Classic Eventing Nation

Emily Beshear and Silver Night Lady. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Emily Beshear and Silver Night Lady set the early bar yesterday in the CCI2* at the Dutta Corp Fair Hill International on 43.0, and like Marilyn Little and RF Scandalous in the CCI3*, no one could match their leading score in the sandbox today. That leaves “Silvy,” a 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare owned by Deep Purple Eventing, enjoying the overnight lead for a second consecutive day here in Maryland.

But Fair Hill is never a dressage show, and Emily has carefully honed her game plan with success in mind tomorrow. Silvy is still a new ride for her, having just come into her barn in May as a former rider of Bill Levett. (Click here for more background on Silvy and Emily’s comments on her dressage test yesterday.)

“My plan is to go out there and let her gallop and hope she listens when I need her to. I’ve had trouble in the past being able to turn and gallop at the same time, so I’m hoping that’s been remedied because there are a lot of places where you definitely get rolling out there,” Emily said.

“For my horse in particular it’s really just a mind game for me because I’m used to my other mare (Shame on the Moon), where I always have to think about closing some of the bending lines to make the distances work for her, and this mare is totally the opposite. She has a tremendous stride and a big jump, so I think for me it’s reminding myself to stay on a true line and give her space.”

Derek di Grazia reversed the track for this year’s event, which means time will be more difficult to make up at the end of the course than it has been in years past. “To be quick you’ve got to make the most of the galloping lane. For me it’s a matter of trusting I can get her back when I need to and keeping a little bit of a lid on the exuberance in her jump,” Emily said.

“The distances that walk quite forward I’m really excited about, because it should be just right for her. Really I’m just still getting to know her, so I’m going to take it jump by jump and gallop on in the stretches that we have available and see what I have left at the end and try to manage her well out there.”

Jennie Brannigan and Stella Artois. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Jennie Brannigan and Stella Artois delivered the best test of the day to slot into second place on 44.5, just 1.5 penalties behind Emily and Silvy. “Toddie” is looking to complete her first CCI2* at Fair Hill this weekend, and if the 8-year-old Holsteiner/Thoroughbred mare finishes the weekend on a high note, it will be incredibly special for her team.

Philipp Kolossa sourced the mare in Germany, and when she became available for sale as a 5-year-old, Jennie knew she couldn’t let her get away. Beth Battel stepped in to own the mare in partnership with Jennie, who used the insurance money from her beloved late partner Cooper to purchase her share.

As Jennie put it: “It’s a little bit of Cooper to me, and Beth; when I didn’t have anyone else to pony up, she was like, ‘Yep, let’s do it.’ … I’ve believed in this horse for a long time, and we’ve taken our time with her. … To be here on the first day is great. She’s a great jumper; she’s really bold, and she’s come into her own the last few goes. I know she has the heart and all the pieces; it’s just putting them all together.”

The pieces definitely came together in the dressage today, with Toddie delivering a personal best by nearly 8 marks. “I was glad she had a good day today because I’ve felt like she had that test in there, and I’ve just been waiting for it to come through,” Jennie said. “Even today, leaving the ring, I knew she could be so much better. You feel like you leave points all over the place, but she’s young still, and I’m glad it’s coming together.”

Looking ahead to cross country, Jennie said Toddie is leggy and bold, so she doesn’t always run her for time because the mare can get quite strong. “I am a competitive person, but my goal is to give this good horse a good go,” she said.

“As always with Derek, it’s tough, but he designs so well; I just think the world of him as a designer. There are plenty of places that could catch anyone out, but I think it’s also helpful that — knock on wood — we have fast ground. This is the first time I’ve been here it hasn’t been wet.”

Dasha Ivandaeva and DB Cooper. Photo by Jenni Autry.

“I’ve been having difficulty trying to find the perfect warm-up for him, and I think that today everything came together. We both stayed super calm, which sometimes I find hard to do for dressage; I can get a little tense and start rushing him. He got in the final warm-up and he stayed calm and supple, and we gave him a nice walk, which I don’t normally do, and decided to go on that,” Dasha said.

“Going around the ring, he kind of locked onto the cross country fence at first, so I turned around and went the other way. Then it just felt like the moment was right, and he was perfect throughout the whole test. I found that he could get a little tense going down the long side where the cross country fences are, but he contained himself beautifully.”

