A job well done for Kristen Bond with Are You Ready
Two advanced divisions followed Becky’s winning CIC3* performance on Sunday afternoon at Richland. It’s hard to pick who had the most dominant performance between Michael Pollard with Hanni and Kristen Bond with Are You Ready. They won their divisions by 7.6 and 9.9 points respectively on Sunday double-clears. Hanni won by such a large margin thanks to a 26 in the dressage, but Are You Ready finished on his dressage score. Either way, both horses dominated their divisions and struck me as top prospects for the future.
In the Advanced-A division, Hanni jumped as well as I have ever seen her. Jennie Brannigan and Cambalda finished a great weekend with a double-clear to secure second. Daniel Clasing and Houston finished in third, and Buck Davidson with Titanium finished in fourth, each also with a double-clear. The top four places in that division remained unchanged today, all with double-clears.
Kristen Bond and Are You Ready moved into the lead on Saturday and held it with a double-clear today. Buck Davidson continued a good Sunday of jumping with a double-clear for second with Mar De Amor. Mara DePuy with Fun Maker and Jan Byyny with Why Not rounded out the top four, each with double-clears. All 15 starters in the Advanced-B finished the weekend–great job guys. I want to give a special shout out to course designer and builder Jeff Kibbie for completing the advanced aboard Loki. I love it when vets, farriers, course builders, and other professionals who make our sport possible compete, and it’s all the more phenomenal when they compete at our sport’s highest level.
Boyd Martin and Crackerjack won the CIC2* with a wire to wire performance and adding just one second of cross-country time to their dressage score. Crackerjack won by 6.5 penalties. Boyd’s fellow Olympian, Canadian Jessica Phoenix, finished second on Erodium. Jessica seems to find one really nice horse each year and Erodium is no exception. Caroline Martin and Quantum of Solace are a pair to watch in the future, finishing in third. Each of the top three horses after cross-country jumped double-clear. Ian Roberts of Canada rounded out the top four with Faolan. Colleen Rutledge had a disappointing fall yesterday from Shiraz, but can drive home with the positive feeling of a 5th place finish on Covert Rights. 27 horses completed the CIC2* at Richland.
As a completely non-Richland note, Michael Jung continued his takeover of the world by winning the CIC3* World Cup at Haras Du Pin with Halunke FBW, one of his youngest upper level horses. Michael Jung is just on fire. Karin Donckers of Belgium lost the lead today but she finished three horses in the top 10. Kathryn Robinson and Let It Be of Canada finished in 19th. [PDF Results]
In your daily Richland weather report, the breeze has picked up with highs in the 70’s to make for a beautiful day of show jumping. The intermediate divisions are jumping as the novice cross-country wraps up.
Now, more than ever, go eventing.
