Sydney Elliott and QC Diamantaire. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
It was cross-country day for the CCI4*-L, CCI4*-S, and CCI3*-L competitors—and the final day of competition for the CCI4*-S, which completed both dressage and stadium jumping yesterday, at The Event at TerraNova (Myakka City, FL).
The B&D Builders CCI4*-L, which completed its dressage phase yesterday, saw Phillip Dutton and Possante in the lead with an impressive score of 26.8. Unfortunately, after a rider fall at Fence 6A on cross-country — the very influential rail ditch complex that caused a lot of trouble in both the 4*-L and 3*-L today — the pair will not move forward to tomorrow’s stadium jumping phase. Both Phillip and “Impy” were reported to be unharmed.
That left the door open for Sydney Elliott and Carol Stephens’ QC Diamantaire — previously sitting just behind Dutton in second with a dressage score of 29.3 — to move into the lead, which they did on an impressive double-clear cross-country round, even after being briefly held on course while a frangible pin was reset from the rider ahead of them, which didn’t seem to faze them.
Even with their second-placing dressage score, Sydney explained that the phase has taken years of steady refinement for QC Diamantaire.
“Dressage has been a work in progress with him,” she said. “He’s so striking and has great movement, but we’ve never really been consistently scoring in the 20s. I’ve been working with Bettina Hoy for the last few years, just chipping away little by little to improve in the phase.”
Sydney also shared that this season has been a significant comeback for both her and QC Diamantaire after she spent nearly a year out of the saddle.
“Cross-country was tough today—I love this phase, it’s why I do the sport—but it demanded a lot of accuracy. He can be a little quirky going into water, and that bounce in was pretty impressive, so I definitely lost some sleep over that. But he was incredible. The coffin combination was heavy on everyone’s minds, especially after riding the three-star this morning, and I was a bit cautious about it. Still, it rode well. The course was fair and challenging, and it’s exciting that the designer, Alec Lochore, is also working on the LA 2028 course—that was a big part of why we wanted to compete here.”
Their long partnership has also played a role in their success so far this weekend, and Sydney looks forward to the final phase of this event.
“I know Q really well at this point. We got him from good friends of ours when he was five—he’s 15 now—and he’s taken me everywhere, from Aachen to the Kentucky Three-Day Event,” she says. “We call him the unicorn because he truly is one of a kind—we probably won’t ever have another one like him. I’m excited for stadium jumping tomorrow, even though he might be a bit fresh depending on the atmosphere—fresh can be a good thing, though!”
Hayley Frielick and Sportsfield Lumiere. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Hayley Frielick of New Zealand and Sportsfield Lumiere also leaped ahead on the leaderboard, climbing from 5th after dressage to 2nd overall thanks to their double-clear cross-country round. Their performance was even more remarkable given that Frielick also only returned to riding a couple of months ago after breaking her leg earlier this year.
“Sportsfield Lumiere is phenomenal. He’s a 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse that my business partner, Martha Tomlinson, put on a plane and insisted I needed. I wasn’t planning on another horse, but incredible supporters made it possible, and he’s the most scopey, honest, genuine guy. Our lead-up wasn’t ideal—I broke my leg the day after Bromont, where he was second in the four-star long—so my whole summer was derailed. Thankfully, the team at Windurra, especially Silva Martin, stepped in when I couldn’t ride. It really does take a village, and her help made all the difference in the dressage phase this week.”
Frielick noted that today’s cross-country course was actually ideal for the pair, given her recent injury recovery. This was also the first time she had competed back at the four-star level since before her injury.
“The course was amazing—this is our first time at TerraNova, and it’s just beautiful,” she says. “The flatter terrain really suited us, especially with my recent recovery. But he was brilliant and so fast out there—he’s very scopey and he can save my bacon from any distance. I had a blast, and I knew I had to keep pushing to make the time, but he had plenty of gas in the tank and kept responding, answering every question out there.”
Ema Klugman and Bronte Beach Z. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Ema Klugman enjoyed a good day at the office with three horses in this division alone. She’s highest-placed with Bronte Beach, who made the influential track look like a walk in the park and moved into third on a score of 33.5. She’s also 5th with Chiraz, with whom she competed for Australia at Boekelo in October, and 11th and RF Redfern.
