A mere fraction separates first and second place in the MARS Maryland 5-star at Fair Hill three-day event, with Woods Baughman on the Hanoverian C’est la Vie 153 staying just 0.2 penalties ahead of world number one Tim Price on a Selle Francais, Coupe de Couer Dudevin, as two days of dressage wrapped up this afternoon.
Woods performed in a driving rainstorm on Thursday, while the sun smiled on Tim as he turned in a smooth ride for a score of 27.4 penalties.
His mount (Top Gun Semilly X Les Prince des Bois) was bred by Jean-Louis Staffer, a French-speaking Swiss. He has placed the horse with several riders, including Robin Godel of Switzerland and more recently, Chris Burton of Australia, until that rider gave up eventing.Then Coupe de Coeur Dudevin wound up in Tim’s barn.
Tim Price and Coupe de Coeur Dudevin. (Photo © 2022 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
Tim’s wife, Jonelle, the world number two (it’s the first time a spousal combo has been one-two on the FEI rankings) was the first to work with the gelding, but the horse was a bit too powerful for the petite rider.
So Tim took over the horse, who became his back-up for the FEI World Championships in August, where he took individual and team bronze on Falco.
Joker, as the horse is known, is “short on experience, but what he has done, he has done extremely well,” Tim commented.
Fair Hill is Joker’s first 5-star, and he has his work cut out for him Saturday on Ian Stark’s cross-country layout, which involves an 11-minute, 30-second optimum time. The course is linear, like a snake that is bending back on itself, rather than a route that leans toward the horizontal.
“There’s a lot of to-ing and fro-ing,” is the way Tim put it.
“It’s big, it’s serious; he doesn’t muck about, does he, Scotty,” he said, using course designer Ian Stark’s nickname (Ian is Scottish).
The course last year was Ian’s first 5-star effort and he honed in on the fact that “it needed a bit of a change-up,” observed Tim, noting Ian has his own distinctive brand of cross-country design.
He thinks the condition of the ground could be a factor, mentioning that after the Thursday rain, it’s not as firm as it was last year.
Joker’s breeder/owner, a jolly, bright-eyed man, has big plans for his horse. He wants to see him in the 2024 Paris Olympics, he told me cheerfully. The problem is, he conceded, that Tim may have other horses in line for that honor.
But it’s obvious Tim is impressed by the horse, whose only transgression in his dressage test was kicking out in a flying change.
I wondered if there was extra pressure on Tim because of moving up to world number one. He was, as always, very gracious in his answer.
“It’s quite a new feeling,” he said.
“There’s a lot of pressure in what we do anyway. So this is a new pressure, but I’ve got a compartment for that. I try to enjoy what I do, I try to focus on that.”
The placings switched around quite a bit today, with France’s Nicolas Astier dropping to fourth on Babylon de Gamma (29.1) as Alexandra Knowles had a lovely test on Morswood (28.8) to slot into third.
Allie Knowles and Morswood. (Photo © 2022 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
Allie said of her Irish sporthorse, “He’s been getting stronger over the last 12 months.”
While dressage isn’t one of his favorite things, “he gave it his all,” she observed.
Last year’s Fair Hill runner-up and former world number one, Oliver Townend of Great Britain, is tenth with the Spanish-bred As Is, a horse he inherited from New Zealand’s Andrew Nicholson.
Don’t be surprised if this one moves way up the ranks after cross-country. Oliver has taken a variety of horses to fame, and As Is could be the next candidate for that distinction.
Oliver Townend and As Is. Photo © 2022 by Lawrence J. Nagy
Hannah Sue Hollberg is eighth in the 5-star with her longtime partner, Harbour Pilot, who at 19 is appearing in his last competition.
In the 3-Star Long, which is running with the 5-star, Hannah Sue leads aboard the Holsteiner Capitol Him, with an impressive score of 26 penalties. Standing second with Renukum Corsair (26.4) is Elisa Wallace, who put on an exhibition with her mustangs during the lunch break.
Click here for the 3-star results Click here for the 4-star results
