Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
This trio is hard to shake! We have the same top three as yesterday in the Yanmar America Tryon International CCI4*-L, with only a slight change.
Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake added nothing to their dressage score (28.6) to hold onto their lead. Will Faudree and Mama’s Magic Way added just two time penalties to keep their second place slot. Meanwhile, Phillip Dutton swapped horses in the third spot, moving up from eighth with Jewelent, while Denim delivered a solid clear but picked up eight time penalties to drop to eighth.
Caroline and HSH Blake (Tolan R – Doughiska Lass, by Kannan), owned by Mollie Hoff and Sherrie Martin, may be the youngest of our top three but she’s showing that the only number that matters is zero: zero time penalties and zero cross country faults. Despite her previous reservations about the twistiness of the course, she pulled off a double clear round with nine-year-old “Blake,” and was the only rider to cross the finish line inside the time.
Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
“He lost his shoe early on, just like at Kentucky,” Caroline said. “So I was like, ‘Okay, I have to adapt.’ So that’s the cool thing with him, like I could adapt in my head. ‘Okay, I need to go as straight as possible so I can risk not slipping as much,’ and he did not care one bit. So that’s just that’s the coolest thing about him and he was super fit, which I’m also really excited about because I was in Pennsylvania till January 5, and then I moved all the horses down to Florida. So they’re in Florida, January, February, March, and all of April. I’m just excited that I could get them as fit as I wanted to for a course with a lot of terrain.”
“I’ve had Blake since he was [five years old]. When you’ve had them from babies, like King’s Especiale, he’s the same way. It really makes a difference. They just know you inside and out. And I made plenty of mistakes on course, and maybe didn’t give him the perfect ride in some places, but he has my back 200 percent,” Caroline said. “He’s just a trier and yeah, he’s unbelievable. He’s a unicorn.”
Will Faudree and Mama’s Magic Way. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Will Faudree is holding onto his story as somewhat of a “comeback kid” after rerouting to Tryon after withdrawing from the Defender Kentucky Three Day Event CCI5*.
“The time was definitely tough to get. I was pretty down on the clock around the four and the five minute mark,” Will said. “My watch was beeping as I was jumping out of the last water which was about oh, probably eight to 10 seconds down on the clock. I said, okay, got up in my galloping position, gave him a cluck and a kick and he dragged me up the hill. Unfortunately I’m showing my age a little bit because as I did get a bit closer to the last few jumps, I slowed him down. You know, I checked him a couple of times to make sure we jumped the last few fences. But I think if he had had his way and if I was 20 years younger, I probably would have been a bit riskier and could have maybe gotten the time.”
Will Faudree and Mama’s Magic Way. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
He and Mama’s Magic Way (Mighty Magic – Straightaway, by Star Regent xx), owned by Jennifer Mosing, need Caroline to drop just one rail to shoot them into first place. Let’s not forget how influential just one rail can be, after Tamie Smith had one rail that dropped her from first into seventh place in the 4*-S yesterday.
“I’ve been getting some help with Lauren Hough this year, which has been just phenomenally helpful. He’s a good jumper and I’ve just got to help him jump cleanly and keep him really soft. He loves to jump and he loves to get there, which makes him such a great cross country horse. Plus, I can get a little aggressive so I’m just going to have to be on my game and we’ll go ahead and do the best we can,” Will said.
Phillip Dutton and Jewelent. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Phillip Dutton swapped out Denim for Jewelent, as eight time penalties dropped Denim from third to sixth place. Jewelent (Valent – Bellaney Jewel, by Roselier), owned by the Jewelent Group, is a 2012 Irish Sport Horse gelding who may now be best known for patiently waiting for Phillip to get back in the saddle in a miraculous save in the Cosequin Lexington 4* at the Kentucky Horse Park just last month. Luckily, Phillip and Jewelent had a clean, straightforward ride across the country today.
“Jewelent is quite experienced which gave me the confidence to set out pretty quick and he finished well within himself. I feel like I’m getting to know him and form a good partnership,” Phillip said.
Now, Jewelent is flying around Tryon -– literally. This gray gelding was the horse closest to the time, outside of HSH Blake, with only 1.6 time penalties. According to Phillip, “The time is always hard to get at Tryon. The terrain and constant up and down makes it difficult to keep a fast pace. I tried to be efficient with good tight turns and making the round as nice for my horse as possible.”
Out of 25 attempts, 21 riders completed the 6,200 meter course designed by Great Britain’s Helen West with assistance from Captain Mark Phillips. As previously mentioned, only one horse (Caroline and HSH Blake) made the optimum time, while three came within three seconds of it: Will Faudree and Mama’s Magic Way, Phillip Dutton and Jewelent, and Julie Wolfert and SSH Playboy.
As predicted by Will in yesterday’s report, the question that caused the most trouble was the half-coffin combination at 16AB, which racked up three refusals, but he said it didn’t give him and “Mason” too much of a hard time.
Phillip Dutton and Possante. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
“That’s where I was down on my minutes,” said Will. “I galloped into that field and jumped that big brush corner and– he’s not a strong horse and he goes in a French-link snaffle– and so I galloped till I was pretty close to it. And then he came right back to me and he was like, ‘Oh. That’s weird.’ It made him look, but then he just popped it and then jumped across the ditch and onward.”
In the CCI4*-S, Colleen Loach took the win with FE Golden Eye (Goldfever 3 x Cascade, by Contendro I), owned by the rider, Peter Barry, and Amanda Bernhard. This is another pair fresh off the Cosequin Lexington 4*-S at the Kentucky Horse Park, where 14 time penalties and a refusal or run out placed them in 25th. Today, they put together a smooth cross country round with no obstacle faults and 14 time penalties. Out of the 15 pairs who completed the course, Colleen and FE Golden Eye were closest to making the time.
“It was the best ride I’ve ever had on him. He was nice and forward, I came out of the box very determined, which helped him be determined, too. I didn’t have a bad jump on him,” Colleen said. “Historically, we’re not a fast combination, although we’ve been working on it. But I came out in the right mindset, which helped him be in the right mindset. His advantage is that in the combinations he backs himself off a little bit, so I didn’t have to check him too much. I was very efficient in the lines and the turns. I thought it all rode like it walked for me, pretty much anyways. They were challenging questions but in a fair way, I thought Helen did a good job.”
Liz Halliday and Cooley Quicksilver. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
While tomorrow the 4*-L, 3*-L, and 2*-L will wrap up the weekend with the show jumping phase, the 4*-S, 3*-S, and 2*-S get to end the weekend early. Spectators take note, the 2*-L will kick off the day in the stadium, so 4*-L will actually begin at 11:40 a.m., followed by the 3*-L. Stay tuned to Eventing Nation for the final report of the weekend tomorrow.
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