Jimmie Schramm and Bellamy Power Rule were all smiles after crossing the finish line
The one star course at Red Hills rode beautifully. The riders were doing a great job of managing their horses in general and only one out of 14 one-star starters collected jumping penalties. As usual, the time was tough to make and only *four riders finished on double-clears. Jacob Fletcher made the course look easy as the first rider out. Ex-steeple chase rider Danny Warrington showed good stickability jumping into the corner complex but finished with just two seconds of time penalties on Will Smith. The top five places remain unchanged going into the show jumping.
CIC* XC Results:
1. Jimmie Schramm and Bellany +0.0 46.0
2. Danny Warrington and Will Smith +0.4 49.3
3. Nicole Parkin and Shotgun Express +0.0 50.9
4. Adrian Jones and Irish Odyssey +0.0 52.5
5. Jenny Caras and Fernhill Stowaway +2.4 55.2
–The one star and preliminary horses have been finishing the course full of energy and spunk–a great testament to good fitness work by the riders and also a good sign for the upper level divisions still to come.
—What do Heather Gillette and Kobe Bryant have in common? Both of them are competing in face masks right now. Heather made the preliminary course look easy this morning despite wearing what must be a very distracting plastic face mask on the entire upper half of her face after being recently kicked in the face by a horse. With true eventer toughness Heather is gutting it out this weekend.
–Having had a chance to walk around the course a couple of times, the advanced/3* course strikes me as a little more mild than past years. Hugh Lochore and his team have done a fantastic job making a really quality course. There have been a few complaints from the riders about uneven footing particularly at the end of the course, but there is only so much that can be done with the ground here at Red Hills and the footing seems to get a little better every year.
–The weather was perfect for cross-country in the one-star and preliminary divisions with highs in the 70’s, a cool breeze, and low humidity. A cloudless sky does provide for some trappy shadows in the woods. In particular, advanced jumps 24/25 blend in with the grass background when they are cast in scattered shadows. Randy Ward took a tumble at the preliminary version of these jumps–horse and rider were fine.
—Major props to announcers John Kyle and Nigel Casserly for doing a great job of keeping us apprised of all of the action with their dulcet tones. I can’t emphasize enough that good announcers make for a much better spectator experience and the crowd is loving John and Nigel here today. I have to laugh every time Nigel says that the sponsor tent includes refreshments such as “Budweiser Light.”
–Good luck to all of the competitors still to ride at Red Hills and all around Eventing Nation today. Thanks to all of the volunteers out here at Red Hills for making this weekend possible and thanks to the organizers for putting on a great event, as always.
The preliminary divisions are just finishing up and after a quick lunch break the marquee three-star division begins at 12:12pm ET. Go Cats. Go eventing.
