Woodstock, England—Sept. 19
The United States’ Clark Montgomery has set himself up for the biggest win of his career after retaining his lead in the CCI*** at Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials with a confident cross-country round on Loughan Glen.
He now has a commanding lead—more than two show jumping fences—over his nearest rival, Australian Christopher Burton on Nobilis 18.
“This would mean a lot to win here as we have made the decision to come and live over here in Britain and been based her the last three years. It would be recognition that everything that we’re doing is working and paying off,” said Montgomery, who is now based with Capt. Mark Phillips in Gloucestershire and has an excellent chance of being the third American to win at Blenheim following Bruce Davidson in 1994 and Kim Severson in 2001.
Clark Montgomery on Loughan Glen on their way to a clean cross-country trip to maintain their Blenheim CCI*** lead for the United States. Photo by Shannon Brinkman
Fellow U.S. riders also fared well, with Lauren Kieffer moving up to eighth on Veronica with just 0.4 time penalties on cross-country. Emily Beshear is in 11th on Shame On The Moon with just a few time faults on course, while Will Coleman jumped fast and clean to move into 19th on OBOS O’Reilly.
Elisa Wallace had 3.2 time penalties on Simply Priceless to move into 32nd, while Liz Halliday-Sharp collected 20 penalties for a stop with Fernhill By Night and Jennfier McFall opted to retire on course with High Times.
Lauren Kieffer and Veronica lie in eighth in the Blenheim CCI*** after a great cross-country round. Photo by Shannon Brinkman
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After a great day of competition there were 79 clear rounds and 88 completions from the 98 cross-country starters with 13 inside the optimum time.
“[Seeing other riders come in clean and under the time] gave me confidence that the course was riding well and I set off as quickly as I could. He got a little fast coming home, but was jumping really nicely and got me out of trouble,” he said.
“As soon as he came out of the start box, he was game, and he just felt amazing the whole around,” Montgomery continued. “At the double of tables, I jumped in a little too big so that four [strides] got really short, but thank goodness he was still jumping really nicely up front and got me out of trouble there.
Burton was the first to show that the optimum time of 10 minutes, 51 seconds was possible when he finished 10 seconds under on Nobilis 18, who was bought in Germany from the Olympic champion Michael Jung.
Emily Beshear on Shame On The Moon, in 11th for the United States. Photo by Shannon Brinkman
New Zealander Tim Price is just 0.2 of a penalty behind Burton after a blistering round on The Court Jester—the pair beat the clock by 16 seconds.
William Fox-Pitt, fourth and best of the Brits, was a happy man as he came through the finish flags with no penalties to add on the experienced Cool Mountain.
“I didn’t go the wrong way and I managed to finish!” said William, referring to an accident-prone couple of weekends at Burghley and Blair.
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A five-time winner at Blenheim (of both the CCI*** and CIC***), William brought the 2010 world silver medalist Cool Mountain for a fun spin. “He’s had a few blips and blots and time off in recent years and, at 15, he doesn’t owe us anything,” said William.
Dressage runner-up and world champion Sandra Auffarth dropped down the order with 15.2 time penalties on Ispo but, as team trainer Chris Bartle pointed out, the idea was to give the horse a happy run before campaigning him more seriously next year.
Pippa Funnell, a record four-time winner of the CCI*** at Blenheim, lost her chances of a fifth win when Billy The Biz, ninth after dressage, ducked out at the brush skinny after the water at the Anniversary Steps (fence 14).
“I think it’s been a good day for the sport,” was the verdict of course-designer Eric Winter.
“Last time I ran the course in this [clockwise] direction there was only one horse inside the time, so this time I lengthened the track by 30 seconds to give provide more galloping on the flattest part. But the main reason that there are so many inside the time is that this is a very strong field‑there was some lovely riding.”
Find full Blenheim CCI*** results here.
William Coleman and OBOS O’Reilly, in 19th after the cross-country. Photo by Shannon Brinkman
Elisa Wallace on Simply Priceless, in 32nd with just a few time penalties. Photo by Shannon Brinkman
