Buck Davidson and Ballnoecastle RM won the advanced B division
15 of the 19 pairs in the advanced A division withdrew before the cross-country and just three riders finished in that division. Those three heroic pairs are: Sara Kozumplik and Manolo Blahnik with the win, Kristi Nunnink and R-Star, and Holly Payne with Madeline.
Buck Davidson took a big tumble at the water when his first ride of the day, Park Trader, took a huge jump into the water. Buck sat way back but nothing would have saved the situation and Park Trader fell on landing. The horse stepped on Buck’s leg coming away from the fall and everyone watching feared the worse considering the importance of the rest of Buck’s day. This was not the kind of weather that rewarded being soaking wet either. But, Buck is as tough as anyone and he limped back to the barns, dried off, and ultimately rode more horses today than anyone, having great rounds on all of the rest. Buck gets Eventing Nation’s Iron Man award for the day.
Only 8 out of 17 riders in the advanced B division withdrew. Buck took the top two spots with Ballynoecastle RM and Titanium, riding both of them after his fall on Park Trader. Kurt Martin and Woodwork made the course look easy and moved all the way up from 11th after the show jumping to take 3rd. Gina Fiore and Feral Errol finished in fourth. High Society skipped around the course for Doug Payne. That pair is headed to Fair Hill looking great.
There were surprisingly few issues on the advanced course. Running Order and Winning Facts both picked up stops at the drop in the Leaf Pit, Dornin North had a couple of stops, and Buck had the fall but the course rode really well otherwise. In some sense, I think many of the riders who had less experienced horses withdrew because of the footing, leading to a more experienced field on average. A lot of credit has to go to course designer Tremaine Cooper for how well the course rode despite the weather.
Tremaine Cooper told me all weekend that this course would drain well. I had my doubts considering that it has rained 5 out of the last 7 days in Leesburg, Virginia, but Tremaine was 100% right. There were certainly some sticky spots on the takeoff and landing and some completely muddy spots where vehicles had been driving all weekend, but in general the horses were able to jump the course without the footing being a big factor. The riders deserve a lot of credit for taking the time where necessary and I didn’t see a single rider being stupid and gunning for the time all day.
Many of the horses who withdrew today will gallop at home and then be headed to Fair Hill in 10 days. I’ll add video from the advanced when it finished uploading. Go eventing.
