Lynn Symansky and Donner. Photo by Leslie Wylie.
No afternoon riders could catch the top three morning CCI3* dressage leaders, all of whom hail from the other side of the country. Mackenna Shea and Landioso are well in the lead on a score of 45.2, with Maya Black/Doesn’t Play Fair (50.2) and Katherine Groesbeck/Oz The Tin Man (50.4) in second and third respectively. In case you missed it, check out our lunchtime report here.
Mackenna, Maya and Katy, this one goes out to you guys:
That’s Tupac throwing up a West Coast sign, in case ya didn’t know.
(Sorry, I’ve been wanting to do that all day… now resuming quasi-serious reporter mode.)
Elisa Wallace and Simply Priceless posted the best score of the afternoon riders — a 52 — to claw their way into a tie for fourth place with Erin Sylvester and No Boundaries. Elisa was wiping tears from her eyes as she rode out of the arena to meet her dad, Rick, and later confessed that she started tearing up before she was even done with the test. It’s a rare day in eventing when everything comes together precisely when you need it to the most, but that’s exactly what happened with Elisa and Johnny today. Elisa got the ride on this horse, owned by Jill Hopcroft, in May of last year and says it took some time to earn one another’s respect — at the beginning they weren’t too fond of one another. Since them, clearly, their chemistry has grown as a direct product of time and a lot of hard work, and today’s performance was the culmination of that effort.
I tagged along with Elisa when she walked the cross-country yesterday and she seemed fairly unimpressed by the course’s, uh, magnitude. The power of positive thinking in action: “I’m just going to jump everything perfectly and do all the direct lines and everything is going to be great.” Johnny is a terrific cross-country horse and, whether Elisa bluffing or not, I 100% believe her. Go get ’em, Elisa.
Elisa Wallace and Simply Priceless. Photo by Leslie Wylie.
There are only three competitors in the CIC3* division at Bromont but for Lynn Symansky, the competition is fierce. As Jenni mentioned yesterday, Bromont is the final North American selection trial and it’s critical that Lynn knock some socks off this weekend if she wants to remain a contender for a spot on Team USA. Their performance earned a 49 — not their best test ever but a very respectable effort. I expect them to make tomorrow’s course look like a walk in the park and keep the rails up on Sunday. But will it be enough? It must suck to be a selector.
Lynn Symansky rehashes her test with David O’Connor. Photo by Leslie Wylie.
Jessica Phoenix’s test on Pavarotti had a few bobbles but, man, is that horse cool. He’s got all the right stuff to eventually inherit the best stall in the barn — when they iron out the wrinkles, they’ll be golden.
Jessica Phoenix and Pavarotti. Photo by Leslie Wylie.
I’ve got some videos in the process of uploading at the speed of molasses — so far as I can tell Canada does NOT believe in the internet — so check back for those soon. More on its way, including a recap of the CCI1* and a CCI3* course preview!
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