Seacookie @ Burghley 2009 (photo via The Amazing Nico Morgan)
After a blip on XC at Burghley, William Fox Pitt chose to retire Seacookie, who has been a bit short on competitions this year, but is not new to the level. WFP explained that he would rather retire and save the old boy for another day rather than run him all the way around the huge Burghley track with a stop on his score. Well, save him for another day he did, and he takes over the lead in the CCI*** at Blenheim easily with a double clear round to move from 5th after dressage into 1st. (Much thanks to the phenomenal, magical Nico Morgan for the picture!!)
Dressage leader Chris Burton and Underdiscussion had a stop at the 23rd fence, and while they were the only pair to have a stop at that particular fence, they were not the only ones to have problems on course. There were 21 pairs to finish with jump penalties, 12 pairs eliminated on course, and 11 pairs retired after encountering problems. Time was very difficult to make, with the majority of riders finishing with double digit time penalties. Only six pairs managed to finish inside of the time, including Canadian Rebecca Howard, leader WFP, and Twitter fiend Francis Whittington.
You can look at the XC fence penalty breakdown on the link below, and find your rider number to match up with where and when they had trouble. Hover over a mark and it will indicate which rider.
[Final XC Scores] [XC Fence Penalties] [XC Course Interactive Map]
North Americans had a mixed day of results, with Rebecca Howard storming around the course to pick up one of only 6 double clear rounds, moving her from 65th place after dressage to 16th going into the show jumping. No doubt she was inspired by her best friend Sinead’s similar flawless round last weekend at Burghley! After a less than stellar Olympics for the Canadians, this has got to feel like sweet redemption for Rebecca. Unfortunately for her teammate Shandiss Wewiora, she had a tumble towards the end of the course at fence 24.
Emily Beshear went clean but a bit slow around her first international cross country course with Here’s To You, who debuted at the CCI4* level this spring at Rolex. She finished with 18.8 time penalties to move down from 15th to 26th, but I bet she’ll be very pleased with Quincy. [Emily Beshear Twitter]
Marilyn Little Meredith had a day she’d probably rather forget, starting with an elimination at fence 25 with RF Rovano Rex, and she ended up retiring RF Smoke on the Water after he took a distinct disliking to fence 16.
Tomorrow morning will be jogs for the CCI3* competitors remaining, and of course that will be followed by show jumping. Only 11.8 penalties seperate the top 10, so it promises to be a nailbiter! Blenheim also features a bareback high jump class, as well as an Eventer high jump challenge, where saddles are permitted.
[Blenheim Twitter] [Blenheim FB] [Saturday Pictures]
Sneak peak at some previous show jumping courses:
http://youtu.be/gBpZq7a23Ac
Clark Montgomery & Loughen Glen’s SJ round last year:
http://youtu.be/5Jt0RKMQWWM
