Buck Davidson and Be Mine. Photo by Leslie Wylie.
Buck’s having an easy weekend here at Bromont — a vacation, really — with only three horses in the CCI1*, one in the CCI* and a handful of students. What are you going to do with all that time between rides tomorrow, Buck?
Not surprisingly, when he IS in the saddle he’s been keeping himself busy with his favorite pastime: beating the pants off everybody else. At the finish of CCI1* dressage he’s sitting in first on Be Mine on a score of 39 and tied for third on Cartier on a score of 43.8, with Tiger Lilly a little further down the scoreboard, which is a lengthy 45 horses long.
Be Mine is a big, floaty-moving 8 year old, owned by Lisa Darden, that looks to be on the eventing fast-track — Buck did a Novice on him in January followed by a Training in February then straight on to Preliminary by March. They got in their qualifying rounds to contest the CIC1* at the CHC International at Chattahoochee Hills in May, where they placed 7th, and now they’re here winning the dressage at Bromont — tada!
Here’s the video courtesy of EN’s dear friend Thehorsepesterer:
Thursday’s dressage leader and hometown hero Peter Barry kept a death grip on the top of the leaderboard today to finish up in second place. If you missed our report on his ride yesterday, check it out here.
Erin Sylvester, who is tied with Buck for 3rd on Sweet Rebellion, stopped by the press tent this evening to tell us about her two rides. Sweet Rebellion is a 7-year-old thoroughbred mare that she has brought along off the track; this is her first season at Prelim. Erin described her as “very promising” but green and a little on the spooky side.
“I was hoping for a score in the mid-50s — I was just hoping that she would keep a lid on and do all the movements,” Erin explains. “But she came into herself on Thursday morning, fortunately, and put in such a good performance. She didn’t put a foot wrong.”
Their score, a 43.8, obviously exceeded Erin’s expectations. “She was cute,” Erin explains, “when she finished she lifted her head and looked around and was really impressed by everything, but as long as I was asking her to work she stayed right with me.”
I asked Erin how her CCI3* test on No Boundaries felt — they scored a 52 and are tied for fourth going into cross-country. She said that she was trying to push him forward and ask for a little more movement to improve on her test from Jersey Fresh, which was solid and accurate but lacking in razzle-dazzle. The byproduct of that was a slight loss of relaxation over his topline. “I was really happy with him but I think his score reflected him getting a little tight in his neck and behind the vertical.”
Ashley Adams and Cooley Ice round out the top five placed competitors in the CCI1*. Wishing Erin and the rest of the 3* competitors all the best cross-country tomorrow!
Top 20 CCI1* Dressage Scores:
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More to come! You can’t get enough! Alléz Concours Complet!!!
