from The Fork.
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Many thanks to Thehorsepesterer for HD video of Phillip and Shamwari’s test. Check out his other videos from The Fork on this playlist.
