Phillip Dutton’s final day at the Fair Hill CCI***, Oct. 21, held plenty of suspense.  But it ended with his fourth win in the championship at Fair Hill, Md., although it was the first time he claimed the win as a U.S. citizen, since he just switched his nationality from Australian to U.S. citizenship at the beginning of the year.

He also won the U.S. Equestrian Federation championship on The Foreman and reserve championship on Woodburn.

Boyd Martin, who finished second (Ying Yang Yo) and fourth (Neville Bardos), is an Australian citizen who trains with Dutton. He was the top foreign rider but not eligible for the USEF title.

Sunday morning at the horse inspection may have been the most nerve-wracking part of the weekend for Dutton, whose overnight leader The Foreman was held for re-inspection. He was the final horse presented, and after he jogged for the second time, there was a deliberation of several minutes before the ground jury finally gave him the nod that signified he was accepted.

“I thought he was more than sufficient to pass, but fortunately they decided in my favor,” he said. When asked why the ground jury took so long to make a decision, he added, “Maybe they get paid by the hour.”

Sadly, Karen O’Connor’s fifth-placed mount, Mandiba, did not pass inspection, which O’Connor said was the first time in her career that she’s been spun.

“I was very disappointed,” she said. “He was a perfectly sound horse going into the inspection, but his first time down the lane, he spooked and stepped into himself and cut his fetlock. The cut was obvious—there was blood trickling, and it was right over a nerve. I was very disappointed with the decision, because it was nothing that would have affected his performance, especially since we had five hours [before the show jumping]. But you can’t appeal the third inspection; it’s the decision of the ground jury.”

Other horses who were withdrawn included Orion/Craig Thompson, Allstar/O’Connor, Naughty By Nature/Jessica Ruppel and Balmoral Avenue/Sally McKechnie. Allstar punctured his stifle and was put on antibiotics but was not well enough to present.

By the time he entered the arena, The Foreman, a U.S.-bred Thoroughbred owned by Annie Jones, had two rails in hand, since second-placed Ying Yang Yo and Boyd Martin dropped a rail at fence 7, the liverpool, the middle element of a tight five-stride to five-stride line.

Martin, who resides at Dutton’s True Prospect Farm in West Grove, Pa., where he is an assistant trainer, had already ridden Neville Bardos to a clear round to secure fourth place, and Dutton had ridden Acorn Hill Farm’s Woodburn to a perfect round to secure third place, so Dutton and Martin were just playing to beat each other.

Cayla Kitayama and Esker Riada, also a student at True Prospect, entered the arena in fifth place, but a fall at fence 10 put her out of the running. She remounted to finish but had dropped to 29th place.

Instead, Karen O’Connor moved into the fifth spot aboard Jacqueline Mars’ new acquisition, Hugh Knows. His original owner, Katherine Breunig, had sent him to O’Connor to compete while Breunig attended college, but they ultimately decided he was too big for Breunig. Other riders, including Dutton, had tried him, and O’Connor just secured Mars’ ownership on Thursday, the first day of competition at Fair Hill.

Other clear show jumping rounds over Sally Ike’s course included: Laine Ashker/Frodo Baggins, Kelly Sult/Hollywood, Corinne Ashton/Dobbin, Phillip Dutton/Match Play II, and two of Jimmy Wofford’s students, Sharon White/The King’s Spirit and Wendy Bebie/Phoenix.

One of the more unfortunate moments happened to Tamra Smith, who’d boldly completed the cross-country yesterday after being held just before fence 18—where the two riders just in front of her had each fallen. But today she added an extra stride in the five-stride line to fence 8, then turned the wrong way and jumped fence 10 without jumping fence 9, for an elimination.

Special awards included: top 25 and under rider and top owner-rider—Laine Ashker/Frodo Baggins; top adult amateur—Corinne Ashton/Dobbin; top rider competing in their first CCI*** and top young rider—Kelly Sult/Hollywood; sportsmanship award—Bonnie Mosser; best turned out—Clark Montgomery/Up Spirit; fitness award—Colombo/Selena O’Hanlon.

The Fair Hill International CDE hosted U.S. Equestrian Championships for single ponies, single horses, multiple ponies and pair horses. Larry Poulin won his seventh national title in the pair horses division; Sara Schmidt topped the single ponies; Robin Groves topped the largest division, the single horses, and Lisa Stroud won the multiple ponies.

Fair Hill CCI***
1. The Foreman, Phillip Dutton, 46.4
2. Ying Yang Yo, Boyd Martin, 50.5
3. Woodburn, Phillip Dutton, 50.9
4. Neville Bardos, Boyd Martin, 52.4
5. Hugh Knows, Karen O’Connor, 56.9
6. Colombo, Selena O’Hanlon, 62.8
7. Frodo Baggins, Laine Ashker, 63.5
8. Hollywood, Kelly Sult, 66.0
9. Dobbin, Corinne Ashton, 69.8
10. Livewire, Samantha Taylor, 72.9
11. Arctic Dancer, Ralph Holstein, 75.3
12. Roundabout, Penny Rowland, 76.8
13. Che Mr. Wiseguy, 86.2
14. Match Play II, Phillip Dutton, 87.8
15. Acapulco Jazz, Bonner Carpenter, 88.6
16. The King’s Spirit, Sharon White, 89.1
17. Kings Whisper, Blair King, 90.1
18. Klimax, Werner Geven, 90.2
19. Arthur, Allison Springer, 90.6
20. High Patriot, Mara Dean, 91.9