James Alliston and Nemesis. Photo by Ride On Photo.
A James Alliston one-two in the CCI4*-S and Molly Duda’s first career FEI victory in the CCI3*-S highlighted the conclusion of the FEI short-format competition at the Twin Rivers Spring International in Paso Robles, California, on Saturday. Also, Rebecca Braitling and Caravaggio II produced a classy cross-country round to win the Advanced level, and Camille Brewer and Cooley Rock Star won the CCI2*-S by just two-tenths of a point.
Alliston was using Twin Rivers as the final runs for Nemesis and Karma before heading to the prestigious Land Rover Kentucky-Three Day Event at the end of the month. Twin Rivers has been his final prep before his last six trips to Kentucky as well. Nemesis (Novalis 46 x Maesy) won the CCI4*-S at Twin Rivers in 2023 by adding just 0.8 time penalties on cross-country for a finishing score of 30.0. The chestnut Canadian Warmblood gelding was third in the CCI4*-S in Kentucky in 2022 and will be aiming for his first CCI5*-L in Lexington in 2023.
Bec Braitling and Caravaggio II. Photo by Ride On Photo.
Karma (Escudo II x Travita) finished five seconds under optimum time—and were the only pair in the field of six to do so—on Morgan Rowsell’s four-star cross-country course to take second in the CCI4*-S at Twin Rivers with a score of 39.2.
“I feel good about the preparation obviously,” Alliston said. “I don’t want to put too many expectations on how competitive I think I’ll be with a young horse, and it’s been a while for me personally. It’s whole ’nother world out there with the world’s best obviously. So, I’m happy with how it went this weekend, and hopefully that can be a springboard to a good performance there.”
Both Nemesis and Karma will be the youngest for their respective levels in Kentucky, and it will be reminiscent of Alliston’s first time there in 2011 when he and the 9-year-old Thoroughbred gelding Parker (Marquetry x Hello Mom) finished 14th out of 45 in 2011.
“It seems a bit aggressive, but I feel like you have a small window with these horses where they’re going well and healthy and everything,” Alliston said.
Also headed to Kentucky out of Twin Rivers’ CCI4*-S will be Tamie Smith and Elliot V (Zavall VDL x Vera-R), a 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by the Elliot V Partnership. They were third with a score of 40.5.
Molly Duda and Disco Traveler. Photo by Ride On Photo.
Karma (Escudo II x Travita) finished five seconds under optimum time—and were the only pair in the field of six to do so—on Morgan Rowsell’s four-star cross-country course to take second in the CCI4*-S at Twin Rivers with a score of 39.2.
In the CCI3*-S, Duda’s victory on Disco Traveler (Donatelli x Cadence), a 14-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding, was the first in international competition for the 18-year-old rider from Menlo Park, California. Duda and Disco Traveler were coming off a victory in their move-up to Intermediate at the Galway Downs International H.T. in March. At Twin, they were the only pair in the field of 17 to finish on their dressage score—33.7. They were just one of two to go double-clear on cross-country on Saturday.
“This weekend was absolutely incredible,” Duda said. “Disco gave me his all and took care of me in all three phases. I think what makes our partnership special is that we have so much mutual trust, and we just love working together. I’ve been riding him for about two years now, and he took me all the way from Training level to my first Intermediate, and now my first FEI win. I’m so excited to continue building our partnership this season and see how far we can go together.”
Camille Brewer and Cooley Rock Star. Photo by Ride On Photo.
At Advanced, Braitling and Caravaggio II, a 12-year-old British Sport Horse gelding owned by Arnell Sporthorses, continued their streak of never having a cross-country jump fault in the 29 events they’ve completed since they started competing together in 2019.
In the CCI2*-S, Camille Brewer and Cooley Rock Star (O.B.O.S. Quality x Farna), a 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding, won with a score of 29.2. They were first after dressage with a score of 28.0, dropped to second after show jumping when they added 1.2 time penalties, and regained the top-spot after a double-clear cross-country round.
FEI competition at the 2023 Twin Rivers Spring International will conclude on Sunday with show jumping for the CCI3*-L, which is the first Selection Trial of 2023 for the U.S. team that will compete at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, at the end of October. Other FEI levels that will crown their winners on Sunday will be the CCI2*-L and the first CCI1*-L in the history of Twin Rivers Ranch.
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