Competition continued Saturday at Twin Rivers Ranch in Paso Robles, CA on a picturesque day in the Smartpak Equine USEA Classic Series Novice and Training Three-Day divisions. Despite the standings shaking up quite a bit in both divisions, overnight leaders Mallory Hogan and Whitney Tucker were both able to maintain their leads going into Sunday’s show jumping phase.
Mallory Hogan and Kristin Hogan’s Moonlit Dancer certainly seemed like crowd favorites as they crossed the finish line on phase D. Posting a double clean round cross country, in addition to adding no penalties on phases A-C, Mallory was thrilled with her pony saying, “Dancer was such a good boy today. The best part had to be going fast on steeplechase and hearing everyone cheer as we came across the finish line.”
It seemed as if every rider who came into the D box was grinning ear to ear with excitement and 12-year-old Hogan was no different saying, “I had so much fun! Everyone was there to help me in the ten-minute box and I think I had Dancer very fit.”
With less than a rail separating the top three in the Novice Three-Day, it will all come down to a nail biting show jumping, set to take place following the final horse inspection Sunday at 11:10am PST.
Standings could also be greatly altered in the concluding phase of competition for Training Three-Day competitors, and will leave spectators on edge. Whitney Tucker was thrilled with the education her own Chavez Ravine gained by doing steeplechase saying, “He felt so much more ridable than usual out of the box today. Being able to jump fences out of stride on steeplechase definitely took his education to a new level.”
Lisa Sabo and her handsome chestnut Sweet Hooligan sit less than a point behind Tucker after cross-country, with Whitney rounding out the top three aboard Jerri Amwerman’s Tiz When.
While Classic Series competitors enjoyed the education and excitement of the full phase format, many upper level competitors wrapped up their weekends. Mackenna Shea and her gelding Landioso led the CIC3* division from start to finish, adding only a few time penalties to their score in both jumping phases. In the Advanced, it was India McEvoy’s Jumbo’s Jake and long time rider James Alliston winning by over twenty points. This pair will most likely be heading back to Kentucky in a few weeks time to contest the Rolex Kentucky CCI4*.
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