Congratulations to Mara Depuy and Alimit who led from start to finish in Open Prelim 1 at Pine Top
Congrats to Boyd Martin (?) above on FYI, for possibly having the unhealthiest diet of any rider on the circuit; this was him right before he jumped on Steady Eddie to go cross country, although in his defence I did hear him mumbling something about meeting up with Peter Barry and working on their core strength together later this week, it was just difficult to understand with a mouthfull of Dunkin’Donut!
All the final results are here
Second to Mara in Open Prelim 1: Will Faudree and Riesling de Bussy
With the first horse on course at 9am this morning it was a very civilised start to the day, and Leo and I were happy to walk the course with Tiffany Cunningham and her dog Remi. Although Tiffany is down here in Aiken for the winter she hails from Boston and showed me pictures her girls had sent her from the barn at home – I feel for everyone up north trudging on in the snow, you have my utmost admiration. Like the intermediate course on Friday, the prelim track was a decent test with plenty of questions. Tiffany didn’t tell my anything all the other riders haven’t been telling me all weekend – she was full of praise for the course and Pine Top as an event generally, pointing out that she especially appreciated the completely separate tracks for each division of cross country. I also noticed every jump used those slightly flexible, man-made poles (not wooden ones) marked red and white at each side, and that at any slightly narrow fence, or a jump where there was even a chance of a horse catching one ie. angles, or drops, they didn’t put the triangular flags on top at all, just used the coloured poles.
Susan Beebee and Uptown Higgins
I only saw a handful of rides this morning as I was anxious to get on the road back to Kentucky to have dinner with my kids but standing near the second water I could see horses starting their course, and then heading out to the last third of it. I noticed a couple of things; I’m certainly no speed demon on cross country, (my father always told me I lacked ‘the killer instinct’?!) but those that set out positively and somewhat aggressively without being ridiculously fast or crazy inevitably had better rides than those who you could tell were purposely trying to give their horses a nice, schooling ride. Those that attacked the course had a better rhythm and seemed to meet the fences better than a few riders who were obviously out to have a nice first run of the year and take it easy,but kept arriving at the jumps slightly underpowered, or their horses began to look a bit bewildered.
Andrew McConnon and Fernhill Tic Tac
Also out of probably twenty horses that I watched, Phillip Dutton was perhaps one of slowest as far as pace was concerned but turning from the double at 4A and B to the fence above he must have shaved 5 seconds off everyone else’s line, the difference was that stark. Perhaps riders weren’t thinking about making time so early in the season, or at a regular horse trial but I don’t think Phillip ever stops thinking like an elite rider, it just comes naturally. Unfortunately his horse Kilkenny misread the jump with a roof over the top later in the course and practically demolished it having looked spectacular up until then, but luckily both horse and rider are fine.
Caitlin Romeo and Nordic Star
Lillian Heard and Share Option
Mary Macklin and Mahogany Beauteo
Thank you as always for making EN a part of your day, and thank you Pine Top for a wonderful weekend, I look forward to returning for the Advanced in a couple of weeks time. NB I will definitely be taking the Lexington Knoxville Chattanooga Atlanta Thomson route, not the five state circular trip my iphone map brought me on the way down/round! “But Asheville is so beautiful, and the mountains are such a pretty drive!” protested commentator Nico Morgan when I told him how long it took me to arrive; NOT in the pouring rain and fog stuck behind a semi-trailer going 40mph, never again! Go highway all the way and go eventing!