Following the Horse Inspection tomorrow morning, show jumping for the 4*-L will begin at 12:00 p.m. EST. You’ll be able to catch the live stream here.
Will Coleman Wins CCI4*-S on Comeback Tour with Diabolo
Will Coleman and Diabolo. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
For Will Coleman and his CCI4*-S mount Diabolo (owned by the Diabolo Group), the weekend was smooth sailing from start to finish. The pair led after dressage with an impressive score of 26.1, then delivered a clear stadium round yesterday afternoon, adding just 0.8 time faults. Today, they followed it up with an outstanding cross-country performance, finishing with no jumping penalties and 21 seconds of planned time, securing their lead to win the Leibold Irrigation CCI4*-S.
“The time faults were sort of planned—this was his first run back at this level in about a year after a minor injury in 2024, so we’re just ecstatic to have him back,” Will says. “He’s such a quality horse and made it all feel easy today. I had a blast out there, and now we can look ahead to next year—this was the perfect way to finish our season.”
Will’s other CCI4*-S mount, Team Rebecca’s Fahrenheit Addict, climbed from 5th to 2nd after yesterday’s stadium jumping round. However, time penalties on today’s cross-country course pushed the pair back to fifth in the final CCI4*-S standings.
“Fahrenheit Addict was awesome—he’s a younger horse, and this is his first year at the four-star level with us,” Will says. “We really just wanted to give him a nice, confidence-building run to finish the season, and we got that today. He’s improved so much this year, and I’m really excited about his future. It was a great day overall—our whole barn had a fantastic outing, and a couple of my students did really well, too. We’re fortunate to have such a great village behind us.”
Notably, one of Will’s students, Meg Pellegrini, had a busy day with three horses in the 4*-S division. She produced three clear rounds aboard three very different horses, finishing the day highest placed with DonDante, the former 5* ride of Will’s, in 7th on a 46.0.
Lucienne Bellissimo and Dyri. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Lucienne Bellissimo and her mount, Dyri, also demonstrated how pivotal a clear cross-country round can be: after sitting third following dressage, the pair slipped to sixth when they picked up 8 jumping faults and 1.6 time penalties in stadium. But with a cross-country round that produced no jumping penalties and finished just one second over the optimum time, they climbed all the way back up to finish 2nd overall in the CCI4*-S.
A New Leader Rockets to the Top of Tanner Group CCI3*-L
Riley Zgrebnak and Cooley Criminal Mind. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
In The Estates at TerraNova & Laughlin Tanner Group CCI3*-L—which held dressage on Thursday and ran cross-country today—a new leader emerged from deep in the standings, having previously been tied for 28th after dressage.
Riley Zgrebnak and Cooley Criminal Mind head into tomorrow’s stadium jumping phase in first place after delivering a double-clear cross-country round on a course that proved challenging for many pairs in the division.
One of the most influential questions of the day was the Fence 6 combination—a downhill jump followed by a ditch just a few strides away. Although several alternative routes were available, including jump options before and after the ditch, the ditch sitting at the bottom of the slope proved challenging for many pairs. This resulted in multiple refusals, eliminations, and retirements.
“I’ve had Cooley Criminal Mind a little over three years now, and we only moved up to intermediate in February,” Riley says. “We’ve had just five runs at the three-star level. My trainer, Kim [Severson], owned him before I bought him—she took him Intermediate and tried a three-star, and it didn’t go super well, so I wasn’t sure we’d compete at this level. But with our partnership, it just seems to work. Our dressage test was one of the best we’ve had all season—that phase isn’t normally his strongest. Today on cross-country, I decided to take the long route before we jumped the ditch, since so many people were having trouble, and it paid off.”
When asked what makes Cooley Criminal Mind so special, Riley describes the horse’s personality as one of his greatest strengths. “He’s the kindest horse ever—very much a people horse,” she says. “He loves pets and scratches, he knows his name, and he’s honestly the sweetest horse I’ve ever met. His barn name is Gideon, but I call him Giddy.”
The Long formats conclude competition with show jumping on Sunday, starting with the CCI3*-L at 10:30 a.m. EST, the CCI4*-L at 12:00 a.m. EST, and the CCI2*-L at 1:30 p.m. EST. You can follow along live using the links below.
The Event at TerraNova (FL): [Website] [Entries/Times] [Scores] [Live Stream] [Volunteer]
