Will Coleman and Tight Lines. Photo by the amazing Shannon Brinkman.
Will Coleman and the Conair Syndicate’s Tight Lines delivered a personal best score this afternoon at the Dutta Corp Fair Hill International to lead the CCI2* on a score of 42.5 at the conclusion of dressage. That score is about 8 points lower than their only other CCI2* appearance at Bromont in June, and Will agreed it’s the best test he’s ever done with the horse.
It’s a testament to the dressage homework he’s been doing with Grand Prix dressage rider Allie Brock, and Will also said his wife, Katie, and his team at home, which Caitlin Silliman recently joined, have been a big help in getting “Phish,” an 8-year-old French Thoroughbred gelding, to his best form yet since being imported last year.
“The horse looks the best he’s ever looked, and I just couldn’t have been happier with him today,” Will said. “We had just two tiny mistakes, but to be honest, I thought he did a great test, and I was really proud of him.”
Derek di Grazia’s CCI2* track is definitely beef, and Will said he thinks the beginning portion of the course could lull riders into a false sense of security. “Everyone probably feels pretty good about the beginning, and then it just builds and builds and builds. Then the last third he’s got two or three very significant questions,” Will said.
“With younger up and coming horses like you’re going to see in the two-star, I think it’s going to be very important that the riders keep their horses on their game when they finish, because Derek is great at building a lot of confidence in you and then tearing it away in a brief moment.” (That comment had us laughing in the press conference, which you can watch here.)
This is definitely a proper two-star championship course, and Will said he thinks it will be a good test. That said, it can’t hurt that he’s sitting on a full Thoroughbred, by Turgeon xx out of Merindole xx, by Tel Quel xx (click here to see the breeding). Phish completed one CCI* in France before Will imported him, and he said it’s taken some time to get the horse to this point in his career.
Will Coleman and Tight Lines. Photo by the amazing Shannon Brinkman.
“He was a bit slow to build muscle and come around, and I think through this summer he has really come full circle and is looking like I think a real horse should,” Will said. “It’s been a patient process, but I’ve had great owners with this horse. They’ve believed in him from the beginning. I told them it was going to take awhile, but I thought he would be a nice horse. Hopefully he’ll continue to prove me right — so far so good. I’m hoping we can keep the good work going this weekend.”
We all know owners are the lifeline of this sport, and the Conair Syndicate especially deserves a shout out today. This is the same group that owned Conair, who died on cross country at The Fork in 2014. But the same group stood behind him after that terrible accident, Will said, keeping the same syndicate name for Phish in memory of “Joey.”
“The credit really goes to the team around me, in particular the owners. It was the same group that was a part of Conair, and after he passed they stepped up to give me a couple horses, and this was one,” Will said. “It’s nice he’s back in the limelight because they were very great and gracious through that horrible tragedy. I’m very happy for them.”
Peter Barry and his own Long Island T led yesterday after the first day of dressage, and they conclude the first phase in second place on a score of 44.5. Phillip Dutton and Z, owned by Tom Tierney, Simon Roosevelt, Jacqueline Mars and Suzanne Lacy, also did their test yesterday and now sit in third place on 45.3.
Allison Springer and Mary Ann Ghadban’s Cascani delivered a lovely test today to sit in fourth on 46.1, and Doug Payne and his own and Kristin Michaloski’s Lysander scored 46.6 yesterday to sit to round out the top five.
Click here for comments from Peter and Phillip from yesterday’s press conference, and be sure to click here to catch up on all of EN’s coverage from #DuttaFHI. CCI2* cross country starts at 9:15 p.m. tomorrow. We’ll be running live cross country updates on EN and tweeting at @eventingnation, and PRO Tour Radio will also be streaming at this link. Go Eventing!
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