Tamie Smith and Glock Pullman Make a Statement at Twin Rivers

Tamie Smith and Glock Pullman. Photo by Ellie Leonard Photography.

Tamie Smith and Lucida LLC’s Glock Pullman were the only pair in the Advanced division at Twin Rivers to finish the weekend on their dressage score, putting together a flawless weekend in their Advanced debut to take home the win.

Show jumping proved to be quite influential today, with just two pairs turning in fault-free rounds: Tamie and Glock Pullman and Andrea Baxter with Indy 500. Rails and time penalties were prevalent for the remaining pairs, which resulted in one last shuffle for the top spots on the final leaderboard.

Leaders after two phases, Frankie Thieriot Stutes and Chatwin rode a clear round with five time penalties to drop into second place on a finishing score of 30.4, a very solid weekend for this pair in their fourth start at the Advanced or three-star level. Fun fact: Chatwin has yet to finish outside of the top three in two Advanced and two CIC3* events. Talk about consistency!

Moving up a spot with just one rail down are Hawley Bennett-Awad and Jollybo. Hawley and the 12-year-old British Sport Horse mare have been getting along quite well since beginning their partnership last summer, and this weekend will give them the final qualification needed per Canadian rules for their CCI4* debut in Kentucky. Hawley next heads east to finish her prep for the Big R with coach Buck Davidson.

“It was a super course, it was just a true jumper course, you have to be able to jump and turn and it rewarded the people who could,” Hawley said. “Jollybo was awesome on the flat, I was really happy with her. I thought she did a better test than two weekends ago (at Fresno). I had a good chat with the judge after to get some pointers for Rolex; she’s so obedient and quiet and I need to make her more flashy — I hope the atmosphere will help her in the ring in Kentucky. I want to be competitive when I go there, that’s the goal.”

“For cross country, my plan was to go and have a positive run, and she didn’t put a foot wrong. Today in show jumping, I was really pleased, we just had an unlucky rail. But we’re looking forward to three days with Silvio (Mazzoni) and a day with Susie (Hutchison) before heading out to Buck Davidson’s.”

James Alliston and RevitaVet Elijah. Photo by Ellie Leonard Photography.

Sitting in second overnight, James Alliston and RevitaVet Elijah unfortunately picked up eight jump penalties and some time to finish their weekend in fourth place. A final finishing score of 37.2 and another newly minted Advanced horse for the Alliston camp — and a win in the Intermediate for James with Happenstance — still makes for a very successful weekend for this pair.

Heather Morris and Charlie Tango. Photo by Ellie Leonard Photography.

Completing the top five in the Advanced are Heather Morris and Charlie Tango, who moved up one spot with two time penalties to finish on a 40.4. Heather moved The Team Express Group LLC’s Charlie Tango up to Advanced last spring and will be looking to build on his solid results as we look ahead to the rest of the spring season here on the West coast.

James Alliston and Happenstance. Photo by Ellie Leonard Photography.

And in the Intermediate division, as mentioned earlier it was James Alliston and Happenstance who took home the blue on a final score of 27.6. Mary McKee’s Holsteiner gelding laid down a fault-free round to move up to take the win after holding second place overnight. Overnight leaders Derek di Grazia and Ringwood Justice added a single rail to their score for second place overall on a score of 28.8.

Emilee Libby capped off a great weekend with Linda Libby’s Jakobi, an 8-year-old Belgian Warmblood who just stepped up to this level last fall. Jakobi has been solid since moving up, finishing in the top five in three out of four starts at the level.

The season out here continues in full swing and we look ahead to Copper Meadows and Galway Downs coming up later this month. Keep refreshing this post for photos from today, and stay tuned for a Twin Rivers edition of Who Jumped It Best?

Twin Rivers Winter H.T. [Website] [Scores]

Please enjoy this gallery from Ellie Leonard Photography from the Advanced and Intermediate show jumping: