Jon Holling and Downtown Harrison FTW
Jon Holling and Downtown Harrison won the Bromont CCI3* by four points but it felt a lot closer than that as they pulled a rail at the first and then a rail in the middle of the course to put pressure on at the end, ultimately winning with a rail in hand. Bromont couldn’t have a classier champion. Boyd Martin and Trading Aces have had an ambitious spring after Boyd got the ride, but they proved that such ambition was justified with a second placed finish in Trading Aces’ first three-star. Expect this horse to continue from here on a path to Normandy in 2014. Veterinarian and now certified three-star rider Kevin Keane finished in third with two rails down–EN Karma served KK well.
Redemption is quickly becoming the story of the day after Mandiba won the CCI2* and Downtown Harrison got the victory after barely missing out on competing for the US at the Pan American Games last year–he suffered a last minute tiny injury to keep him off of the plane. to Mexico Will won his first three-star, and in so doing secured Jon’s first career CCI3* win.
The CCI3* show jumping course (and perhaps the difficulty of yesterday’s cross-country course) wreaked havoc on the field. None of the riders finished with less than 4 penalties, and over half finished with more than one rail down. Kristin Schmolze and Ballylaffin Bracked jumped the only clear round but added four time penalties. This course is going to be a great test for the US and Canadian Olympic hopefuls getting ready to show jump.
Caitlin Silliman’s Catch A Star won the best conditioned horse award. Caitlin and “Hoku’s” great fifth place finish is all the more impressive considering she is the only young rider in the CCI3* field.
In an effort to save server load, I have combined the Trading Aces, Fernhill Flutter, and Atlas show jumping rounds into one video:
Jon Holling was kind enough to speak with us after his winning ride. Interestingly, although Jon says announcer Geoff reported he had 11 points in hand, he actually had 12 and the closest-to-the-optimum cross-country advantage, so he actually had more room to spare than he thought:
The CIC3* riders are show jumping now, with the unofficial US Olympic observation division for the Friday night withdraws to follow. Go eventing.
