Link: non-alpaca Jersey photos
(1) Today was a mercifully quiet one at Jersey, with no major accidents or injures. The couple of riders who did pop off were up and walking back to the barns quickly.
(2) California eventing had a mixed day on Saturday as their 2nd and 4rd placed CCI3* riders, and their leading 2* rider all had issues with the XC courses. But, they have two riders in the lead with Jennie and Tiana. Although, you could also say the same for Phillip's program.
(3) CCI3*: Tiana Coudray's XC ride had some tense moments and she seemed to be struggling to find a consistent spot around the entire course. But, Tiana and Ringwood accomplished their goal for today and have a three rail lead going into the show jumping. After the XC, Tiana said:
I'm pretty happy. I would like things to have been perfect, and they never are. I just didn't feel like I rode as well as I wanted to.
(4) Colin Davidson obviously made a good decision to retire after one stop at Rolex and save his horse for Jersey. Colin and Draco moved up from 4th to 2nd in the CCI3* on a double clear after 2nd placed Alexandra Slusher and 3rd placed Kristi Nunnink retired after stops on course. Sharon White and Rafferty's Rules, a WEG applicant pair moved from 8th to 3rd in the CCI3* with one of 4 double clears in the 3* divisions.
(5) In the CIC3*, Phillip did what Phillip does and extended his lead to more than a rail after jumping around faster than anyone else in his division. Sitting behind Phillip is one of Phillip's students, Peter Barry of Canada. If you don't know Peter, he is very nice, drives a beautiful lorry, and rides very nice horses. Ashley Kehoe and Mazetto were the biggest movers of the day, moving up from 13th to 4th on just 8.8 time penalties.
(6) In the CCI2*, Jennie Brannigan showed Nina Gardner that she bought a nice horse by jumping Cambalda around a double-clear and moving into the lead. Jennie jumped dressage leaders James Alliston and Jumbo's Jake, who picked up a stop.
(7) The horses that I saw in the box were finishing the course in good shape. The weather was perfect for endurance today, with low humidity and temperatures in the 70's. Course designer John Williams added a long hill at the end of the course this year, but it didn't seem to cause horses too much strain.
(8) Doug Payne was wearing a helmet cam, so hopefully we will get to see the course from his perspective sometime soon. Doug moved from 3rd to 2nd in the CCI2*.
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