Sharon White & Claus 63 Firing on All Cylinders in Great Meadow CCI3*-L

Sharon White and Claus 63. Photo by Shannon Brinkman.

Oh cross country phase of a three-day, how we’ve missed you! But no one missed you more than Sharon White and Claus 63. The overnight leaders after a 29.5 in the first phase, they were all business around David O’Connor’s CCI3*-L track to stay on top of the inaugural division.

“I’m thrilled with my horses. They are lovely horses. I’m always happy with them, but it’s always nice when they end up on top, so hopefully we stay there,” Sharon said.

Cruising around easily, they picked up 1.6 time penalties for a two-day score of 31.1.

“He’s such a fun horse to ride. I feel like he suits me to a t — we’re very, very similar. He’s very studious. He wants to know exactly what the plan is and he has the binder and wants to read through it 80 million times to be prepared, and I’m kind of the same way,” Sharon said. “Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t when you’re that similar to your creature.”

Sharon and Claus have no room for error tomorrow, Ben and Kitty are one tenth of a point on their heels.

“He’s a super show jumper, but that doesn’t mean it will happen tomorrow. I’m very curious, he’s only eight, so my big goal was to see how he dealt with the longer format. I’ll know a lot more about him tomorrow regardless of what happens,” she said. “He’s a super show jumper, so going forward I’ll be grateful to be sitting on this horse on a final day.”

Sharon White and Claus 63 stormed around the cross country to maintain their lead at the Great Meadow International CCI3*-L.

Posted by Horse & Country on Friday, August 21, 2020

The remainder of the leaderboard mirror’s yesterday’s results. Young Rider Benjamin Noonan and his own Keep Kitty, a 9-year-old Hanoverian (King Julio x Hauptstutbuch Emelie), remain in second place. This promising pair remain in second place after a double clear performance.

A double clear run for Kimmy Cecere and Jessica Bortner-Harris’ Bishop de Selah, an 11-year-old Zweibrucker/Thoroughbred (Begat Pfaythe x Slew Dinkum), moved them into third place after cross country. They remain on a score of 33.7.

Katherine Brown and her 7-year-old Hanoverian Carnaby, dropped to fourth with 2.4 time penalties.

The new partnership of Rebecca Brown and Fernhill Fortitude, the former ride of Jenny Caras, are sitting pretty in fifth place on a score of 34.7.

This group will show jump for their final placings beginning at 2:28 pm eastern.

#MARSGMI:WebsiteScheduleLive StreamEntriesRide TimesOrder of GoLive ScoresEN’s Coverage, EN’s TwitterEN’s Instagram