Winner winner! Photo by Jenni Autry.

There’s rising to the occasion under pressure and then there’s riding with the weight of the world on your shoulders. Tamie Smith did both today when she clinched an emotional win in the Dutta Corp/USEF Three-Star Eventing National Championship with Mai Baum.

Tamie has been competing all weekend knowing that her dear friend Dylan Morris’ battle with stage 4 stomach cancer was about to come to an end. Tragically, Dylan lost that battle early this morning. Tamie has said all weekend that she was riding for Dylan. She ultimately gave him the win.

And she won in dominant fashion, leading wire-to-wire in Mai Baum’s first CCI3*. The 9-year-old German Sport Horse gelding owned by Ellen and Alex Ahearn and Eric Markell jumped a beautiful clear round with 2 time penalties today to win on 40.5 — that’s their fourth FEI win in a row.

“He was super,” Tamie said in this afternoon’s press conference. “He’s normally pretty spooky in the ring, and he wasn’t at all. He just went in there and was all business. I’m just really, really proud of the ride, and he jumped fantastic; he jumped his guts out.”

Tamie has worked hard on the show jumping with this horse since pulling two rails at the Pan American Games prep trials at Great Meadow in July, training with Susie Hutchinson and taking “Lexus” to a number of jumper shows to get him comfortable in the ring. “He is a spooky, careful horse, which is what you want, but he just needed to get a bit more seasoned at it,” she said.

So what did it feel like to take the biggest win of her career today? “It’s unbelievable, actually … I’ll never forget the phone call I got from Alex when she said, ‘I have something to tell you, and I think you’re going to like it.’ And we went and met for dinner, and she said, ‘I want you to ride him.’ And I was like, ‘Whoa, let’s think this through, because I don’t know if you know what you’re saying to me right now,'” Tamie said.

“So the second that it was a real thing — that I had a spectacular horse underneath me — it’s been such a pleasure, because I have ridden a lot of difficult type horses throughout my career and some that maybe didn’t have the talent that they needed to have to do the level, but that’s what I had. He’s got everything. He’s the whole package, and it’s just an unbelievable feeling to be sitting on him. I can’t even explain it; it’s unreal. I am blown away every time I ride him.”

Alex Ahearn, one of Mai Baum’s owners and his former rider, gives him some love before the prize giving. Photo by Jenni Autry.

As for what’s next for Lexus, Tamie said it’s too early to be thinking about taking the horse to his first four-star, and instead she’s considering using the free international flight she won today courtesy of Dutta Corp to target a spring CCI3* overseas. Then there’s also Boekelo to consider — “I have a bone to pick with them,” Tamie said. “I’d love to get back there, and I think he’d be competitive there.”

Phillip Dutton said he “probably had the luckiest round today” after Mighty Nice rubbed a couple rails on Sally Ike’s CCI3* course but ultimately left them all up, crossing the timers with 2 time penalties to finish on 45.5 as the Dutta Corp/USEF Three-Star Eventing National Reserve Champions in the horse’s first Fair Hill appearance.

“The show jumping’s been a bit tough for us, but he left them up, and I’m pleased for him,” Phillip said. “It’s one of those things that you take every event and be grateful. He hit his stifle at Kentucky and so he didn’t get to finish, and he got to finish here. He’s got a lot of improving still ahead of him, but he’s a great horse, and I’m lucky to have him.”

Phillip said “Happy,” an 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding, has become a “family horse” after being owned by his late dear friend Bruce Duchossois. After Bruce’s passing, a special group of Bruce’s friends stepped up to help Phillip keep the horse, and he said he’s grateful to the new owners: Caroline Moran, Annie Jones, Michael Bombar, Kevin Keane and Evie Dutton.

Phillip Dutton and Mighty Nice. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Fair Hill seems to suit Kim Severson and Cooley Cross Border. After finishing as the Two-Star Reserve Champions last year, “Crossy,” an 8-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding owned by the Cross Syndicate, quietly stalked the top of the leaderboard all weekend in the horse first CCI3*.

Kim and Crossy sat in sixth place after dressage on a score of 46.6, then jumped clear on cross country with just 0.8 time penalties, and jumped one of the seven double clear rounds over Sally Ike’s show jumping course today to finish in third place on a final score of 46.6.

“He really seems to like Fair Hill. He’s really stepped to the plate the two times he’s been here. His dressage was, I thought, very good for him. He got most of his changes, which is huge for us. He could have been a little bit more consistent in his medium trot; he’s not strong enough yet,” Kim said.

“Yesterday he was unreal, and I actually gave him a decent ride, which I don’t say very often. I actually rode the horse well, and he appreciated it. Today he was spectacular. He’s just a lovely, lovely horse, and the mistakes he has had have been green, misunderstanding mistakes. He’s not a naughty, bad horse by any means.”

Like Tamie with Lexus, Kim is thinking of targeting a European three-star in the spring instead of aiming Crossy for his first four-star at Rolex.

Looking to the rest of the leaderboard, Boyd Martin and Steady Eddie moved from seventh to fourth place today thanks to jumping clear and inside the time, and Phillip Dutton finished a second ride in the top five in Tom Tierney and Simon Roosevelt’s Fernhill Cubalawn, who had the middle fence of the triple combination down to finish on 50.8.

That second element of the treble (12b), which was the final part of the course, fell a number of times in the three-star division, as did fence fence, a large white birch oxer at fence three coming off a tight rollback turn from a vertical at fence two.

The following horses and riders also jumped double clear: Marilyn Little and RF West Indie (9th), Ryan Wood and Fernhill Classic (11th), Doug Payne and Vandiver (16th), Lillian Heard and LCC Barnaby (20th), and Colleen Rutledge and Escot 6 (30th).

Boyd Martin finished two more rides in the top 10, with Blackfoot Mystery having two rails down to finish sixth on 52.6 and Crackerjack pulling one rail to finish seventh on 54.2. Buck Davidson and The Apprentice had one down to finish eighth on 57.6. Ryan Wood also had a super weekend, finishing all three of his rides in the top 15 (Frankie, 10th; Fernhill Classic, 11th; McLovin, 14th).

Stay tuned for much more from #DuttaFHI, including a full video of the CCI3* press conference courtesy of Jamie Rees, plus our final thoughts on Fair Hill and a full list of all the award winners from today. Go Eventing.

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Tamie Smith and Mai Baum. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Tamie Smith and Mai Baum are one step closer to the Dutta Corp Fair Hill International CCI3* win after delivering one of the nine double clear rounds across Derek di Grazia’s cross country course today. It doesn’t seem to matter that Tamie has only campaigned the horse since February, nor that this is the horse’s first CCI3* and it wasn’t exactly an easy day across the board — they just keep getting better.

It’s been something of a fairytale run for this duo since Tamie took over the ride earlier this year for owners Ellen and Alex Ahearn and Eric Markell. Tamie and the 9-year-old German Sport Horse gelding have won three CIC3* events since July, including besting an all-star field at Plantation Field last month.

They had an equally classy, impressive performance today, delivering the second-fastest ride in the CCI3* division to come home 14 seconds inside the time and take their overnight lead on their personal best dressage score of 38.5 — and a rail in hand — forward to tomorrow’s show jumping.

“He was fantastic. I went out of the box and he was a little bit sticky to the first two, and I gave him a little encouragement after that, and then he was right in my hand and galloped around the course,” Tamie said. “I kept looking at my watch and going, “Gosh, I’m 5 seconds over the clock, and now I’m 7 seconds over the clock, and I’m getting a little too far ahead of the clock. But his stride just kept getting bigger, and he was so rideable that I just let him stay in a rhythm. I was thrilled with his ride.”

Phillip Dutton and Mighty Nice were originally assessed 1.2 time penalties after being held on course before fence 9, but official scoring removed those time penalties to keep them on their dressage score of 43.5. That double clear round has “Happy,” an 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding owned by Caroline Moran, Annie Jones, Michael Bombar, Kevin Keane and Evie Dutton, sitting in second place overnight in the horse’s first trip to Fair Hill.

