Lillian heard Wood and Dassett Olympus. Photo by Abby Powell.
Friday at the MARS Bromont CCI brought picturesque skies and a few shifts in the standings after the conclusion of dressage for all divisions.
The top two placings in the CCI4*-L remain unchanged, with Canada’s Colleen Loach aboard her own and Amanda Bernhardt’s FE Golden Eye sitting pretty in first place on a score of 27.6, followed by Lillian Heard Wood aboard Steve Berkowitz’s Chilly on a 29.2. Lillian earned another sub-30 scoring test aboard her second ride in this division, Dassett Olympus, who delivered a lovely relaxed test to sit just 0.2 penalty points behind his stablemate on the leaderboard.
We caught up with Lillian today about both her 4*-L rides. She was understandably thrilled with Chilly, an Oklahoma-bred off-the-track Thoroughbred (Zanjero xx – Tax Rob xx, by Artax xx) who raced under the Jockey Club name Ladron, and is making his debut at the 4*-L level. Now eleven years old, Chilly missed some time competing due to battling and recovering from a mysterious illness which nearly killed him.
“It was a was a really nice test and a nice feeling to sort of start the weekend off,” Lilian said. “He’s actually pretty green and a Thoroughbred, but he’s so rideable and he’s got such rhythm and cadence and he does exactly what I tell him to do, when I tell him to do it.”
The second last of the division to ride their test today, Lillian and Dassett Olympus, owned by herself and Debby Greenspan, slotted nicely into third place thanks to a lovely relaxed test from the 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse (Lancelot – Cushlamochree, by Cruising). Despite having more experience at this level than his stablemate — this will be a fourth 4*-L start for “Troy” — skittish tendencies have kept the gelding from earning top marks in the past.
Lillian Heard Wood and Dassett Olympus. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Bromont boasts two beautiful competition rings separated by a grassy berm — a perfect vantage point for spectators. In his past few trips to Bromont, however, Troy has been spooked by the onlookers above him. This time, Lillian found a solution.
“Over the last couple of days during ring familiarization I had my girls come and walk from the top of the hill down and give him handfuls of grass until he sort of understood that people are allowed to be up there,” Lillian said. “And then when I was in the ring he didn’t see then at all! So I was like, okay, that worked!”
It truly did work — Troy’s test was focused and relaxed, earning him a personal best dressage mark at the 4*-L level and a second best out of all their FEI starts together.
Overall, Lillian sings the praises of both her mount’s rideability: “They might not be the biggest movers, but they are so obedient. It really helps. That doesn’t really get you far at the lower levels, like, you’re not gonna win a two-star test with that, but when you get up to the four-star obedience is pretty critical.”
Lindsay Traisnel and Bacyrouge. Photo by Abby Powell.
Rounding out the rest of the top five and making the only other move into the very top placings of the 4*-L today were last year’s reserve champions of this division, Canada’s own Lindsay Traisnel and Patricia Pearce’s Bacyrouge. Lindsay and “Dreamy” shaved 2.2 penalty points off their mark here last year and sit in equal fourth place with Jennie Jarnstrom-Dennis and Flower Girl on a score of 31.0.
Boyd Martin and On Cue. Photo by Abby Powell.
The small but mighty CCI4*-S division got underway this afternoon with all six pairs completing theirs test today. Coming out on top are the inaugural Maryland 5-Star winners Boyd Martin and On Cue, who look like they haven’t missed a beat after sitting out last season while the mare recovered from a strained tendon.
“It’s good to have Cue back in the game,” Boyd said. “She had a nice easy stroll around Tryon a few weeks ago and then I’m slowly just sort of getting her fitness back and getting her back to the top level of the sport.”
Could Burghley or a return to the Maryland 5-Star be in the cards for this mare? Boyd hopes so, but his first line of business is to get her fit and strong.
“First things first, we just gotta get a couple of runs under our belt and I selected Bromont because it’s always great footing and good courses. We’ll see how she comes through after this and make a plan after this weekend. She feels just happy and strong and her body feels rejuvenated and she just loves it.”
Lauren Nicholson and Landmarks Jungle Gold. Photo by Cealy Tetley Photography.
In the CCI3*-L division, Lauren Nicholson remained unchallenged to retain the lead she picked up on Thursday with Ms. Jacqueline Mars’ Larcot Z, but she did hit the leaderboard again on her second ride, Landmark’s Jungle’s Gold (Diarado – Jungle Tale, by Cougar).
The 8-year-old homebred of Ms. Mars won the 7-year-old Young Horse 3*-S at Morven Park in 2022 and this year will make his debut at the 3*-L level. His score of 30.2, though a tick higher than previous scores at the level, will put this pair into third position overnight, though if Lauren prioritizes education Saturday some time is likely to drop them down.
Boyd Martin and Asti’s Charming. Photo by Cealy Tetley Photography.
Boyd Martin usurped Phillip Dutton from the top of the CCI2*-L leaderboard with Catie and Alex Boone’s Asti’s Charming (Asti’s Amsterdam – Atlantis C, by Landjonker). This 10-year-old Hanoverian gelding only just began his eventing career in 2022 after originating in a show jumping program. After the gelding was sent to Boyd for some cross-training, he quickly knew he wanted to try out an eventing career with the horse.
“He hasn’t been eventing very long,” Boyd said. “He’s done a lot of show jumping with his owner Catie Boone, and Catie and her family have been great supporters of some of my top event horses. Catie originally purchased him as a show jumper after working with him in Holland, and after working with him for a bit she sent him to me, to make him a little bit braver by training some cross country on him. I quickly rang her back and told her how brilliant the horse was for me in the dressage and loves the cross country. And she said, ‘Hold on to him for a while and let’s see where he goes.’ So I’m very, very grateful to Alex and Catie and the whole Boone Family. They’ve owned bits and pieces of horses over the years, such as Blackfoot Mystery, Pancho Villa, Barney Rubble, Luke 140.”
Boyd describes “Charm” as a spookier type, but credits that extra pizazz with boosting his extravagance in the ring. “It’s amazing to me how brilliant this horse is on the flat considering his show jumping background,” he elaborated. “Usually the horses that have changed careers really struggle in the dressage just because it’s such a different system of flat work, from show jumping flat work to pure dressage. Charm’s absolutely brilliant, he’s got flamboyant paces — his spookiness actually just increases his extravagance in the ring.”
Stay tuned for such more from north of the border this weekend. We’ll have a course walk of Derek di Grazia’s beefy 4*-L headed your way ahead of tomorrow’s cross country.
MARS Bromont CCI (Lac Brome, Quebec, Canada) [Website] [Schedule] [Entries] [Volunteer] [Live Scoring] [EN’s Form Guide] [EN’s Coverage]
