Hannah Burnett and Harbour Pilot
It was a great day of cross-country for the US short list at the Pan American Games mandatory selection trials. The risk of making the Pan American Games short listers jump over the advanced track here at Richland was that the USEF might have unnecessarily caused some of our top intermediate horses to have problems. However, the upside was that everyone who had a successful day would be able to head for the Pan American Games knowing that they had conquered an Ian Stark cross-country course that was tougher than anything they will likely face in Mexico. Fortunately, the later happened for almost all of the short list riders and it turned out to be a nearly perfect Saturday for the US Pan American hopefuls. Today proved that the selectors did a good job picking their short list and that the US has a great shot at winning Pan American gold.
There was originally some confusion with the timing as the reported scores were giving the riders more time penalties than they thought they had. The Pan American Games division competed with a time of 550 meters per minute rather than the advanced time at 570 mpm, so my guess is that the scorers originally were using the advanced time. The adjusted time is 14 seconds less than advanced, so with the adjustments there were 4 double-clear rides. With a total of 3.2 time penalties for the top 7 horses the leader board barely changed today:
Richland Pan American Selection Trials XC Results:
1. Hannah Burnett and Harbour Pilot +0 44.4
2. Shannon Lilley and Ballingowan Pizazz +0.4 47.1
3. Tamra Smith and Mar De Amor +0 47.8
4. Kristin Schmolze and Ballylaffin Bracken +2.0 48.4
5. Michael Pollard and Schoensgreen Hanni +0.8 49.1
6. Lynn Symansky and Donner +0 50.5
7. Buck Davidson and Absolute Liberty +0 53.6
8. Jonathan Holling and Downtown Harrison +4.4 53.6
9. Emily Beshear and Here’s to You +8 58.8
10T. Jolie Wentworth and Good Knight +6.8 59.0
10T. Anna Collier and Upper Crust D +10.4 59.0
12. Maxance McManamy and Project Runway +22.0 73.6
13. Kevin Keane and Fernhill Flutter +20.8 76.6
14. Jenniver Taxay and Taboo +22.0 80.9
–There was only one stop in the selection trials division and only three riders finished with double-digit time penalties.
—Tamra Smith and Mar De Amor started things off at a blazing pace today and set the tone for all the riders trying to make the time. Mar De Amor made the parts of the course that I saw look easy. This horse is one of the best pure jumpers on the short list. He had a shaky show jumping round this year at Bromont, so Sunday will probably be his most important day for the weekend.
–I saw Kristin Schmolze and Ballylaffin Bracken (try typing that 5 times fast) through the first loop on their course and they looked very solid. They finished the day in 4th with 2.0 time penalties
—Hannah Burnett and Harbour Pilot meticulously negotiated the course. They never looked challenged or like they were galloping very hard. Hannah rode efficiently to finish just under the optimum time. This was William’s first advanced, making their performance even more impressive.
Hannah shared her thoughts with us after her ride:
—Kevin Keane and Fernhill Flutter had a heartbreaking runout to the right at the C element of the first water complex, which was a brush vertical. It looked like Kevin never quite found his line. They finished the course strong and Fernhill Flutter is an incredibly nice horse for the future.
—Lynn Symansky gave Donner a very positive ride through the first water and the sunken road. Lynn wasn’t leaving anything up to chance and they finished clear as a result. Donner is in 6th going into the show jumping.
—Emily Beshear and Here’s to You looked solid throughout their ride. This is a great look for the selectors at a horse who can win any event he enters. They finished on 8 time penalties.
—Shannon Lilley and Ballingowan Pizazz had a lot of pressure on them starting out in second place but they delivered a great performance finishing just one second over the optimum. All of the west coasters had a great day here at Richland.
—Jennifer Taxay and Taboo took the long route at the coffin and they finished with 22 time penalties.
—Jolie Wentworth and Good Knight had a good trip and added just 6.8 time penalties to their dressage score. They would have moved up more if everyone else hadn’t finished so close to the time.
—Buck Davidson and Absolute Liberty looked a bit tired at the end but they finished clear as we would expect from this experienced 3* pair. They moved from 12th to 7th, which was the biggest placing improvement of the day.
—Jon Holling and Downtown Harrison delivered an excellent performance although they were sticky through the coffin. 4.4 time penalties dropped them down one spot. Jon is long overdue to represent the US and I’m hoping a great round tomorrow will get them there.
—Anna Collier and Upper Crust D picked up 10.4 time penalties and dropped from 6th to 10th. They jumped well, but those time penalties were costly.
—Michael Pollard and Hanni finished a beautiful ride just two seconds over the optimum. Hanni has all the talent in the world and she is really growing up quickly. Hannie is an excellent show jumper, so I expect she will put some pressure on the pairs above her tomorrow.
—Max McManamy showed a ton of toughness today. She’s 19, had surgery on her foot 3 weeks ago, and moved her horse up to advanced today over what was certainly not a move-up course. Max was limping when she hopped off at the finish line, and she finished with over 20 time penalties, but she should be incredibly proud of her ride. Max has done two interviews with us this weekend, so I’m going to give EN Karma a bit of credit.
–There are just 4 penalties separating the top 4 places going into the show jumping making for an exciting Sunday at the selection trials.
–Changing divisions, Selena O’Hanlon and the veteran Colombo were one of just two pairs in the advanced to make the time and they moved into the lead. Michael Pollard and DV8 dropped to second. Katie Ruppel and Sara Kozumplik moved from being tied for seventh to being tied for third with 1.6 time penalties each. Holly Payne is in 6th with Madeline and Lisa Marie Fergusson is 7th with Smart Move.
The preliminary divisions are running cross-country right now and the many novice and training divisions have been show jumping all day. Go eventing.
