Jessica Phoenix and Pavarotti. Photo by Jenni Autry.
An Olympic year is a fine time to fine-tune a winning strategy, and Jessica Phoenix found herself leading the CIC3* at The Fork on 39.2 today with Pavarotti after switching out his usual double bridle for a full cheek snaffle.
“We’ve been playing around with that. He felt really happy and through over his back and really solid,” Jessica said. “He really came out and stayed completely relaxed and completely rideable and really performed the way that we know he can. … He’s such a competitive horse in his mind. When he’s on, he is unbeatable. He is so cool to ride.”
The 14-year-old Westphalian gelding owned by Don Good has already represented Canada in three major championships, winning individual gold and team silver in the Guadalajara Pan American Games and taking individual silver and team bronze in Toronto last year. Pavarotti also competed on the Canadian team at the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy.
Now Jessica is looking ahead to the best plan for Pavarotti in the lead up to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. “Rotti” still needs to qualify for Rio, and Jessica confirmed he will run all three phases this weekend with the intent of then going on to Rolex or Jersey Fresh to gain his qualifier.
Canada will name its Olympic team soon after Bromont in early June, and Jessica said she’s very excited about the prospect of representing her country once more. “I think it’s a really exciting time to be Canadian,” she said. “We’ve got a really awesome team shaping up.”
As for how she thinks this weekend will help prepare Pavarotti for his spring campaign, Jessica said she’s really happy with the design of Tremaine Cooper’s course: “It’s open and flowing. There are a couple of combinations that are really good preps for Rolex.”
Many of the riders have praised the course’s reverse direction this year, and Jessica echoed that sentiment: “(The reverse direction) opens the course up a little bit more at the beginning, and then you’ve got the long pull up the hill towards the end, which will be great for their fitness. I think it’s really well designed.”
Ellie MacPhail and RF Eloquence. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Maya Black and Doesn’t Play Fair held onto their overnight lead for the first part of the day thanks to their score of 41.8 from yesterday. Ellie MacPhail and RF Eloquence were the first pair today to challenge them for that lead just after the lunch break, delivering the personal best test of their career to also score 41.8 and tie for second place at the conclusion of the first phase.
RF Eloquence, an 11-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned by Sally Crane, will take another crack at Rolex with Ellie later this month, and he looks in wonderful form, showing off a commanding presence in the sandbox today. It was a marked improvement over their test at Carolina last month, when Ellie said she thought “Ricky Bobby” felt a bit dull.
“I played with the preparation this time and didn’t do as much,” she said. “I came out of the ring and wasn’t sure how (the test) was going to score because it felt a little wild to me, and then it scored better than ever. This year he’s gotten so much more mature, so I don’t have to do as much.” Ellie said she can get away with fewer pre-rides now.
Lauren Kieffer and Veronica. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Her goal this weekend is to have a good final preparation for Kentucky, and Ellie said she’s not planning to go for time come Sunday. If you missed the very cool drone flyover preview of Tremaine’s course, click here to watch it.
Maya spoke to us about her test yesterday, so you can view her comments at this link. Aside from some small bobbles in the trot at the beginning of the test, “Cody,” an 11-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned by Dawn Dofelmier, put in an impressive performance that proved all the pieces are falling into place for this pair ahead of Rolex.
As for what Maya thinks about the course: “It looks like a really good confidence-building, open, galloping course,” Maya said. “To me it doesn’t look super technical, but I think it will be a good fitness run for the horses before Kentucky. There are some good hills, especially toward the end.”
Lauren Kieffer and Team Rebecca’s Veronica scored 42.1 to sit in fourth place after dressage. Not only is Phillip Dutton rounding out the top five with HND Group’s Mighty Nice, but he’s also holding a monopoly on most of the top 10 spots. Phillip is sitting in fifth with Mighty Nice, sixth with Indian Mill, tied for seventh with Fernhill Fugitive and eighth for Fernhill Cubalawn.
Sinead Halpin and Manoir de Carneville are breaking up Phil’s party in the top 10 on their score of 44.7, which has them tied for seventh place. Colleen Rutledge and Covert Rights complete the top 10 on a score of 45.1; she spoke to EN about her test yesterday, so you can click here to read her thoughts.
Phillip Dutton and Indian Mill. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Looking to the other divisions, Liz Halliday-Sharp and Deniro Z lead the CIC* after dressage on a score of 34.3. The 8-year-old Dutch gelding is one of the sales horses Liz brought over from England this winter as part of Cooley Horses International, her business venture with Richard Sheane.
“He’s still pretty green at the level, so I was thrilled with him. He only started eventing late in the summer last year, so he’s come a really long way,” Liz said. “I think he’s going to be one that will have a really good future. He’s a good galloper and tries really hard in all three phases. He just keeps answering every question you give him.”
Sinead Halpin and Camerlingo lead the Open Intermediate division after dressage on 27.9. CIC2* and Advanced dressage concluded yesterday. Doug Payne and Lysander are leading the two-star after the first phase on 37.0, with Liz Halliday-Sharp and Buck Davidson holding first in the Advanced divisions with Fernhill By Night and The Apprentice, respectively.
You can check out more photos from dressage in our lunchtime report and on Instagram. Click here to catch up on all of EN’s coverage so far. Heads up to everyone at #TheFork that Holling Eventing is sponsoring a party tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the maintenance shed/rider’s lounge with a DJ, bar and food. Go Eventing.
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