Liz Halliday and Miks Master C. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Time proved to be a determining factor, as it often is here at the Kentucky Horse Park, on the Jay Hambly-designed Adequan Advanced Championship cross country this morning to kick off Thursday at the USEA American Eventing Championships, presented by Nutrena Feeds. Liz Halliday left the start box with the goal of letting Miks Master C, owned by Ocala Horse Properties and Deborah Palmer, gallop within himself, but without taking any unnecessary risks. She had about 11 seconds of time in hand to hold her lead, and she needed just 8 of them to cross the finish flags, putting her on a score of 26.3 with a rail in hand to win the whole shebang tomorrow evening.
“He’s amazing,” Liz said after her ride. “He’s an amazing horse. He made everything feel very easy. He was with me the whole way. I got a little bit of a head of steam on me at the end -— I had a little moment when some people ran in front of me in front of a jump -— so I actually slowed him up a bit at the end. I think I would have made time otherwise.”
Liz Halliday and Miks Master C. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Indeed, it’s a good reminder to keep an eye out when a track isn’t roped, though a few things contributed to the perfect storm as Liz neared the fourth fence from home, a big table on top of the hill. After the preceding rider had some trouble on course, Liz found herself right on her heels and came to this fence quicker than anticipated. Without a whistle warning, some spectators were in the path of the fence. It’s tricky — I found myself being overly cautious all morning as the whistles were infrequent and the horses were coming quickly. Liz and Mikki gave the table a hard rub and had to then reorganize strongly down the hill to the final combination.
Nonetheless, this run ticks the preparation box, as Liz and the 11-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding by Mighty Magic are headed for the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile in October. “I think it will be a great opportunity to ride around [a course by] the course designer from the Olympics with him because I hope he’s my Olympic horse,” Liz said. “Mikki’s done a lot of amazing, big things in the last year, and it will be nice to be in a championship situation but not put a gun to his head at the big level. I think it will be really useful for him ahead of next year.”
Phillip Dutton and Z. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Phillip Dutton delivered three quick and clear cross country trips today, moving up into second and third with Z (31.5) and Azure (32.0), respectively.
Z (Asca Z – Bella Bouche B by Babouche vh Gehucht Z), the most experienced of the bunch, is preparing for the 5* at Pau this fall. He added four time penalties to his mark for a two-phase score of 31.5.
“He’s such a professional cross country horse,” Phillip said of Z, who is owned by Evie Dutton, Ann Jones, Suzanne Lacy, Caroline Moran, Tom Tierney, David and Patricia Vos. “And, you know, it’s his first run since Aachen and I was wanting to be competitive, but I didn’t want go to 100%. So it’s a little hard — I didn’t measure the course, didn’t know where the minute markers were, I just sort of stuck to the speed that I thought was efficient and competitive and ended up a little bit over eight seconds. But he didn’t have a bad fence. It was really such a pleasure to ride cross country — once I get him in the start box!”
Phillip Dutton and Azure. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Azure (Omar – Cavalier Roselier, by Cavalier Royale), a ride acquired after being previously campaigned by Ireland’s Esib Power, is showing a lot of promise for Phillip as she continues to gain experience. Connected to Phillip via Fernhill Sporthorses’ Carol Gee, Azure had already competed at the Advanced level when he took the reins. Here, he gives much credit to Esib for the foundational work she put in with the mare, who is 11 this year. Azure is owned by Anne, Caroline, and Michael Moran.
“She’s very speedy,” Phillip said. “That was her first round since Bromont, but she did it well within herself. It wasn’t that hard on her. She’s a real genuine galloping, what I would think would be a five-star horse.”
“I haven’t done much with her cross country, Esib did a great job,” he continued. “It’s very rare you buy a horse and the first time you go cross country, it feels like your horse, you know, and that was right from day one. I’m not saying that I don’t school her a bit because she still needs that but she’s just natural at it and was produced well before that in that phase.”
Phillip’s third horse, Denim, owned by Ann Lapides, Caroline Moran, and Neill Sites, also delivered a clear round in the Advanced, preparing for his first overseas trip to the Nations Cup leg at Boekelo (Netherlands) in October.
Leah Lang Gluscic and AP Prime. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Just two pairs caught the optimum time of 6 minutes, 56 seconds: Phillip and Azure and Leah Lang-Gluscic and the OTTB AP Prime, who at 18 years young still relishes a big, beefy cross country track and leapt from 22nd to sit seventh overnight as a result. Canada’s Karl Slezak and Hot Bobo, who have emerged as one of the top pairs for the Canadians this year, came very close with just one second of time in a top-class round that moved them up from 14th into fifth place.
Will Coleman and Off the Record. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Will Coleman and the Off the Record Syndicate’s Off the Record enjoyed a nice romp in preparation for Pau, collecting a few time penalties to finish the day in fourth place.
Karl Slezak and Hot Bobo. Photo by Sally Spickard.
The Advanced track rode well for the majority of riders, though there were some issues scattered throughout.
The day is far from over, as we have cross country running for the Training divisions, dressage for the Novice riders, and show jumping for Preliminary, Modified and Intermediate, which will jump under the lights this evening in Rolex Stadium. We’ll be back later on with more news from #AEC2023! Thanks for following along, and be sure to also follow the USEA as they’ve got a full team covering all divisions here this week.
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