Becky and Comet in the winner’s circle one last time
With wind howling and storm clouds amassing overhead, Becky Holder and Courageous Comet pulled just one rail to win the Advanced division at the American Eventing Championships. Becky has repeatedly said that her plan is for this to be Comet’s last upper-level competition, and her lovely horse competed like the champion he is right to the finish line to win by 4.7 points. Comet’s retirement means the end of an extraordinary career that includes countless accolades. Most of all, and beyond all of the ribbons, I will remember Comet as an OTTB who developed into one of the best event horses ever to the joy and adoration of eventing fans everywhere. There are no doubt young riders competing at the AECs right now because they were inspired by watching Courageous Comet. Comet, we will miss you!
What better way to end Comet’s career than coming through in the clutch on a tough show jumping course? Marc Donovan’s show jumping course wreaked havoc on the advanced division, allowing just five clear rounds for 20 starters. The sixth through third placed riders coming into today all pulled rails. Lainey Ashker and Anthony Patch then entered and delivered a brilliant double-clear ride to secure second or better. Becky and Comet had two rails in hand. They pulled a rail early on the course in what Becky expected to be a tough combination. With a tough Nutrena vertical panel fence and the triple combination still to come, you could feel the crowd holding their breath for the home state favorites. The spectators willed them home clear the rest of the way for the win. Comet repeated his AECs victory from 2010, when he won here at Chatahoochee Hills before representing the USA at the World Equestrian Games.
Becky was kind enough to speak with me after her show jumping round about what Comet’s career has meant to her, jumping four warm-up fences, the weather, and riding in front of a home crowd. I expected both of us to start bawling in the interview, but we managed to get through it. Many thanks to Becky for always making time for us this weekend right after her rides.
If there’s one thing I always write about, other than Boyd Martin, it’s the weather. We do Chinchilla focus group testing about this kind of thing, folks. Frankly, I have no idea how the end of the advanced division missed getting dumped on because the clouds looked awful and were clearly heading straight for us with just a few rides to go. Becky got the worst of the wind and spitting rain, but the dark clouds blew over just as fast as they arrived and we’re left once again with partly cloudy skies.
Lainey and Anthony Patch were the only advanced pairs to finish the weekend on their dressage score. They dominated the jumping phases as the closest to the optimum on cross-country and one of only five clear rounds today. Congrats to Lainey on a great weekend!
Hanna Sue Burnett and Ms. Mars’ Harbour Pilot moved all the way up from 7th to 3rd with a double-clear today. Although their rounds usually look effortless, Hannah needs to give “William” a nearly perfect ride every time in the show jumping to get home clear and she did just that today in a gutty performance.
The perfectionist in Michael Pollard might have been a bit unhappy to slide from 3rd to 9th with time penalties yesterday, but he made up for it with Hanni today with a superb clear performance that was never really in doubt. Hannah and Michael, Pan American gold medal teammates last year, finished 3rd and 4th here today. Leslie Law and Zenith ISF mantained 5th position with one rail down.
Carl Bouckaert, our generous host here at Chattachoochee Hills, delighted the crowd with a double-clear aboard his Olympic mount Cyrano. I want to extend a huge thank you from all of us to Carl for providing us with a truly premier eventing venue for the AECs. Next year the AECs move to Texas.
As an international note, I think it’s safe to say Jon secured his spot on the Boekelo team this weekend by having just one rail down around a really tough course.
Kiwi Joe Meyer and the 20 year old snip were the first to jump double-clear. Comet’s retirement will make all of the headlines, but Snip is retiring (again) this weekend after an incredible international career with Joe. Snip’s resume includes 8 four-stars including 3 double-clears at Badminton.
The intermediate division has just started show jumping while Beginner Novice is rocking the cross-country. Go Comet.
