Phillip Dutton Holds the Carolina CIC3* Lead After Wild Show Jumping

Phillip Dutton and I'm Sew Ready. Photo by Jenni Autry. Phillip Dutton and I'm Sew Ready. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Leave it to Phillip Dutton to show us how it’s done on a day when poles were flying and things were far from boring as rider’s tackled Marc Donovan’s CIC3* show jumping at the Cloud 11-Gavilan North Carolina International. After watching both rails and riders fall before his round with overnight leader John and Kristie Norton’s I’m Sew Ready, Phillip delivered a clutch performance, jumping double clear to maintain his lead on 43.1.

“He’s a very careful horse, and by that I mean that every time he jumps, he wants to jump cleanly. He never puts in a casual jump. He’s a little aggressive to the jumps, so it’s just a case of getting him there, especially in the related lines so he doesn’t run past the distance,” Phillip said.

“I thought it was a good track. There was a lot to do, and it seemed to be a little bit more congested this year than last year. It felt a little bit smaller in the arena; I think there were a few more jumps. I’m a fan of Marc’s course design. I think he makes you think, and I think it’s good for us.”

After that the leaderboard shuffled drastically, with Laine Ashker and Anthony Patch, known for their consistency in the show jumping, dropping a very uncharacteristic three rails to fall from second to 18th place. That’s how tough this course ultimately proved to be and how costly each pole became as pair after pair knocked poles.

Boyd Martin and Master Frisky. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Boyd Martin and Master Frisky. Photo by Jenni Autry.

In all, just 14 horses jumped double clear in the 50-horse field, with a number of horses rising to the occasion to overcome Marc Donovan’s challenging track. Boyd Martin lost the Dutta Corp Fair Hill International CCI3* last fall with Steve Blauner’s Master Frisky due to a rail, and he’s diligently worked hard on the phase all winter with Silvio Mazzoni, USEF eventing show jumping team coach.

The hard work paid off today and then some, when Boyd and “Mikey” jumped a clear round to move up to second place on 45.6, giving Silvio a big high five when they left the ring. “He’s a fantastic cross country horse and a brilliant dressage horse, and the show jumping has always been our weaker phase,” Boyd said.

“All winter we’ve been working with Silvio, and for sure the Argentinian love gods improved Mikey to no end. I was thrilled to get a clear round because I felt like it wasn’t even a lucky round — he jumped well.” Boyd said the horse’s shape over fences only continues to improve, which is a good place for him to be with the horse’s first CCI4* looming next month.

“I feel like he could actually be very competitive at Rolex because he won’t be far off the pace after dressage. I was just so impressed with him at Fair Hill last year when it was a long, grueling Derek di Grazia course, and I’m just going to do my very best in the show jumping (in Kentucky),” he said.

Liz Halliday-Sharp and Fernhill By Night. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Liz Halliday-Sharp and Fernhill By Night. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Of course, the Pan Ams picture is on everyone’s mind with Team USA in a must-win scenario to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and Boyd said he’d like to get past Rolex before considering whether he’ll aim Mikey at Toronto. “More than anything, I’m thinking he could be a good backup horse for the Olympics to Shamwari.”

Liz Halliday-Sharp and Deborah Halliday’s Fernhill By Night moved up from fourth to third place on 46.6 with another of those double clear rounds. She watched from warmup as Jennie Jarnstrom unfortunately parted ways with Cape Town in a dramatic moment after he slipped around a turn and then proceeded to jumped out of the ring and galloped back to stabling.

After that, Liz said she thought, ‘I hope my studs are big enough!’ Thankfully, they were, and “Blackie” jumped beautifully. “He’s awesome anywhere — he’s good on grass; he’s good on surface. In the past, we’ve maybe struggled a little bit with time, but I think he’s gotten a lot tidier with his turns,” she said.

Will Faudree and Andromaque. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Will Faudree and Andromaque. Photo by Jenni Autry.

“We’ve been doing a lot of jumping with Richard Picken since I’ve been in Ocala … Having less horses to ride, I’ve taken time to do more lessons, and I think that’s been good for me and the horse. He jumped a great round. I don’t think he did anything wrong; I think he tapped one. I was thrilled to bits with him — he tried his heart out.”

Will Faudree could not have smiled any bigger when his longtime partner Andromaque, owned by Jennifer Mosing, jumped an inspiring clear round to move up to fourth place on a score 47.2. The mare is making her return to FEI competition after spending nearly a year on the sidelines, and she looked like she hadn’t missed a beat today.

Michael Pollard and Carl Bouckaert’s Cyrano round out your top five on 48.8. after jumping double clear. Michael rode extremely well today over the tricky three-star track, managing to jump clear on all his horses, with a double clear on Waltersdown Don and a clear round with three time penalties aboard Ballingowan Pizazz.

Michael Pollard and Cyrano

Michael Pollard and Cyrano. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Taking a look at the live scores will show you just how many rails fell; they tumbled down throughout the course, and the drama didn’t stop there, with refusals and even a technical elimination peppering the leaderboard. But, as Boyd reminded us, that’s not unusual for Carolina.

“It’s always difficult because you’re out in an open field, and Marc Donovan has built a very technical, spooky course,” he said. “The horses get quite hot and excited out there, and even the really good horses were having a rail or two. It’s tough going in the show jumping at Carolina International.”

With that in mind, we have to give a big shout out to the other pairs that jumped double clear: Boyd Martin and Crackerjack, 6th; Phillip Dutton and Fernhill Fugitive, 10th; Allie Knowles and Sound Prospect, 12th; Buck Davidson and Copper Beech, 13th; Marilyn Little and RF Quarterman, 16T; Buck Davidson and Petite Flower, 16T; Jimmie Schramm and Bellamy, 20th; Allison Springer and Mr. Sydney Rocks, 25T; and Phillip Dutton and Seams Ready, 25T.

Many of the CIC3* and CIC2* show jumping rounds are already available on demand thanks to the fantastic USEF Network crew that has worked tirelessly bringing us this fantastic live stream all weekend. If you haven’t been tuning in to hear commentary from Karen O’Connor and Charlotte Skinner-Robson, you are seriously missing out.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow when the broadcast goes live at 10:30 a.m. EST for CIC2* cross country and continues at 12:40 p.m. EST with CIC3* cross country. We’ll be bringing you a full preview of the CIC3* course first thing in the morning, and we still have much more to bring you from Carolina International, so keep checking back!

Go Eventing.

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