Thanks to everyone who is returning to Eventing Nation after a great weekend of Fair Hill coverage. We had over 1,000 page views on Sunday alone, which is incredible considering that I expected about 30 when I left for Maryland at 5am Saturday morning. Our goal is to carry this great momentum into this week. I am working on getting a fantastic guest for a live blog later this week, so please keep checking back for more news on that front. Now, here are my top key thoughts from over the weekend:
1) Boyd Martin will be an asset to the US for years to come. He works closely with Phillip Dutton, and, like Phillip, he pretty much never misses and he consistently dominates the Cross-Country. With two horses in the top 6 at the CCI3*, it seems like Boyd's arsenal is finally catching up to his skills. Boyd is now a top contender for the 2010 WEGs, so get used to seeing his name a lot.
2) Karen is tough, really, really tough. We have been reporting this all weekend, but its worth another mention. Karen shattered her shoulder-blade and broke three ribs in a motorbike accident at the Southern Pines Horse Trials about a month ago. These injuries take way longer than four weeks to heal and she was in considerable pain throughout the weekend. This post, and this post have more info. It's great to see that Karen and Mandiba have rebounded from Burghley.
3) The officials and riders did a great job handling the conditions. Obviously, Eventing has had a tough stretch of accidents in recent years, but Fair Hill was a step in the right direction, especially considering the elements. Saturday morning brought horrible weather and deteriorating footing, and the officials wisely took about 30% of the jumps off of both the CCI2* and CCI3* courses. The riders also, in general, took their time and rode safely. This discretion manifested itself in an injury-free Saturday and some fresh looking horses Sunday morning. I heard that the ground jury did talk to several riders about over-riding tired horses, but these situations were the exceptions, not the rule.
4) I was pleased to see that Cross-Country played such a big role in determining winners this weekend, while still riding very safe. Too often, either the XC seems dangerous or the event feels like a combined test. Boyd jumped 15 places after Cross-Country, and the CCI2* winner, Hannah Burnett, jumped 14 places, also on a double clear. I feel that Cross-Country should have a major role in determining the outcome of Events, and it did this weekend. In part, I think the course rode so well because many of the technical elements were removed and the horses could flow more into their rhythm. Recent trends suggest that our sport is only going to get more technical, but course designers should remember to let the horses gallop.
5) Kelly Sult and Hollywood had a great weekend to finish the CCI3* in 3rd, after being in 33rd after Dressage. They only added 3.6 penalties over both jumping phases, which was the fewest of anyone in either the CCI3* or CCI2* for the XC and Show Jumping combined. She received many awards, including the highest placed young-adult. Great going Kelly!
And finally: Thanks to all the volunteers!!! This goes without saying but needs to be said a lot more than it is. For yet another Fair Hill article, click here. Thanks for reading, and we will be back later tonight to cover Eventing news from the past few days that got pushed aside by all the Fair Hill madness. Also, stay tuned for news on the upcoming live blog.
subk sent the following statistics to me, comparing FHI to 2009 Rolex, and I think they support what we said in our Fair Hill Recap (continued) and the above post. Thanks subk!
"15% or 7 of 45 riders who started XC were R/E'd
11% or 5 of 45 had jumping penalties
for a total of 26% or 12 riders had problems on course.
Now, I thought that was pretty good (great actually!) But then I went to check similar results from Rolex this year which had excellent weather.
13% or 9 of 68 riders who started XC were R/E'd
11% or 8 of 68 had jumping penalties
for a total of 25% or 17 riders had problems on course."
subk's take: "I thought the similarities were amazing. It's a great testament to the decisions made by the officials, the riding done by the competitors and the work done by all those cold volunteers. In all the safety talk of the last few years something that comes up again and again is "rider responsibility." That's a pretty nebulous term that is difficult to pin down, but I think that the results from the weekend are a concrete example of it."