Bromont, Que.—June 11

It shouldn’t have surprised anyone when Loughan Glen jumped a clean round over his first CCI*** cross-country course. The horse has made light work of any task thrown at him up to now, and today was no exception at the Bromont CCI. He and rider Clark Montgomery added 4 time penalties to their winning dressage score of 39.0, finishing the day on 43.0 and still leading over Leslie Law and Rehy Lux.

“He’s dead honest,” said Montgomery, Fairburn, Ga., of Loughan Glen. “He’s green and 8 years old, but he’s such a trier. I couldn’t have asked for him to do better. He’s just a trooper. Sometimes you think maybe he’s too quiet, but he really analyzes things and understands them and enjoys his job.”

The length of Derek DiGrazia’s three-star course, 5,700 meters with 39 jumping efforts, did catch the Irish Sport Horse by surprise.

“He got a little jumping tired at the end,” he said. “From [fence] 24 to the end, I had to help him home, but that was just the last four jumps. I was really pleased. He recovered great afterwards. He was plenty fit, he just needs to get used to jumping that many combinations and fences at that height.” 

Law of Ocala Fla., and Bluemont, Va., was also riding a three-star first-timer. He added 8.4 time penalties to his dressage score and will head into show jumping on 50.7. Rehy Lux, an 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse owned by Troy Glaus, only completed two advanced horse trials and a CIC*** before Bromont.

“He’s been great leading up to this, but obviously this is our biggest test yet,” Law said. “I set out to jump the jumps and get a good clear round out of him, and I achieved that. He finished full of running and felt fantastic coming through the finish. In fact, I could have perhaps gone a little closer to the time, but today was to see what horse we’ve got, really, and I found out we have a very good one.”  

Sharon White and Rafferty’s Rules moved up from fifth to third by adding 6 time faults to their score, while Kristin Bachman and Gryffindor’s 7.6 time penalties bumped them down to fourth. Though no three-star competitors made the time, there were few problems and no rider falls.

Buck Davidson retired Titanium after a run-out at the third element of the coffin at fence 25, having simply run out of gas. And Amy Ruth Borun and Santa’s Playboy were eliminated for three run-outs at the C element of fence 11, the second of three water combinations.

“I haven’t ridden advanced before this year since the spring of 2009, so I thought the course was hard,” said Montgomery, of Fairburn, Ga. “You can do as many intermediates until you’re blue in the face, but advanced is different. There wasn’t any point on the course you could let up until you finished the coffin, and my horse was tired at that point and there were still four galloping fences. It was difficult, but a very fair course.”

Roquefort Retains CCI** Lead

Rebecca Howard and Roquefort are in the same position they were nearly a month ago—leading an FEI-level event after the cross-country. They won that event, the CIC** at Jersey Fresh (N.J.), and Howard is hoping for the same result tomorrow.

“He’s a very good show jumper,” she said. “As long as I ride him well, he should be OK. He feels really good, with the footing and the cool weather, I don’t think he’ll feel too tired out there.”

Howard, Norwood, N.C., and “Rocky” added 2 time penalties to their dressage score, and they’re sitting just .1 penalty ahead of Phillip Dutton and Mighty Nice, who posted a double-clear round. Hannah Sue Burnett and Harbour Pilot, eighth after dressage, moved up to third with another perfect trip.

Howard said the course rode smoothly on the whole for her and Rocky, a 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood (Jackson—Gazelle, Aram) owned by Jim Cogdell.

“He jumped great. He keeps jumping well to the end, which is such a good feeling,” she said. “The last water, I thought it was tough for him. He jumps really round or something into the waters, and I always find that it’s taking me too long to get my reins organized. I felt like we went to that corner on one rein. But the rest was good. He just kind of locked on to his rhythm and felt great.”

Out of 41 starters in the CCI**, 11 went double clear and 38 completed. Christine Ehlers and Reggae Moon were eliminated for three refusals at fence 5, and Erika Petersen retired Notelo De Rox after two stops at separate fences. There was a brief hold on course after Samantha Galway came off Tangerine in the first water complex, at obstacle 11A. The horse stepped on her thigh, and Galway was transported to the hospital by a family member for examination.

Coleman Stays On Top In CCI*

The top three placings in the CCI* remained unchanged after cross-country. Will Coleman and Zipp are in first after adding 2.4 time penalties to their dressage score of 41.4, while Doug Payne on Camerlingo (45.7) and Fiona Allen on Isengart (47.9) are in second and third, respectively, after double-clear trips. Penny Rowland and Northwind’s Breeze, fourth after dressage, picked up one stop at the first element of the coffin (fence 7) and moved down to 23^rd.

There were eight double-clear rounds in the one-star, and the problems were spread out over the course. Three riders fell—Krystin Anderson off Rather Breezy at fence 12, Arianna Almeida off Drummer’s Call at 7, and Hilary Popiel off Aragorn at 13—but all were up quickly and walked away.

Check out our coverage from Friday’s dressage. Full results at Event Entries.