Clark and Loughan Glen
Clark Mongomery and Loughan Glen had the third fastest ride of the CCI3* division and added just 4 time penalties to his dressage score. Clark was cool as a cucumber when I saw him this morning and that calmness translated to his ride as he guided Loughan Glen through the course. Clark takes a 7.7 point lead into the show jumping which makes him a big favorite to win the Bromont CCI3*. In the post XC press conference, Clark Montgomery mentioned that no matter what happens tomorrow Loughan Glen will do another 3* after this to help the horse gain a bit more experience, perhaps something such as Blenheim on a trip to Europe later this year.
Bromont CCI3* Results:
1. Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen +4 43.0
2. Leslie Law and Rehy Lux +8.4 50.7
3. Sharon White and Rafferty’s Rules +6 57.0
4. Kristin Bachman and Gryffindor +7.6 57.8
5. Philip Dutton and William Penn +6.8 59.3
6. Buck Davidson and Absolute Liberty +6.8 60.3
7. Kendal Lehari and Daily Edition +3.2 63.0
–Leslie Law and Rehy Lux picked up 8.4 time penalties but the horse looked really good all the way around and Rehy totally seems like he is a big time horse of the future for Leslie. It’s been a couple of years since Leslie has had a rock solid XC horse but Rehy is a top caliber horse in all three phases.
–Sharon White and Rafferty’s Rules moved up from 5th to third with just 6 time penalties. This pair is returning to the 3* level after Blenheim last year and they put together a brilliant performance today. There’s no doubt that they looked like one of the best pairs out there today.
–Kristin Bachman and Gryffindor are putting together another top 5 three star weekend after finishing 5th at the Galway CCI3* last year. The pair withdrew from Rolex earlier this year.
–As expected, Phillip and Buck moved up with speedy rides on William Penn and Absolute Liberty respectively–both added 6.8 penalties.
–7th placed Kendal Lehari is the highest placed Canadian in the CCI3* field.
–Lauren Lambert owns the fastest time of the CCI3*, finishing just 5 seconds over the optimum and giving her fans back home in Kentucky something to cheer about.
–Emily Beshear and Here’s To You finished galloping strong after a great ride, but they added 15.6 time penalties to drop to 10th. Still, this is definitely a pair to watch for the future and Emily has to be very happy with this horse’s first CCI3* round.
–Of the 22 CCI3* starters, only two didn’t finish the course, and both of them walked off still mounted. Santa’s Playboy was eliminated on refusals at the second water and Buck pulled Titanium up at fence 25 because Titanium wasn’t going as well as he could and there’s no point risking a bad experience on such a nice horse at a 3*. 6 of the starters picked up at least a stop.
–The safety of today’s course is a testament to Derek Di Grazia’s great course designing, as well as Jay Hambly and the team of great builders who worked so hard preparing the course here at Bromont.
–Of the 107 three-day starters at Bromont today there were only 4 falls, and to my knowledge they were all horse falls. As I mentioned in the 2* report, Samantha Galway was taken to the hospital after her horse stumbled on landing off the drop into the first water complex, but that was just to check that nothing was wrong with her leg and she should be fine. Other than that, the medical personnel had an extremely boring day, thankfully.
–Speaking of boring, I’m getting tired of saying this at every single three-day, but Phillip did what Phillip does and all of his 4 horses finished clean with just over 20 total time penalties. The 4 horses Phillip has here are horses of the future and they didn’t have the best weekend at Jersey but they all responded well today. I have to say that Phillip getting horses around clean is so routine that it starts to seem normal, but I assure you that there is nothing ‘normal’ about his consistency every weekend and it’s fun to get to watch such an incredible XC rider so often. The man just never misses.
–Speaking of great days, Kylie Lyman rode three horses in the CCI2* and all of them finished clear. Phillip and Kylie together accounted for 20% of the CCI2* clear rounds.
–Not speaking of boring, Kyle Carter assisted with the announcing for the CCI3* rides, and if you know Kyle, it was every bit as colorful and hilarious as you might expect. Some gems from Kyle’s color commentary include that eventing has really improved since riders started riding in clothes, UFO’s are reading our minds right now, and all the good horses in Ireland now live in North America. Kyle also gave the most epic EN shout-out ever that had me doubled over laughing–again, if you know Kyle, you know it included some good natured humor at the expense of yours truly.
–During Kyle’s announcing, he talked a lot about what a hard worker Micheline Jordan is and it was good to see her finish a really quality ride with Irish Diamonds. They go into the show jumping in 12th.
–Aside from Kyle, Geoff Morgan and Tigh Ryan did a marvelous job announcing the entire day, and I thank them for being my eyes and ears out there.
–The volunteers were wonderful as always fence judging and doing everything else to help the event run smoothly. Also, the officials helped keep everything running smoothly and the day felt completely under control at all times. Overall, everyone gets an A+ on execution.
–Clark has a one rail lead in the CCI3*, but the CCI2* is tightly packed at the top. Phillip with Mighty Nice and Hannah Burnett with Harbour Pilot trail Rebecca Howard and Roquefort “Rocky” within a rail of the lead–Phillip is just 0.1 points back in second. Rocky can jump though and I like Rebecca to come through in the clutch.
–I want to finish with a big shout out to all the grooms who will be working well into the night in this chilly Bromont weather to get the horses happy and sound for tomorrow.
The training division is just wrapping up as a great day of cross-country comes to a close here at Bromont. Thanks for joining us and we’ll be back later on Eventing Nation with much more from Bromont. Go eventing.