Phillip Dutton and Mighty Nice. Photo by Jenni Autry.

It wasn’t the smoothest start to their round, Phillip said, as they were delayed getting into the start box. “That was a shame, but then you can’t get a better cross country horse than he is. He wouldn’t be the fastest horse I’ve ever had, but he’s just got one speed and he was able to stay and that speed, and he’s got good wind. He kept going and didn’t tire. The conditions were pretty perfect for the horses, too.”

Boyd Martin was very happy after accumulating just 2 time penalties between his CCI3* horses, with his newest ride Blackfoot Mystery leading the way with a double clear round. The 11-year-old Thoroughbred gelding owned by the Blackfoot Mystery Syndicate moved up two spots on the leaderboard thanks to that effort and now sits in third place on his dressage score of 44.6.

“I think the ground was very fast. It was probably the first time I’ve ever been to Fair Hill where it’s not deep in mud,” Boyd said. “I will say I do think Derek softened it up a wee bit, which I’m not complaining about because it was still very, very difficult. But I thought last year he made it a three-and-a-half-star, and this year was a proper three star. I think if you had a good galloper, then the time was pretty easy to make.”

Just nine horse and rider combinations — about 17 percent of the field — managed to make the optimum time of 10 minutes, and the fact that Boyd was sitting on an off-track Thoroughbred in “Big Red” certainly didn’t hurt. Their time of 9 minutes, 55 seconds was the fourth fastest in the division.

“I think he’s a class horse, and I was so impressed with him today. He’s got unbelievable endurance, and I felt like I was coasting around pretty easy,” Boyd said. “It sort of showed me that he is a proper four-star horse, and we’re still getting to know each other a little bit because we just weren’t quite in sync over a few of the fences, so I think that in maybe another six months we’ll be sweet.”

It was a great day for Boyd, who has all four of his rides sitting in the top 15 (Blackfoot Mystery, 3rd; Crackerjack, 6th; Steady Eddie, 7th; Welcome Shadow, 13th). For that matter, it was a great day for riders hailing from Australia across the board. Phillip also has both his rides in the top five (Mighty Nice, 2nd, and Fernhill Cubalawn, 5th with the fastest time of the day).

Boyd Martin and Blackfoot Mystery. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Fellow Aussie Ryan Wood picked up just 0.8 total time penalties between his three horses, which has them all sitting inside the top 20 (Frankie, 10th; McLovin, 14th; Fernhill Classic, 16th). Those three speedy efforts moved Ryan up a collective total of 53 spots on the three-star leaderboard.

In a great nod to girl power, the only other riders to make the optimum time in the three-star division are all women. Tamie Smith put the pedal down to hold her overnight lead on Mai Baum. Jenny Caras had a cracking round in her second CCI3* with Fernhill Fortitude to move up to 11th place on 55.9, and Erin Sylvester stormed around with Mettraise to move up 25 spots on the leaderboard to 17th.

Looking to the rest of the scores, Kim Severson and the Cross Syndicate’s Cooley Cross Border, who finished second in the CCI2* at Fair Hill last year, jumped clear with 0.8 time penalties in the horse’s first CCI3* to sit in fourth place on 46.6. Buck Davidson and Sherrie Martin’s The Apprentice stayed in eighth place after jumping clear with 6.4 time penalties. Holly Payne Caravella and Bethann Groblewski’s Santino continued their string of good cross country runs with a clear round and 4.4 time penalties.

Just as we didn’t see any serious injuries in the two-star, all three-star horses and riders that fell on course are OK. While More Inspiration was taken off the course in the horse ambulance after he fell with Holly Jacks-Smither at fence 9, Holly confirmed that he is totally fine. Justine Dutton was a bit banged up after her fall from Huck Finn at the Frog Pond fence 6 and withdrew her second ride Jollybo as a result.

Allie Knowles is also OK after falling at the Frog Pond with The Dark Mark, and she later withdrew Sound Prospect, as she said she too was a bit too banged up to ride. Joe Meyer was having a super go on Sanskrit before falling at fence 15 and giving us a bit of a scare, but he returned later in the day to ride Clip Clop to a clear round.

