Tamie Smith and Chatwin. Photo courtesy of Vanessa Hughes / Lady Photographic.
Tamie Smith is having herself a heck of a weekend — a year, at that — and she closed out her day in the CCI2* at Galway Downs with a handy victory aboard The Chatwin Group’s Chatwin. This has been a new ride for Tamie this summer and fall while usual rider Frankie Thieriot was on maternity leave, and she closed her partnership out with a bang today.
Marc Donovan’s course was once again tricky in the CCI2* as it was in the CCI1*, although just about half of the field jumped double clear. Tamie did not have a rail in hand for her round after Marilyn Little jumped double clear as well aboard RF Overdressed.
Tamie Smith and Chatwin. Photo by Vanessa Hughes / Lady Photographic.
She needed no cushion, though, as she and Chatwin jumped a beautiful round and left all of the rails in tact to finish the weekend on their dressage score of 41.5. As we said before, this is Chatwin’s first CCI2*, and he’s typically a good jumper both across country and in the show jumping.
Chatwin will now return home to Frankie and we’ll look forward to seeing him back out in the spring. He’s just 7 years old, so once again we’ve got a really exciting horse to keep an eye on.
Marilyn Little and RF Overdressed also finished on their dressage score of 42.7. This is another gorgeous mover on Marilyn’s string, and while his weekend ended early at Fair Hill he certainly got what he came for today. This horse has been a consistent performer at the two-star level and moved up to Advanced this year.
Marilyn Little and RF Overdressed. Photo courtesy of Vanessa Hudgens / Lady Photographic.
Jon Holling and Kildalton Cooley also ended their weekend on a high note, finishing on a three day score of 55.6. I’ve really enjoyed watching this horse all weekend and am really excited to see more. This is his first completion at the CCI2* level and his highest FEI placing to date, surely a sign of things to come. Looks like you got yourself a good one, Jon!
Jon Holling and Kildalton Cooley. Photo courtesy of Vanessa Hughes / Lady Photographic.
Amber Levine and Carry On are another pair I really enjoyed this weekend — especially out on cross country. This pair absolutely tore up the track yesterday and when they came through the arena they were still guns blazing as they neared the end of the course. Carry On had enough in the tank to leave the rails up today as well, finishing on a final score of 59.2 for fourth place.
And rounding out the CCI2* top five are Sara Sellmer and TF Kreisler, who moved up from 12th after dressage to finish in fifth overall. Remember, the time was difficult yesterday and Sara turned one of the quickest of the day with just two seconds of time. She did lower one rail today, but she should still be pleased with her weekend. This is also the first CCI2* for this Canadian pair and they’ve had a solid year at the Intermediate level this year.
We’re all set to kick off the grand finale, the CCI3* in just about 20 minutes time so stay tuned for the full report as well as more photos from the CCI2*!
