Saturday,
March 18 - Cross Country Day
To
say that Phillip Dutton, America's favorite Australian, dominated the Advanced
Division on Cross Country Day at the Southern Pines Horse Trials would be an understatement!
Phillip maintained his overnight lead with Mrs. 
Nina
Gardner's House Doctor by completing the pair's run over the John Williams designed
course 11 seconds over the time allowed for 4.4 faults and a two day score of
36.1. (Phillip and House Doctor are pictured at the right jumping onto the
island in the water.)
Phillip
is also in second place riding Hannigan who actually was four seconds faster than
House Doctor to add a mere 2.8 time faults to his Dressage score for 37.4 score
for the two days.
Just
to put a little icing on the cake Phillip and Amazing Odyssey ran a double clear
Cross Country to add nothing to their mediocre Dressage score of 49.6 for sixth
place.
Becky
Holder, who is escaping the winter's snow of this week in her home state of Minnesota,
had a good run with the attractive gray Courageous Comet for a score of 45.0,
which included 10.8 time faults.
John
Williams and Sloopy picked up 14.4 time faults over the course he ha
d
designed, to slip into fourth place on a score of 47.7.
Boyd
Martin, the new Aussie in town, took a scenic tour of the pine woods to
pick up 34.8 time faults and finish in 10th place on a two day score of 72.3.
Considering his horse Ying Yang Yo has only been on American soil for two weeks
a nice easy run seemed perfectly in order. (Boyd and Ying Yang Yo are pictured
at the left jumping into the water.)
The
water complex for Advanced consisted of a drop into water; a jump onto and then
off an island; a step out of the second part of the water and finally a ninety
degree right hand turn to a medium size corner. Well, the corner caused all sorts
of problems! Firstly, it was flagged so that it could only be jumped on the left
hand side. Two competitors jumped it
on the right side, (including Holly Hepp and Damien, who could have been competitive)
and were immediately eliminated. Others had run outs to the left which put them
out of contention. The latter group included Will Faudree and Don't Dali, who
was having absolutely no part of the corner and ran out three times. That corner
was the most influential fence on the Advanced course.
Although
Christy Price had 2.0 time faults on the Intermediate Cross Country in a Division
in which three of the top six finishers ran double clears, her over all score
of 36.8 with Barber's Berber was good for first place 1/10 of a fault to the good
of Phillip Dutton and the chestnut Happy as Larry who covers the flat better than
he jumps at this stage of his career. (- but stay tuned!) (Christy Price and
Barber's Berber are pictured at the right above.)
Nate
Chambers stands third, with Rolling Stone II, .8 of a fault adrift of the leaders.
Sunday's Show Jumping will be exceptionally influential in this Divisionwhere
one rail separates the top four placings.
John Williams still leads Preliminary
"A" with Sweepea Dean who ran a double clear Cross Country to maintain
his overnight lead. Others in the Section who also ran double clears were William
Coleman and K du Manoir, Charles Plumb and Westerly, and Kim Severson and Tipperary
Liadhnan. Final results were not available at Press Time.
Available
Results After Cross Country:
Advanced:
1.
Phillip Dutton, House
Doctor 36.1 (4.4 time XC)
2. Phillip Dutton, Hannigan - 37.4 (2.8 time
XC)
3. Becky Holder, Courageous Comet - 45 .0 (10.8 time XC)
4.
John Williams, Sloopy - 47.7 (14.4 time XC)
5. Kurt Martin, Wood
Work - 48.1 (5.6 time XC)
6. Phillip Dutton, Amazing Odyssey - 49.6
(DCXC)
Intermediate:
1.
Christy Price, Barber's
Berber - 36.8 (2.0 time XC)
2. Phillip Dutton, Happy as Larry - 36.9
(DCXC)
3. Nate Chambers, Rolling Stone II - 37.5 (4.0 time XC)
4.
Carol Kozlowski, Take Time - 40.9 (1.6 time XC)
5. Ashley Brown,
Patmos Bentley - 42.8 (DCXC)
6. Ashley Adams, Vaunted - 43.5 (DCXC)
