Hannah Sue Burnett and Harbour Pilot lead the CCI3* dressage.
We survived the downpours to make it through the dressage for the Fair Hill CCI3*/2*. The top three riders in each division — Hannah Sue Burnett, Marilyn Little and Heather Gillette in the CCI3* and Susan Beebee, Danielle Dichting and Doug Payne in the CCI2* — talked about their performances in dressage and their expectations for tomorrow during the end-of-day press conference. I also caught up with Marilyn Little and Susan Beebee for video interviews, where both offered more in depth analysis on their rides.
“I was actually quite nervous today,” Hannah Sue said at the press conference. “We’ve had a bumpy year trying to figure out all three phases. I really wanted to bring it home this weekend, so I was feeling a lot of pressure. That came through in my warmup; I got tense, so William got tense.” But Hannah Sue indicated that William is a showman and takes it all in stride: “When he’s in the little white box he does his job. We did have a couple of little bobbles. Our halts were not good today — probably because I was tense. Our first change was a bit exuberant, but the rest of the test is quite good. His medium and extended trots have gotten much better. He used to trot like a little pony, but now he really throws his legs out there.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXh6pmmZjFE
I caught up with Marilyn Little after her test on RF Smoke on the Water.
Brian O’Connor also wanted to get in on the interview, as you’ll hear.
On riding Derek Di Grazia’s cross-country course tomorrow: “I love Derek’s courses; I’ve always loved them. I ran his course at Stuart in the 2* and I loved the flow. He uses the terrain so brilliantly. At Rolex in 2011 he designed a really beautiful course; I love the forwardness of it. I think the course here really does prepare you for the next level.” Marilyn agreed that riding Derek’s course will be valuable experience for Rolex next year, as Derek will be designing the course there for 2013. “Some of the elements here are the predecessors of what you see at Rolex,” she said, alluding to the coffin combination and triple brush.
On RF Smoke in the Water’s dressage test, Marilyn said that the horse is quite good for his age at only 7. “Even though he’s young, he’s really an old soul,” Marilyn said. “He’s one of those horses that just gets it. He wakes up in the morning and knows his job.” She talked about developing their partnership at the Winter Equestrian Festival last winter, where Marilyn helped Smoke hone his show jumping skills. “His weak phase is show jumping, whereas that’s my strong phase. His strong phase is dressage, whereas that’s my weak phase,” Marilyn said.
Heather is thrilled to be sitting in third place after taking most of the summer off; she’s very happy to be back in action. “We had stupid, freak little injuries that set us back; that’s why our flatwork got so good,” she joked. “I’ve just been getting him back up for the fall. Hopefully the partnership we have will carry us through tomorrow.” After walking the cross-country course yesterday, Heather thought the ground was a bit unforgiving, so she was grateful to see the rain today. “The footing feels pretty good now; it’s not as wet as it was last year,” Heather said. “The jumps have been set on course to avoid the really deep slop.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsok6uHWCF4
Susan Beebee talks about Wolf’s performance in the dressage and going cross country tomorrow.
When asked about his thoughts on the course conditions, Doug Payne wisely pointed out that it’s not nearly as bad as 2009. Doug, who sits in third in the CCI2*, is glad to be back on top with Crown Talisman after a nasty injury sidelined them last year. “He had an injury at Pine Top a year and a half ago where he ripped a ligament off his stifle,” Doug said. “He was in great shape at Millbrook, but then he ended up with a wicked heal grab, so this is his first run since Millbrook. He’s very brave and talented; I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Susan Beebee held on to her lead in the CCI2* dressage with Wolf. “I’m relieved to still be here,” Susan said. “I’m happy to be able to get a shot at going through the ABC element in the ring this year, since I added the C element last year and got a technical 20.” She noted that she’s grateful to be here with two wonderful horses to ride; her second horse, Uptown Higgins, is currently in 36th in the CCI2*. Cross country has been delayed by one hour to give the course a chance to dry. We’ll resume action at Fair Hill at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow morning with the CCI2*. Your scores after dressage are here.
