Allison Springer and Arthur made things interesting on Saturday in the Galway CCI3*. The pair reportedly jumped into the second water complex and bypassed fence #14 which is a skinny Orca whale on an angle. She circled left and then jumped the fence. Allison was not scored with a stop by the live scoring at the time, but as of 4:30pm ET has been given 20 penalties despite a protest. We’ll have more info as we get it. Those penalties move Jennie Brannigan with Cambalda into first and Tamra Smith with Corner Street into second just behind Jennie.
4:50pm ET Update: I heard briefly from Allison who said that Arthur stifled over #13B and pitched her forward. She momentarily pulled right, quickly realized that they were not going to make it so she circled left instead, but she said that she did not present and that Arthur did not run out. Apparently the Ground Jury is saying that because she pulled on the right rein even for a moment she was committed.
Obviously, these things happen in literally tenths of a second so the subjectivity factor is really high. I have not yet heard if the penalties are 100% final or if there is still a chance that they will be reversed, but the word is that the officials are relatively convinced that it should be 20 penalties.
5:15pm Update: The TD has just signed the official XC results sheet. That’s a tough break for Allison and Arthur who have yet another great weekend spoiled by a XC issue. Hopefully they will have a good round on Sunday to get some good momentum going into the winter.
The second water complex is a bank up, one stride over a drop and then 3.5 strides to Orca at #14
Statistically, the CCI3* cross-country course seemed to ride really well for about half of the division and really tough for the other half. On the positive side, 9 out of 19 starters had less that 10 time penalties and 5 of those riders had double clears. For the other half of the pairs, the course was tough with 8 riders having at least a stop and 5 pairs retiring or being eliminated. There was only one fall in the CCI3*, which was Kelly Prather with Ballinakill Glory but both horse and rider were reportedly fine.
1. Jennie Brannigan and Cambalda +0 46.0
2. Tamra Smith and Corner Street +0 46.6
3. Alexandra Slusher and Last Call +0.8 49.2
4. Kristin Bachman and Gryffindor +0 50.6
5. James Alliston and Jumbo’s Jake +0 54.8
6. Kristi Nunnink and R-Star +6.4 57.6
7. James Alliston and Parker II +0 61.6
8. Allison Springer and Arthur +24 65.0
9. Martha McDowell and Gaelic Marriage +4.8 75.6
Link: Full CCI3* XC results
From very early reports I have heard from the riders, the Ian Stark course rode hard but very fair and I think the results support those observations. 8 out of the 19 (42%) riders having at least a stop is pretty average for a three-star. In comparison, 15 out of 33 (45%) of Fair Hill CCI3* starters had problems, but there were proportionally more 4* horses riding at Galway. Overall, it seems like Saturday was fantastic for the inaugural West coast CCI3*. James Alliston was the only rider with two horses in the CCI3* and finished both with double-clears to move into 6th and 8th going into the show jumping.
We will have a full report from Chelan soon, and good luck to the rest of the cross-country riders at Galway today.
