Soggy Rolex washes away some hopes, raises others

Michael Etherington Smith's course was a big one, described as "relentless" by some riders. It featured seven corners, and lots of narrow-faced jumps, and it came out swinging with its first big question, a huge corner, at fence four. It was a true four-star, and a proper test to choose our team for the World Equestrian Games in Spain this fall.

Things brightened considerable when veteran Bruce Davidson came roaring out of the box on the beautiful white Apparition. It was the first of three rides for Davidson, and throughout the day he gave an amazing display of how to ride cross-country. Apparition seemed to float above the jumps, and Davidson didn't miss a step. He flew home without jumping or time penalties to go double-clear.

Two horses later David O'Connor came out on The Native. The horse petered out at the corner in the Head of the Lake, which was proving to be a more influential fence than suspected, and he retired there on the black gelding. It was to be a sign of things to come for David, who would later miss a gate on phase C with Tigger Too and be eliminated, and who would withdraw Custom Made when the weather turned foul later in the day.

Next to tackle the course was John Williams and his lovely big chestnut Carrick. Though the horse appeared to be loping quietly, the 17-hand Carrick is deceptively fast, and jumped easily to finish double-clear.

Horsecity.com's Road to Rolex profile Jennifer Carter and Leaps and Bounds had an excellent first four-star, with only one small bobble at a corner and some time penalties. Photo by Ted Cushny

Kim Vinoski and Winsome Adante had been favored to win this competition, but an unlucky Thursday morning riding time had left them tenth after dressage. On cross-country day though, with the skies darkening every minute, she used her early ride time to her advantage and flew over the course. "Dan" looked spectacular as he and Vinoski flowed over the course, making everything seem easy. They came home twelve seconds fast to inherit the lead.

"Dan was great," she said." He was really reliable out there, and jumped super."

They were followed around the course by Stunning and William Fox-Pitt. Stunning doesn't have a great history of handling four-star water jumps, especially here at Rolex, but Fox-Pitt took his time, and rode strongly through the two complexes, and got it done. The little chestnut galloped gamely, and came home inside the time to finish double clear and slide into second between Vinoski and Williams. It would be the final double-clear performance of the day.

"I'm delighted," said Fox-Pitt of his ride. "He felt fantastic. He's never been extravagant jumping into water, but he kept at it, and gave me a foot-perfect ride everywhere else. "He's 16 at the end of this year," he continued. "So I'm not planning anything, but I never have with this horse. I'm just very pleased for the horse, because I knew he had it in there, [to do the 4-star] but never had a chance to show it before."

Coming close to the time while the weather held was California's Natalie Rooney and Aladdin who came home just two seconds over the time to finish with 0.8 time penalties and end up in 5th.

The rain started to trickle down three horses before the lunch break, but by halfway through the break it was pouring down in earnest. As the afternoon horses prepared to go, a surprising number of spectators returned to the course, clad in rain gear to watch the show.

Trouble came early and tragically after lunch, though unrelated to the weather. Mark Weissbecker and Titleist fell at the in of Fence 10, and the horse never moved. Vets were on the scene within 30 seconds, but the horse died less than two minutes later. The body was transported to the Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center where a necropsy revealed the horse had broken his neck between the fourth and fifth vertebrae. Weissbecker was unhurt in the fall.

As the conditions began to significantly deteriorate, Washington State's Amy Tryon and Poggio II came out of the box. The horse jumped in his usual amazing style, but even the light-footed Poggio seemed to struggle with the footing in places, and though he jumped clear, he had an uncharacteristic 4.0 time penalties, good enough for 4th place. It was a signal that the time for double-clear rounds was over.

Though conditions looked bad, Tryon didn't doubt her horse could handle it-as a former pack horse in the mountains of Washington he's surefooted and used to wet conditions.

"He's probably seen more than I have," she said. "He only really slipped once, at Fence 3. On a course like this, you have to attack. My idea was to jump around and be quick, but we went as fast as we could go, and still be safe."

And still the rains came down.

There were still clean jumping rounds to be had, but even those were getting scarce, and the time it was taking became monumental. McKinlaigh and Gina Miles had the ride of their lives at their first four-star, jumping clear but four time penalties on steeplechase and 18.4 on the cross-country kept them out of the top placings.

