The course, designed by judges  Bill Moroney and Jimmy Torano, really demands confident, forward riding.  There are no real tricks, just distances and lines that require an accurate, straight ride.  There is the usual narrow, wingless fence at the end of the ring by the in-gate.  This year, it’s a narrow wooden coop, with one white rail on top, set in either a bending five or six strides off the corner of the ring. 

The very first line tests the riders’ adjustability.  They start out over an inviting triple bar, and then either gallop in a flowing five strides straight to the gray oxer at fence 2, or fit in a neat six strides.  Three short strides later is a white vertical.  Riders can choose to be conservative and fit in the six strides to fence 2, making the short three to fence 3 more doable. Or they can be aggressive in the five strides to 2, and then showcase their adjustability by fitting in the three to the next fence. 

From there, they turn around the end of the ring and off the corner to 4AB, a long one-stride oxer-vertical combination.  It’s made of the infamous Medal Finals wingless split rail jumps, but it’s an inviting combination.  Riders have to be definite out of the corner to make the one stride work, though.

A bending five or six strides leads them to the long side, where they jump an oxer at 5, which has a plank as a front rail—easily knocked down with a careless ride.  Then, they choose to either ride a direct, forward five strides to the narrow coop at the end of the ring, or to bow out, take more time to get straight, and do a bending six strides. 

A right turn across the ring leads to another long one-stride, this time of Swedish oxers.  And then there’s another bending five strides to a white vertical in the corner, with no groundline.  A flowing seven strides around the end of the ring to another oxer follows, and then a bending five out of the corner to a tight one-stride distance at 10AB, a double of white verticals. 

From there, they bend in another six or seven strides to an oxer at 11.  From there, it’s either a sweeping outside turn around fence 1 to gallop the last oxer at 12, or a more slicing turn to the inside of fences 6 and 1.

The course doesn’t have any terribly spooky fences, and looks to be a real test of accuracy, track and line.  Riders have to make decisions about their striding, and always be riding forward.  They can choose to take risks and ride very aggressively, leaving strides out, or they can choose a more conservative ride.  But they’ll always have to be going forward.