All other horses and riders involved in falls are OK, and you can get a full play-by-play of all the three-star cross country action in our live updates thread. We will still have much more to bring you from #DuttaFHI, including more photos. In the meantime, catch up with our Instagram here and click here to read all of EN’s Fair Hill coverage so far.

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Will Coleman and Tight Lines at Fair Hill. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Will Coleman and the Conair Syndicate’s Tight Lines executed a foot perfect cross country round under pressure late in the order of go at the Dutta Corp Fair Hill International to hold their overnight lead in the CCI2* on their dressage score of 42.5. The 8-year-old French Thoroughbred gelding Will imported from France last year made quick work of the course, delivering one of the 27 rounds clear and inside the time.

“He’s an incredibly fast horse. I’ve never had one that builds in speed like he does, but he truly gets faster as he goes, which is good and bad,” Will said. “But he was great. He settled down, and he was much more rideable than he was earlier in the year, and he just seems to get better and better. I’m thrilled with him. I thought he was just a star.”

With so many riders making the time, Will agreed that he didn’t think the optimum time of 8 minutes, 19 seconds was the most challenging aspect of Derek di Grazia’s course, but he also said he thought it was a good test overall.

“I thought (Derek) had really good quality questions. I think it does prepare your horse for the next level, and I think if you’re hoping to move up to the next level in the spring — which obviously I am with him — I think it does set you up well to do that. And I think that’s the point of what he tries to do with his course every year,” Will said.

“I think beyond that … I watched a lot in the morning because I went quite late, and it seemed like the problems were spread out all over. You get a big mix of horses in the two-star. Some are greener than others, but some of the more experienced combinations made it look pretty good. I thought it was a good track.”

Will and “Phish” won’t have a rail in hand for tomorrow’s show jumping, as Phillip Dutton and Z, a 7-year-old Zangersheide gelding owned by Tom Tierney, Simon Roosevelt, Jacqueline Mars and Suzanne Lacy, are sitting about three penalty points behind after also jumping clear and inside the time to move into second place on 45.3.

Phillip said after the round that Z handled his first CCI2* with ease. As for whether he’ll move the horse up to Advanced in the spring, Phillip said he’s not making that decision yet. “He’s a bit of a hard horse. He’s a 7-year-old, so I might give him a little bit more time,” Phillip said. “He’s not the most straightforward to the jumps, so I want to make him a little more easier to ride for me, not harder. I might give him another two-star.”

Phillip Dutton and Z. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Allison Springer and Mary Ann Ghadban’s Cascani sit third on 46.1 thanks to a double clear, and it’s Allison’s birthday! This horse is a fairly new ride for her, as she only got him in March from Kelli Temple, and Allison said she was thrilled with how “Andy,” a 9-year-old Holsteiner gelding, handled the course.

“It was fantastic; I’m really excited … I did try to take him to Bromont probably a bit prematurely, and actually Phillip helped me a ton this summer with him, and I’m so excited about him. He’s just changed so much over the summer, and he’s a great horse. It felt really nice — just a fun ride around, and he felt full of gallop at the end and jumped well and really stepped up,” Allison said.

“I too am looking to move him up in the spring, and this is certainly a course that tests that. It’d be more of an Advanced course, so the people that are doing their first-time two-stars, that’s a big test, but it was great for the horses that you’re looking for something more in the spring.”

The rest of the top five in the CCI2* also added zero penalties to their dressage scores, which puts Doug Payne and his own and Kristin Michaloski’s Lysander in fourth place on 46.6 and Matt Flynn and Flynn Sport Horses’ Get Lucky in fifth place on 48.8. Z, Lysander and Get Lucky are all making their two-star debuts here at Fair Hill.

While 27 sounds like a high number of double clear rounds in this 71-horse field, it certainly wasn’t an easy day out there. It seemed to be feast or famine, with riders either storming around with fast, clear rounds or coming to grief at one of the combinations that quickly emerged as the biggest challenges on course.

The most trouble came at 7b at the Offset Brushes, the angled brush at 11b at the Cedar Cabin combination, and the brush corner at 18c in the Osage Orange Complex. The Chesapeake Water also caught out its fair share of horses and riders, and we saw a number of sticky rides over the chevron brush at 20c in the Springhouse Water.

Derek di Grazia’s track left little room for error, and riders sitting at the top of the leaderboard after cross country delivered the accurate rounds this course demanded. Even more impressive is the number of riders who delivered two or more double clear rounds. Kylie Dermody jumped clear and made the time on all three of her horses to put all of them inside the top 20: Da Vinci Code in 10th, Lup the Loop in 15th and Sacramento in 19th.

Four other riders jumped double clear rounds with two horses: Waylon Roberts with Bill Owen (7th) and Faolan (9th); Erin Sylvester with Paddy The Caddy (11th) and Campground (25th); Arden Wildasin with Kineo (14th) and Dusky Shadow (26th); and Sinead Halpin with Forrest Nymph (13th) and Grey Area (21st).

Congo Brazzaville C jumped out of his skin for Mara DePuy to come home clear with just 1.2 time penalties to move up to sixth place on 49.5, and Meghan O’Donoghue and Palm Crescent delivered an impressive double clear to move from equal 13th place up to eighth on 51.3. Nora Battig and Steppin’ Out win EN’s Biggest Mover Award, moving from 34th to 16th thanks to their double clear.

Doug Payne and Lysander. Photo by Jenni Autry.

We’ve confirmed that all horses and riders that fell on course are OK sans cuts, bumps and bruises. Dasha Ivandaeva fell from DB Cooper at the Chesapeake Water after sitting in sixth place overnight and confirmed on Facebook that she is OK but heading to the local hospital to get a few stitches in her leg.

Sinead Halpin and Top Gun fell at the Chesapeake Water when “Gunnar” got hung up on the boat house and Sinead stepped off onto the jump. As mentioned above, she returned later in the division to jump double clear with Forrest Nymph and Grey Area. Siobhain O’Connor and Faux Indigo fell at the Osage Orange Complex but were both up and OK.

Tamie Smith was having a cracking round on Dempsey before they had a hard fall at the Springhouse Water. Both are OK, and she quickly bounced back and was out walking the CCI3* course, which she’ll tackle later this afternoon with overnight leader Mai Baum. You can get a full rundown of all the action on our live CCI2* updates at this link.

CCI3* cross country starts at 1:40 p.m., with Boyd Martin and Welcome Shadow heading out of the start box first. Sally is once again running live updates at this link, and I’m tweeting @eventingnation. We’re also posting photos to Instagram, and Maggie is out on course with Chinch and $20 Horse Tack Co. gift certificates for anyone who finds her! #ChaseTheChinch

Remember you can also listen to all the cross country action live on PRO Tour Radio! Click here to catch up on all of EN’s #DuttaFHI coverage so far, and keep it locked on EN for much more, including more CCI2* photos.

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Tamie Smith hugs Mai Baum after her beautiful test. Photo by Jenni Autry.

After scoring 38.5 to take the Dutta Corp Fair Hill International CCI3* lead at the lunch break, Tamie Smith and Mai Baum still find themselves sitting atop the leaderboard at the conclusion of dressage — but only just. Jessica Phoenix and multiple Pan American Games medalist Pavarotti scored 39.2 in the final group to slot into second place, becoming the only other pair in the division to crack the sub-40 threshold.

Tamie delivered a memorable performance on what has been a very emotional day for her, and she gave the credit to “Lexus,” a 9-year-old German Sport Horse gelding owned by Ellen and Alex Ahearn and Eric Markell. “He was phenomenal,” Tamie said after the test. “He’s just getting stronger and better, and I’m really pleased with how he felt. I had one little bobble — my second change wasn’t clean — but other than that everything else was super.”

This horse competed at Fair Hill last year in the CCI2* with young rider Alex Ahearn in the irons, and Tamie said the transformation that has taken place in the horse in the last year — and especially since she took over the ride in February — is largely due to the fact that Lexus is such a trainable horse and tries really hard.

“We have been working on his strength and connection and getting him to be more expressive in his work. Even though he is (expressive), you can always have that much more,” Tamie said. “I’ve been working with my dressage trainer at home, Niki Clarke, and I have ridden with Steffen Peters a few times. I feel like I’m right in the mecca of where I need to be to have my horses improve the way they have. It’s due to the great help I have.”

Jessica Phoenix and Pavarotti. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Jessica Phoenix is celebrating her birthday today, and she said cracking the 30s with Don Good’s Pavarotti and sitting in second place overnight in the CCI3* definitely made her special day even more perfect.”I said to Rotti this morning, ‘You can pick the second number, but the first number needs to be 3. He was amazing,” Jessica said.

“It’s so much fun riding that horse. I really have to thank Don Good for giving me the ride on him. He is an incredible, competitive horse, and I love every minute of riding him. Being able to do this on my birthday was really special. I was trying as hard as I could to catch Tamie. We almost did!”

Pavarotti, a 13-year-old Westphalian gelding, has never competed at Fair Hill, which Jessica said is largely due to the fact that he has been representing the Canadian team at a different competition during the summer and fall season. Now “Rotti” will get his first crack at this Derek di Grazia track, a challenge Jessica said she’s looking forward to. “The course looks great,” she said. “It’s nice and galloping and well suited to him.”

Phillip Dutton and Mighty Nice. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Phillip Dutton held the lead through much of the morning with Mighty Nice, an 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding owned by Caroline Moran, Annie Jones, Michael Bombar, Kevin Keane and Evie Dutton. Their score of 43.5 has them rounding out the top three at the conclusion of dressage.

“I was pleased,” Phillip said. “It was probably Mighty Nice’s best test. He seems to be getting better and better, and I think I might be getting better. It’s exciting.” “Happy” is another horse who has never competed at Fair Hill, and Phillip also said he thinks the course will suit the horse.

“I think it’s going to be a good educational course for him,” Phillip said. “He’s done a couple four-stars before, but it’s a great track. Fitness is going to play a part, probably more so than a lot of the other courses we do, so that’s also educational for the other horses and riders. I’m looking forward to the day.”

Looking to the rest of the CCI3* leaderboard, Buck Davidson had one hell of a day and is sitting in the top 16 with all four of his rides. Carl and Cassie Segal’s Park Trader leads the way with a personal best score of 44.4 to sit in fourth place, and Sherrie Martin’s The Apprentice sits in eighth, with Lisa Darden’s Wiley Post in 10th and Lisa Darden’s Be Mine in 16th.

Boyd Martin and Blackfoot Mystery. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Boyd Martin and the Blackfoot Mystery Syndicate’s Blackfoot Mystery scored 44.6 in their first CCI3* together as a combination to sneak into the top five. It’s also been a good day for Boyd, who has all four of his CCI3* mounts sitting inside the top 25, with Lucy Boynton Lie’s Crackerjack in 10th on 50.2; Steady Eddie, owned by Gretchen Wintersteen, Pierre Colin and Denise Lahey, in 15th on 50.5; and Craig and Gloria Callen’s Welcome Shadow in 25th on 55.5.

The top 11 horses and riders all broke the sub-50 threshold in dressage. Kim Severson and the Cross Syndicate’s Cooley Cross Border sit in sixth on 45.8; with Tom Tierney and Simon Roosevelt’s Fernhill Cubalawn in seventh on 46.8; Marilyn Little and RF Overdressed, owned by Raylyn Farms, Jacqueline Mars and Robyn Parsky, in ninth on 47.7; and Mikki Kuchta and Kim Smalls’ Rubens D’Ysieux scoring 49.5 in their three-star debut to sit 11th.

CCI3* cross country starts at 1:40 p.m. tomorrow. Click here to see a fence-by-fence course preview and here to watch the awesome drone flyover video of the course directed by Packy McGaughan and produced by Jamie Rees. Jamie also very kindly filmed today’s press conference, which you can watch below. We’ll be running live cross country updates on EN and tweeting at @eventingnation, and PRO Tour Radio will also be streaming at this link.

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