Erin Sylvester and No Boundaries had a huge crew to greet them after their double-clear
Andrea Leatherman and Mensa moved into the CCI3* lead at Jersey Fresh with one of four double-clears on the day. Erin Sylvester, and Katie Ruppel, and David Koss were the other three riders to finish with double-clears. Nina Ligon of Thailand was just one second over the optimum and moved into second place. Overnight leader Alexandra Slusher guided Last Call around the course for 11 time penalties and they dropped to 4th.
CCI3* Results:
1. Andrea Leatherman and Mensa +0 56.0
2. Nina Ligon and Fernhill Fearless +0.4 56.6
3. Erin Sylvester and No Boundaries +0 9.6
4. Alexandra Slusher and Last Call +11.2 59.9
5. Katie Ruppel and Sir Donovan +0 60.2
6. Doug Payne and Running Order +10 61.3
–The Jersey Shore water jump didn’t ride well for the CCI2* and it didn’t ride much better for the CCI3*. Just 2 of the first 7 horses got through the skinny at #9 clear. The question was a narrow at #8B to a narrow at #9 and the horses just didn’t seem to be reading it properly and most of them ran out right. After word of how hard #9 was riding made it back to the warmup the next few riders attacked it more directly and the jump rode better for the rest of the day.
Here is scattered video of the CCI3*, the jumps generally move from the beginning of the course to the end:
–The CCI3* course did ride very safe–there were no falls fortunately. Of the 17 starters, 3 retired, 5 had stops, 9 had clear rides and 4 had double-clears which is a pretty good distribution, although almost all of the issues were at the water.
–I saw two younger riders make great decisions out there–Nina Ligon and Fernhill Fearless took the long rout at the brush coffin toward the end of the course and Melissa Miller took the long route at the water. Fernhill Fearless is a really nice horse and he’s just one of several Nina is looking to take to the Olympics for Thailand next year.
–Colleen Rutledge was originally eliminated for jumping the option at 21B. She thought that she had not jumped the flags on her first attempt and so she did the option, but they originalyl ruled that she had cleared the flags on the first attempt and thus eliminated herself for jumping 21B twice. Fortunately the decision was reversed and Colleen finished with just one stop.
–The young guns are running the show in the CCI3*. The top 10 is filled with younger riders looking to make a name for themselves. Just one rail separates the top 4 going into the show jumping so someone is going to have a chance to do just that tomorrow.
Next up is the CIC3*. Go eventing.
