Lucienne Bellissimo at the fall Morven Park International. Photo by Lindsay Berreth/USEA.
A trifecta of American eventing has come together at the Morven Park Equestrian Center this weekend. Not only did the iconic CCI4*-L get underway, but this weekend also marks the opening leg of the US Equestrian Open and the 2024 USEF/USEA Developing Horse Eventing National Championships for 6- and 7-year-olds. Record prize money is on the table as, thanks to MARS Equestrian, an additional $15,000 will be awarded to the top-placed American-bred horse within the two 4* divisions.
As the opening leg of the US Equestrian Open, there’s certainly additional pressure on our 4*-S competitors this weekend. This brand new event series highlights all three Olympic disciplines. For eventers, it includes 18 4*-S qualifiers (with more potentially to be added) spanning across the country and will conclude with a final event right here at Morven Park in 2025. Riders are given points based on their placing at each qualifier they complete, putting them in the running to earn the season points bonus as well as qualify for that final event. A total of $250,000 in prize money is up for the taking in eventing alone. Including show jumping and dressage, $2 million will be awarded to the nation’s top riders.
Want more information on the Open field this week? Click here to view EquiRatings’ Form Guide.
Despite the added pressure of the national spotlight, Lucienne Bellissimo and Horse Scout Eventing’s Dyri (Diarado – La Calera, by King Milford xx) danced their way to the top of the leaderboard at the end of day one in the CCI4*-L at the Morven Park International & Fall Horse Trials. The 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding has scored below 30 in his last five events -– the majority of his 2024 season. He’s coming off a win in the 4*-S at Stable View Oktoberfest at end of September. While he still claimed the top spot on the leaderboard today, he scored higher than usual, pulling in a 30.7.
Lucienne Bellissimo and Dyri compete at Morven Park in 2023. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Lucienne attributes his higher score to an early ride time and a shorter-than-usual warm-up. “In all honesty, I would have normally done a little free ride with him, but because my ride time was 8:07 a.m., I didn’t get a chance to do that,” she said. “So he was a touch more tense than he normally would be. I’ve been working a lot more on just his straightness on the center lines and just trying to tweak those areas. And I felt as though he nailed his halt in the center lines today. Some of his lateral work wasn’t quite as true as we’ve had it historically, but I was really pleased with him. And he’s an absolute pleasure to ride on the flat now. He always focuses in the ring.”
Never one to have small goals, Lucienne had been aiming for a sub-26 score this morning and believes Dyri has a bright future ahead of him. “I am a perfectionist,” Lucienne said. “And I think this horse deserves for me to be a perfectionist, because he’s good enough. I really think he’ll get a low-20s test when it all comes together and I’d like to be able to get him there.”
“His attitude is so consistent, and he’s been just a gift all season,” she continued. “To be honest, I think he’s led at his last sort of four or five CCI4* that he’s done. And I really hope I can just do it justice over the next 12 months now and produce him to be confident cross country, and then hopefully we’ll tick all the boxes.”
Lucienne and Dyri have been focused on building the gelding’s confidence on cross country, particularly when it comes to ditch and coffin complexes. Once he’s confident, then Lucienne will start to go for the time.
“He can be such a careful horse, which, again, it’s a blessing. But sometimes I think he almost takes it out of himself, because he gets so looky and he can hang in the air a little bit, and then, bless him, he’s almost losing a second to every fence through the first half of the course,” Lucienne said.
Dyri came to FEI eventing late in life, competing in his first 1* at 8 years old. Lucienne says that because he missed out on traditional fitness work as a young horse, he’s still creating that foundational strength that’s so key to eventing.
“I just keep reiterating that I’m playing the long game on him if he needs to come home with time, he can have some time. I adore him, and I really hope that in the next year or two, he can get a big win,” Lucienne said.
Looking ahead to tomorrow, our 4* contenders will have excellent conditions to tackle Derek di Grazia’s tricky course. “The ground looks fantastic, so that’s definitely in our favor,” Lucienne said. “I would love to be able to get him home in 10 time faults or less if I can. That said, I’m gonna let him tell me when we’re roughly halfway. If he’s breathing and traveling and in the bridle, I’ll keep coming home. But I’m certainly not gonna go like a bullet out of a gun around the first half. I’m gonna let him get halfway, and then if he’s breathing well, I’ll try and get a little bit braver on the way home with him, but I think the course here normally causes enough trouble.”
Hannah Sue Hollberg and Carsonstown. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Following Lucienne is Hannah Sue Hollberg and Carsonstown (Lougherne Cappuchino – Nonavic Spyridonna, by Limmerick) with a score of 32.1. Owned by Christa Schmidt, “Carson” is a 2012 Irish Sport Horse that Hannah describes as a bit behind the leg on the flat and with quite a few… quirks.