The British are used to riding in damp going, and Clare Phillips and Capuchin and Leslie Law and the young Shear L'Eau didn't look as uncomfortable in the rain as many of the Americans, but they still had 30 and 9.6 time penalties respectively to finish in 17th and sixth. Several horses clearly didn't find the going to their liking-Lester Piggott never appeared to turn on and Holly Hepp pulled him up at the Head of the Lake. Jodi Platto and Texas Pride survived a scary moment there when the horse attempted to run out at the corner, but jumped sideways over the option landing in the formerly beautiful teakwood canoes. He extricated himself to come home with the runout and 70.0 time penalties.

By now, the picture was becoming clear-you weren't going to get a double-clear round, so how badly did you need to run? For most Americans, there weren't a lot of options-as the primary selection trial for the WEG, if you wanted your name on the list, you needed to jump around this weekend. Nina Fout and 3 Magic Beans are not known for lollygagging, but couldn't go faster than 48 seconds slow. Australia's Olivia Bunn came a long way to ride at Rolex, but couldn't do better than a minute plus over time on cross country.

But the skies got even darker, and the rains fell harder, and word began to filter back that the steeplechase was deteriorating even worse than the cross-country. No one was coming in from there without time faults. So, then the withdrawals began coming. First Phillip Dutton pulled his second horse Hannigan, as did Stark with his second horse Saucy Brown, and Canadian Penny Rowland on her second horse Strike-A-Pose (she had gone clear earlier on her first horse Aberdare).

Williams braved the course on his second horse Hazmat, but the game little son of Mokheiba clearly struggled in the deep going, and after declining to jump the corner in the head of the lake, Williams popped him over part one of the option and then pulled up and retired. As he strolled out the lake, patting his horse and smiling and shrugging, a sympathetic spectator offered Williams a beer, which he took with a smile, toasted the crowd, and knocked back.

"It tasted good, he later joked.

"I was trying to be optimistic," said Williams of his decision to ride. "But every jump I thought, this isn't worth it, maybe I should pull up. Eventually, I did. Some take to this kind of footing, some don't. My horse was game and tried, but it was hard on him and he was getting more and more discouraged." Vinoski pulled out on her second horse, the newcomer Royal Venture, as did Fox-Pitt on his overnight leader Springleaze Macaroo.

"He flew around the first lap of the chase, but then he really struggled," said Fox-Pitt of his decision to withdraw his overnight leader. "The ground really deteriorated and we had 22 time penalties [on the steeplechase]. The risk just wasn't worth it. Sometimes, when you have a nice horse, you've just got to look to another day."

"[Royal Venture] struggled as well [on the steeplechase]," said Vinoski. "In addition, I've only ridden him three times in competition and he wasn't as familiar to me as [Winsome Adante]. It just wasn't worth it." Second placed Darren Chiacchia went on R.G.Renegade, and jumped clear in some of the worst of it. It was a game performance, but they finished more than a minute over time, and 26.0 time penalties, as well as 5.6 from the steeplechase.

Allison Springer and Peter Green both gave it a shot, but Green pulled up at Fence 2, and Springer came in after a tumble at the Head of the Lake. Both O'Connors pulled out their final horses, Bally Mar and Custom Made. That left only the Davidsons to finish up the day. For those who had missed Bruce Davidson's earlier riding lessons aboard Apparition and High-Scope, they got one final chance as he set out on Little Tricky. Horse and rider looked as though no rain was falling as the sped from fence to fence, to come home with only 12.4 time-one of the fastest rounds of the afternoon. Son Buck didn't have quite as much luck, pulling up at the Head of the Lake.

Though rider's had expressed concern over the double corners of the Wishing Well at fence 24, 25, 26, 27, it soon became clear the Head of the Lake was back as the dominant fence, with 11 people coming to grief there.

Horsecity.com's profile Jennifer Carter and Leaps and Bounds had a good day. They ran before the going turned to impassable, and jumped around in their usual dramatic style. They had an unfortunate slip off a the first corner at 24, and came home with 28.4 time to stand in 30th after cross-country.

39 horses completed the day, and it will remain to be seen how much the going took out of those finishers. Only time, and the jog, will tell.

For a link to a cross country photo gallery, click here.
And for a Rolex Finals gallery - click here.

To read stories from dressage and show jumping days, click here.