Norwood, N.C.—April 10

If you had a big, wide table phobia, today’s CIC*** course at The Fork might have given you some sleepless nights.

But those gigantic galloping tables gave Maya Black and the diminutive Doesn’t Play Fair no trouble at all as they galloped home with the fastest time of the day to take the win over 53 other pairs.

Horses bound for the Rolex Kentucky CCI**** made up much of the division, and each pair had their own plan for the day.

With the footing quite firm, especially on the backside of the course, some pulled up before the big hill at the end of the course, some went slow and steady, and some, like Black, were here for a final fitness run.

“I just wanted to have a good, smart run on my part, but use this as a run before Kentucky, so I wanted to get around safely and confidently and use this to move forward,” said Black. “That being said, they have some great pulls here, especially towards the end, so I used that as a fitness run and really made him gallop up it and take a breath before some of the bigger tables. I don’t think he’s one that runs super-good slowly. I think there’s a happy medium.”

Maya Black and Doesn’t Play Fair. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Black has been working on rideability this season with “Cody,” an 11-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned by Dawn Dofelmier.

The pair had a couple of issues last fall on cross-country, but things have come together nicely this spring. They were second at the Cloud 11-Gavilan North LLC Carolina International CIC*** (N.C.) two weeks ago.

“It’s fun to know that it finally feels like some of the pieces are coming back together again,” she said. “I feel like the horse is very capable of winning at this level, so it’s nice that our hard work at home is paying off. I know him very well now, but it always changes. Now he’s just so much more confident even than before. He’s always been a confident horse cross-country, so his over confidence is not always to our benefit, and that’s where I need to work on a few things between now and then just to get him back in my camp a little bit.”

Four pairs made the time over Tremaine Cooper’s course—Black, Katherine Coleman and Longwood, Colleen Rutledge and Covert Rights, and Sara Kozumplik Murphy on Fly Me Courageous.

Besides the hard ground, riders were pleased overall with the reversed direction of the track.

Of 49 pairs to start cross-country, four retired. Eliza Farren and Bantry Bay’s Dublin were eliminated for three cumulative refusals, while Sara Kozumplik Murphy fell from Catchascatchcan when the gelding refused the drop log into water at the first water jump. She confirmed she was fine.

Colleen Rutledge fell dramatically from Escot 6 at the first water after he tried to add a third stride from the corner in the water to a duck and twisted and fell on landing. Rutledge and the gelding were up quickly though and walked off course.

Five other pairs picked up on refusal and two broke frangible pins to earn 11 penalties.

Katie Ruppel and Houdini. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

The two advanced divisions were packed with more Rolex-bound pairs. Katie Ruppel and Houdini took home the win in the advanced, test B, division, finishing on 38.1.

“He was great. I just kind of leave it up to him. The ground was a little bit hard, and we’re so close to Kentucky, I was like, well, if he’s adjusting well and feels rideable, it’s just fitness for him to run on these hills, so I thought I’ll go for it a little bit,” she explained. “He was adjustable and looking for the jumps and good in the combinations, and I can’t complain. He feels better than ever.”

The pair completed the Pau CCI**** (France) last year, but had some trouble on cross-country. Ruppel said her plan before Rolex is to school lightly to keep the Thoroughbred gelding’s confidence up.

“He can sometimes struggle with confidence, so I’m going to keep up the dressage and show jumping work, but I’m going to let him jump some easier cross-country, and maybe go to the schooling field by my house, and we’ll set up some preliminary combinations or something to get him feeling pumped up,” she said. “If I jump him too big, too often he’ll start to doubt himself. So hopefully he’ll feel like Superman when he goes out of the box at Kentucky.”

In the advanced, test A division, dressage leaders Liz Halliday-Sharp and Fernhill By Night were having a great go until they suffered a hard fall at the second to last when “Blackie” hung a leg over a vertical and nearly had a rotational fall. He was able to catch his feet on landing, but kicked Halliday-Sharp when she fell.

Halliday-Sharp walked off course but went to a nearby hospital to get checked out, while Blackie was vanned off course when it was determined he’d banged his knee and required a bandage.

Boyd Martin and Blackfoot Mystery. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Boyd Martin brought five horses to The Fork, three of which are heading to Rolex. He was in second behind Halliday-Sharp and moved up for the win Blackfoot Mystery.

“He felt fantastic. I feel like I’ve got all the horse primed up for a great Rolex and Badminton,” he said. “It was a tricky event this weekend because the ground was so disappointing due to lack of rain. I’d sort of been pacing the horses all season with the idea of having a good blast this weekend. I thought I went somewhere in between and ran about 70 percent cross-country. I think they all came out of it good.”

“Big Red” came to Martin last year after Kelly Prather produced him to the three-star level.

“I think we’re just starting to know each other. I think you’ll see this horse really start to shine once we get to the four-star level. He’s an American Thoroughbred. I think he was born to run three or four miles around the Kentucky Horse Park where a few other horses that have been exciting this year might have struggled with the trip,” he said. “I’ve had him in the back of my mind as a potential Olympic horse, but it’s pointless thinking too hard about that. I’ve been more focused on the short-term improvement of the partnership. I think we’ve had a couple of events where we were really, really good and a couple of events where bits and pieces we came up short. I think he should be good for Rolex.”

Scores are available here.

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Check out a drone fly over of the CIC*** course here.