Derek’s reversal of the course’s direction has been repeatedly praised by the riders, and Dasha is another who said she likes the change. “It definitely puts the bad juju from the other courses to rest. I think there’s a lot to do up until the very end, and it’s definitely going to be a true test, especially those two skinny tables at the end. My horse is fit and he’s ready to go, and we’ll just take it jump by jump.”

Lauren Kieffer and Landmark’s Monaco. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Looking to the rest of the leaderboard, Lauren Kieffer and Jacqueline Mars’ Landmark’s Monaco are sharing fourth place with Meghan O’Donoghue and Pete Humphreys’ Rich N Famous on 45.8. Our Best Dressed winners sit back-to-back in seventh and eighth, with Lauren Balcomb and Guido Hatzis on 46.6 and Randy Ward and Grando on 47.2.

Matt Flynn and Wizzerd scored 48.1 for eighth place, with Michael Walton and Woodstock Wallaby’s score of 48.8 from yesterday still keeping them inside the top 10 in ninth at the conclusion of dressage. Will Coleman and Boris O’Hara round out the top 10 on 48.9.

Meghan O’Donoghue and Rich N Famous. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Click here to check out a drone flyover preview of the CCI3* course courtesy of Jamie Rees, and you can see photos of each fence on both the CCI3* and CCI2* courses in the Fair Hill program here (click the button on the cover to see the course preview). 

CCI2* cross country starts at 9:30 a.m. EST tomorrow, with the CCI3* set to start at 12:25 p.m. EST. There is no live stream or radio feed, but I will be running live updates here on EN to keep you up-to-date with all the action. Click here to catch up on all of EN’s #DuttaFHI coverage so far and here to check out our behind-the-scenes photos on Instagram. Go Eventing.

#DuttaFHI: Website, Entries, Draw Order, Ride Times, Live Scores, YEH Scores, EN’s Coverage, Twitter, Instagram

Dressage has concluded at the Dutta Corp Fair Hill International and the crowns have been handed out to the East Coast Young Event Horse champions. Now as we look ahead to the next task, the formidable cross country track set forth by Derek di Grazia, we hold our breaths in anticipation of an exciting day coming up.

But, before we get too ahead of ourselves, let’s take a look back around social media to wrap up dressage and the YEH Championships in style. Go Eventing!

#DuttaFHI: Website, Entries, Draw Order, Ride Times, Live Scores, YEH Scores, EN’s Coverage, Twitter, Instagram

FINALLY!! There's WINE at the #DuttaFHI Family Meeting!!

A photo posted by Fair Hill International (@fairhillint) on Oct 14, 2016 at 2:51pm PDT

Marilyn Little and RF Scandalous. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Marilyn Little came out swinging yesterday in the CCI3* at the Dutta Corp Fair Hill International, delivering a dominant score of 41.5 with RF Scandalous that no one could catch today. RF Demeter came the closest with 44.6 to also give Marilyn the second-place slot on the leaderboard as we look ahead to cross country tomorrow.

With Emily Beshear and Silver Night Lady also holding onto their overnight lead in the CCI2* on 43.0 and Jennie Brannigan and Stella Artois throwing down today to sit in second on 44.5, that gives us female riders aboard mares in the top two slots in both CCI divisions. Fair Hill has gone to the girls, ya’ll!

RF Scandalous, an 11-year-old Oldenburg mare owned by Phoebe and Michael Manders, Jacqueline Mars and Robin Parsky, is making her return to the three-star level at Fair Hill following an injury last fall at Boekelo that sidelined her until March.

“I wanted to give her the benefit of having an entire year to be back up to the level,” Marilyn said. “She’s been in work since March, so she really only had a little bit of time off after Boekelo last year, but she’s been competing since June. I didn’t want to push her to this level until we were here, so it’s been slow.” (Click here to read Marilyn’s comments about her test with “Kitty” from yesterday.)

Marilyn Little and RF Demeter. Photo by Jenni Autry.

RF Demeter, a 14-year-old Oldenburg mare owned by Jacqueline Mars, Raylyn Farms and Patrick Witte, didn’t quite catch her personal CCI3* best of 40.5 from Galway Downs last year, but she still delivered one of her better performances at the level today.

“Demi was a little bit more tense than I was hoping she would be, but I think that’s normal for this time of the year. She still was very obedient and she was really looking forward to the test and was just a little anticipatory of things, so not quite as relaxed and uphill as she can be, which is something we’ve been working on over the past year,” Marilyn said.

