Buck Davidson and Petite Flower. Photo by Sally Spickard.
The leaderboard certainly saw some changes this afternoon as the CIC3* division show jumped. As Jenni reported earlier, Marc Donovan’s course was challenging and required accurate, forward riding. It seems that this morning’s bogey fence, fence four, was replaced by fence 6A this afternoon. 6A was part of an in-and-out that came five strides after fence 5. Some horses seemed to come in to the in-and-out with a bit too much power, and the fence took many hard rubs and quite a few fallen rails. All in all, 11 out of 43 pairs in the CIC3* jumped double clear today. Michael Pollard and Ballingowan Pizazz will lead the field going into cross country, followed by Doug Payne and Crown Talisman, and Jan Byyny and Inmidair.
Will Coleman and Conair. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Will Coleman came into show jumping having speculated in yesterday’s press conference that show jumping may be the biggest question mark on Conair’s resume. Unfortunately, Conair knocked rails at fences 5 and 6A, dropping him down to 11th place. Knowing that Conair may benefit from some more fine tuning in the show jumping, I’m sure Will is already at work formulating a strategy to get all cylinders clicking.
Marilyn Little and RF Demeter. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Marilyn Little and RF Demeter jumped a lovely, fluid round to move into fifth place. I can’t say enough about how amazing Demi looks this year, and I think we are all in for a treat as we watch her continue to campaign with Marilyn.
Holly Payne and Santino. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Buck Davidson, in true Buck fashion, piloted three of his four CIC3* rides to double clear rounds: Ballynoe Castle RM, Petite Flower and Park Trader. Petite Flower will be the highest place horse for Buck going into cross country; she will go into sixth place after show jumping. Ballynoe Castle RM is not too far behind his stablemate with a move into equal seventh with Jon Holling and Downtown Harrison. Park Trader is a bit farther down in the standings, but still within striking range in 12th place overnight.
Rachel Jurgens and Ziggy. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Rachel Jurgens and Ziggy had a huge cheering section today, and I could hear the cheers from all the way back by the media tent after she finished.
We will continue to add more videos to this post as they upload, so keep checking back! Go Carolina.
Michael Pollard and Ballingowan Pizazz:
Doug Payne and Crown Talisman. Disclaimer: Please excuse my moment of clarity when I saw Doug taking a daring inside turn through the Stonehenge complex!
Jan Byyny and Inmidair:
