Mara DePuy Dean, who rode as an individual in the 1996 Olympics, has take a 1.2-point lead after dressage at the 31st Radnor Hunt CCI** in Malvern, Pa. Her closest competitor is Ralph Holstein, 19, from Hinkley, Ohio, on Arctic Dancer, while another Olympian, Stuart Black, is third, another 1.8 penalties behind Holstein, on Fleeceworks Starlight.
Dean, who was married in June, took the lead during Thursday’s session with Good Stuff, an 8-year-old Irish-bred Thoroughbred, and held on through Friday. Holly Johnson, on The Frenchman, and Denise Rath, on Dinosaur Roar, are tied for fourth, 1.4 penalties behind Black and 4.4 penalties behind Dean. Nathalie Bouckaert is sixth on Everest, and Linden Wiesman is seventh on Kirby Park Jamaica. The top 20 horses are separated by 13.4 penalties; 83 horses completed dressage.
Holstein hopes–and expects–to have more luck on Radnor’s 5,160-meter cross-country course (with an optimum time of 9:23) than he did last year. He retired on course after Arctic Dancer, an 8-year-old Thoroughbred, slipped and fell between fences late in the course.
Holstein said his horse’s dressage performance was a bit of a surprise, but “he’s really matured a lot since last year. He tried really hard to give me everything I asked for. He stayed really focused and obedient the whole test.” He trains with Jeff Taylor, who asked his friend Kyle Carter to help Holstein at Radnor because he couldn’t be here.
Holstein said he tried hard to not think about how well the test was going while he was in the ring. “I tried to stay focused on what I had to do, and then I took a breath of relief when I came out of the ring,” he said with a smile.
Arctic Dancer and Holstein have been partners for about three years, slightly longer than Black and Fleeceworks Starlight, a 7-year-old mare with whom he won the young horse division at the Virginia CCI* in 2003. Black thinks very highly of the mare. “This is a bigger two-star than the last one she did [High Prairie (Colo.) in May], and she handled the pressure well,” he said. “This was a good test for her. Her weakest phase is the dressage.”
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For the first time, Black, a previous winner at Radnor, is representing the United States in this international competition. He said he’d applied to switch his citizenship prior to this summer’s Olympics, but that increased State Department scrutiny of all citizenship applicants had delayed the process. He was able to switch his citizenship because his wife, the former Momi Akeley, is an American.
“It’s no secret that the U.S. eventing team is on the cutting edge, and I’m really looking forward to working with [team coaches] Mark Phillips, Sandy Phillips and George Morris,” Black said.
Black said he believes the optimum time will be hard to make on Mike Etherington-Smith’s course. He noted that the steep hills surrounding the Radnor Hunt Club are always a factor.
Etherington-Smith has built seven combinations on the course. And since he’s put the two water complexes at fences 15-16 and 21 (of 24 fences), riders will have a hard time catching time up late in the course if they’ve fallen behind early, especially since the other five combinations precede the first water.
The first of those combinations greets riders at fence 5ABC. The first element is a beautifully realistic red fox, carved in wood by artist Ben Risney. One stride later, horses drop down a tall bank, then have just three strides to negotiate a narrow, brush-covered “toothbrush.” Risney has also carved three wooden frogs to decorate the narrow third element at the second water complex. The frog on the right has his front webbed feet over his eyes to “see no evil”; the frog on the left has his ears covered to “hear no evil”; and the frog in the center, under the jump, has his mouth covered to “speak no evil.”
Said Holstein honestly, “I’m too green to really say if I’ll be able to make the time. I’m just going to give it a shot.”
The first horse starts on phase A at 10:30 Saturday morning and on cross-country at 11:35. The last horse is scheduled to start cross-country at 3:44 p.m.