“All in all I’m really pleased with her, and it’s such a privilege to ride an old partner out there. We know each other very well and I can trust her to do her job and can almost underdo a little in the warm-up knowing that she’s going to want to go in and be beautiful and put on a show.”

As for Marilyn’s strategy on cross country tomorrow with both mares, she said she is hoping to put her “love-hate relationship” with Fair Hill firmly in the past. “For me historically it’s been an event that almost went well a few times, and I didn’t quite bring it home like I thought I should have and wanted to, and I was disappointed in myself not my horses. I really hope to do a good job for them tomorrow,” Marilyn said.

“I think they are both very prepared, very fit. They are obviously in very different places in their career. Kitty is green to the level for sure, but she is a very brave, courageous horse. … I’ll probably be a little bit more conservative with her in the beginning of the course to save her so that at no time do I feel that she is panicking about looking for air. … I’d like to have her come home feeling as confident as when she left the start box.

“With Demi I just have to keep control because she is very strong and she knows her job and comes out of the start box like a tornado and just wants to do it all at once, right away. I have to try to find a good rhythm, help her settle in quickly, stick her nose on the ropes and let her start doing her job and just keep the rhythm.”

Ryan Wood and Powell. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Reigning Adequan USEA Gold Cup Champions Ryan Wood and Powell made a valiant attempt to catch Marilyn but had to settle for third place and a score of 45.0 after a missed flying change and a sticky half-pirouette. Overall, Ryan said he was very happy with the performance from Powell.

“He’s a pretty special horse and I’m lucky to be riding him and have him in my barn,” Ryan said. “He was awesome. He did everything really well. I made a couple little mistakes in there, but on the whole I was thrilled with it.”

The 10-year-old Oldenburg gelding owned by Summit Sporthorses won his CCI3* debut at Jersey Fresh in May, and Ryan said he’s excited to have an even more seasoned partner to tackle Fair Hill. “We’ll have our work cut out for us. It’s a pretty tough track … a real endurance test and one of the strongest three-stars I’ve seen.”

Heather Morris and Charlie Tango, who received a Land/Rover USEF Competition Grant to travel from California to compete, scored 45.7 to sit in fourth place in the CCI3*. The 8-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding owned by Team Express Group is making his CCI3* debut at Fair Hill, coming off a strong second-place finish in the Twin Rivers CIC3* last month.

Hannah Sue Burnett and Under Suspection round out the top five on 46.8. The 12-year-old Holsteiner mare owned by Mary Ann Ghadban finished second in the CCI3* at Rebecca Farm in July, and we also predicted her to finish second this weekend at Fair Hill. “Pippy” is well within striking distance after dressage.

Emily Beshear and Shame on the Moon. Photo by Jenni Autry.

We also saw a lovely test today from Emily Beshear and Deep Purple Eventing’s Shame on the Moon, scoring 46.9 to sit sixth. (Her score had a large spread between the judges: 72.12% at M, 69.42% at C, 64.62% at E.) Mackenna Shea and Landioso went early this morning and are another pair making the West Coast proud, sitting in eighth on 48.7.

Phillip Dutton and John and Kristine Norton’s I’m Sew Ready did their test yesterday and now sit in ninth on 49.2. Buck Davidson has two rides in the top 10 in Carlevo, who sits seventh on 47.2, and Park Trader, who scored 49.4 to round out the top 10. Phillip delivered the only other score in the 40s in the division, with Z sitting 11th on 49.7.

Fair Hill is never a dressage show, and Derek de Grazia has mixed things up this year by reversing portions of the cross country course, which is fondly known as “Mini Rolex.” The consensus from the riders is that this year’s course is especially tough, with questions coming thick and heavy starting with an especially difficult angled brush combination at fence 6.

Click here to check out a drone flyover preview of the CCI3* course courtesy of Jamie Rees, and you can see photos of each fence on both courses in the Fair Hill program here (click the button on the cover). Fair Hill’s going is usually sloppy, but this year we have fast ground, so tomorrow is going to be exciting from start to finish.

CCI2* cross country starts at 9:30 a.m. EST tomorrow, with the CCI3* set to start at 12:25 p.m. EST. There is no live stream or radio feed, but I will be running live updates here on EN to keep you up-to-date with all the action. Click here to catch up on all of EN’s #DuttaFHI coverage so far and here to check out our behind-the-scenes photos on Instagram. Go Eventing.

#DuttaFHI: Website, Entries, Draw Order, Ride Times, Live Scores, YEH Scores, EN’s Coverage, Twitter, Instagram