“He’s Irish and German, and he’s got the naughty side of both, I feel like,” she said. “He’s just taken a while to kind of grow up and develop. He bucked me off really badly in the dressage warm-up about three years ago and that’s when I got injured. So it’s been a bumpy road with him, but he has really come all the way around in all three phases. And he loves his job now, and it’s a blast to ride him.”
Hannah Sue had a secret weapon helping her prepare for this weekend’s CCI4*-L: grand prix dressage rider Nicholas Fyffe. “I’ve been working with Nicholas Fyffe on the flat, and he has ridden him a couple times for me. And it’s incredible, the difference that he can make. They just all halt square after he rides. He’s been extremely helpful, and I just love riding with him. He’s got the best way of teaching and explaining things and supporting.”
Aiming for the 5* level next year, Hannah Sue and Carson decided to come to Morven Park as part of their preparation. “I think that this is one of, if not the hardest, four star longs in the whole world, in terms of cross country. And I love Carson. He’s an amazing cross country horse, and I want to move him up, hopefully to the five star level next year. So this is a very important next step.”
Despite the challenges tomorrow brings, Hannah Sue and Carson are ready to tackle the cross country course. “The harder, the better, baby. For real, with this horse, if it’s easy, it’s like he has no interest, he has no respect for the fences.”
Buck Davidson and Cooley Candyman. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Buck Davidson and Cooley Candyman (Sligo Candy Boy – Dashing Hill, by Flame Hill) are hot on Hannah’s heels with a score of 32.3. Owned by Buck Davidson and Carl Segal, the 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse has had a light few competition seasons since 2021. “I’m just super, super happy with him, and just love the horse,” Buck said. “I just love riding him. He’s been off for a bit with some leg trouble, but hopefully we’re in good shape.”
“Morven Park is, quite honestly, a better cross country course than Fair Hill. It just felt like Fair Hill needs a horse that can just gallop and get to the top of that hill for the water, and then you’re all right,” Buck said. “Rolo’s only 11. I didn’t want to have him discouraged and be tired at Maryland, so I thought this was a better place to bring him.”
Buck threw caution to the wind and didn’t do the familiarization ride prior to his dressage test. “I’m really, really proud of him. I went in all brave and I didn’t do any of the ring familiarization and I didn’t do a pre-ride. And he’s good, like he might have played around a bit before, but he seems to go in there now, if he’s not tired, he doesn’t mess around.”
While Buck is looking forward to cross country tomorrow, he’s also attempting to make the time on a lightning-fast trip to Florida this afternoon with hopes to be back by his ride time tomorrow. Everyone keep your fingers crossed the traffic goes Buck’s way. “I’m on my way to the airport right now to go pick up my kids in Florida and then fly back. So my biggest thing right now is that all the planes are on time so I can be back here to ride tomorrow,” Buck laughed.
Jennie Brannigan and Connery. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Leading the US Equestrian Open qualifier CCI4*-S is Jennie Brannigan and Tim and Nina Gardner’s Connery. What many fans don’t know is that Connery’s barn name is “Sean,” which is something I will never get enough of. Scores are tight in the 4*-S this weekend, with Jennie just barely keeping second placed Hannah Sue Hollberg and Business Ben at bay by 0.3 points.
This weekend marks one year since Sean was last running at the Advanced level; he unfortunately came up with a hot leg at Boekelo last year and has taken the time to recover. “When he was at Boekelo last fall, he had a little bit of a hot leg there, and so we gave him extra time off.” This weekend marks Sean’s first Advanced/4* start in his return to the top levels.
Jennie is hoping to turn around a streak of bad luck that has tailed Sean throughout his Advanced career with this weekend’s run. “He’s had a couple unlucky things happen, like he tripped in a creek at Boekelo. It didn’t have anything to do with a jump. And then he just fell turning on the flat at Rebecca. It was my fault,” Jennie said. “So, I’m just excited to have him back, because he’s a really nice horse and one of my best ones for the future.”
According to Jennie, the 4*-S walks like a true Derek di Grazia track — a real challenge. “I don’t think it’s gonna be a dressage show, that’s for sure,” she said. “I walked the course with Erik [Duvander] last night, and it looks really proper, like Derek’s courses always are.”
You can get a good preview of what’s in store for tomorrow in the Morven cross country preview:
A fence-by-fence preview is also available on CrossCountryApp here.
The first riders will leave the start box tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. eastern time, with the 3* leading the way, followed by the 4*-S and then the 4*-L. If you can’t attend in person, you’re missing out on the beautiful fall atmosphere in Morven Park, but you can catch up on some of the action by watching the first leg of the US Equestrian Open on the USEF Network, which will carry all cross country tomorrow. You can also follow along live on the Morven Park YouTube channel here.
Morven Park Fall International & H.T. (VA): [Website] [Entries] [Schedule] [YouTube Channel] [USEF Network] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
