Phillip Dutton and Quasi Cool Win Plantation Field International CCI4*S

Phillip Dutton and Quasi Cool added only 3.2 time faults to their dressage score of 25.7 to claim the CCI4*S title at the Plantation Field International Three-Day Event. Dutton and the 9-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned by Caroine Moran stood third after dressage, jumped clear in yesterday’s show jumping, and kept their cool around Derek diGrazia’s challenging cross country course. Overnight leader Allie Knowles and Ms. Poppins, owned by Kathleen O’Brien, jumped around clear, but 7.2 time faults dropped them into a final fourth place. She also finished 5th overall with Morswood, also owned by O’Brien.

Buck Davidson and Erroll Gobey also show jumped clear and were only two seconds over the time on cross country, moving up from 5th after dressage to second place overall. Only Fylicia Barr and Galloway Sunrise finished the cross country course within the time allowed.

“Knowing the position I was in after the show jumping I definitely intended to go out quickly on the cross country,” said Barr, who recently started training with Lillian Heard in the jumping. “The cross country is where my mare shines. She’s pretty quick-thinking and efficient in the turns, she’s got a big step, and we’ve known each other so long that I trust her. We’ve competed here five years in a row and I know the course, I know the terrain, and I thought today was the day to go for it.”

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Megan O’Donohue and Palm Crescent, who finished 18th, earned the top placing off the track Thoroughbred award.

Dutton, who represented the US at the Tokyo Olympics this past summer, said that Quasi Cool was imported from Germany about two years ago from Dirk Schrade. “He’s shaping up nicely and turning out to be a nice horse,” said Dutton. “This is the first time he’s been at the four-star level. Coming into it I didn’t plan to go as quick as I did cross country, but he was in a good position after dressage and show jumping so I set out to go as quick as I could without scaring him and he handled it pretty well.”

Olympic course designer Derek diGrazia started designing the courses at Plantation Field this year and Dutton said, “It wasn’t completely different, but I liked the changes. It’s very hilly terrain here and it can be hard on the horses if you have too much downhill, and I think Derek did a good job of making us go across the hills instead of up and down the hills. I thought that was very fair for the horses.”
With Quasi Cool now qualified for the four-star long, Dutton said his next event will be at either Morven Park or Tryon, NC.

Last year the future of Plantation Field was uncertain. Property owner Cuyler Walker commented, “We resolved all the issues with the governing bodies and we expect that this event, Plantation Field, will continue here for many years to come.”

Dutton, whose True Prospect Farm is located in nearby West Grove, PA has been involved in the event from the start and said, “It’s a very unique venue and it would be terrible for our sport to lose it. It’s such a good viewing venue and has its own unique atmosphere and style, and it’s great for our local community. [My wife Evie and I] joined forces with Denis when we wanted to step it from doing the national classes; we’ve stepped back bit [from organizing things] but it’s rewarding to see where it is today.”

Dutton also had two horses in the CCI2*S and finished second on Clueso and tenth on Hatchi in the A division.

Kurt Martin Claims CCI3*S Win

With just one horse to ride this weekend, Kurt Martin, The Plains, VA was able to put all of his focus on D.A. Lifetime to bring home the win in the CCI3*S on a score of 26.9. Caroline Martin and HSH Vamonos placed second on 28.2 and Mia Farley rounded out the top three with 29.3. Overnight leader Meg Pellegrini dropped three rails in the show jumping and added 2 time faults on cross country to finish 16th overall.

“I’ve never had a horse go better on the flat in my entire life,” Martin said. “We got here on the hilltop and she was just lit, so we had to take her for a little trot to settle down but when we went in the ring she just came right. She went in the ring and did a great test; at Great Meadow she did a great test also, so she’s showing some consistency. Honestly we’ve been working a lot with my good friend Tom Bebb in the show jumping and he’s been helping me a lot. We had a real plan for the warmup; he wasn’t here, but we had a plan for what we wanted to do with the horse. She jumped a good round and we were really happy with her. I think she just tries so hard. Sometimes you have to wrangle a very big, excited horse and get her to go the right direction, and that went well.”

Martin said that because the mare gets excitable he didn’t bring her to the cross country warmup area.

“I just brought her straight out of the barn,” he said. “She has a new bit, it’s a rubber bit so it’s not too severe, but it has a port and a control strap and it helps her hold her head up. I’m able to go a bit quicker with it. The owners, Debbie Adams and Tony Risotti, have really let me spend a lot of time on the horse, and we wouldn’t be here if we hadn’t put that time into her. We bought the horse in Germany a few years ago and Debbie had her for a year and then I got her two years ago. She’s about 17.2, she’s a big horse, and we’ve really taken our time and developed consistency. If the horse is on your side and trying then you have a really good chance. She really tried in the show jumping and on cross country she was just ready to roll.”

Martin and Decker Win Two-Star Divisions

Caroline Martin won the CCI2*-A on the Irish Sport Horse HSH Galway Bay, leading from the start with a 22.7 and finishing on their dressage score. Martin said her business partner Kelly Hutchison found him last year in July in Ireland after he’d finished in the top five at the Dublin Horse Show class for four-year-olds. “I got him as a five-year-old, did a couple Young Horse classes and funny enough fell off at our first Beginner Novice,” she said.

Martin runs an active sales barn and said HSH Galway Bay originally came over with a group of sales horses. “Someone vetted him and passed on a silly x-ray; again this April someone almost bought him but then passed on him,” she said. “Everyone’s for sale for the right price, but he’s not really for sale anymore!”

Courtney Cooper finished third in the CCI3*S Division A with Excel Star Time to Shine.

Skyler Decker won the CCI2*S B Division with another Irish Sport Horse, Cooley Monsoon. Decker is based at Boyd and Silva Martin’s Windurra USA and trains with Lillian Heard.

She said they scored a personal best in the dressage, a 24.9, and were in second place after dressage, then took the lead when dressage leader Alyssa Phillips and Cornelius Bo had several rails down in the show jumping. With a clear cross country round, Decker finished on her dressage score. Ema Klugman and RF Redfern finished second (26.0) followed by Isabelle Bosley on Paper Doll (26.1).

“On cross country yesterday he was really rideable and just zoomed around, it felt like a piece of cake,” she said. Cooley Monsoon was previously ridden by Piggy March in Great Britain, and imported by an American rider who found him too much to handle. “He’s a big horse and he’s a lot to handle, especially for someone who doesn’t necessarily want to go fast!” Decker said. “I was able to purchase him when I was in Aiken in March and this is our second two-star together. We hope to do a two-star long in the fall. He’s a really good boy, he takes care of me.”

Results here.

Strawbridge Honored

A Sunday brunch sponsored by the Bank of Malvern was held in the VIP tent today and celebrating local horseman George Strawbridge who was named the Plantation Field International Equestrian Legends of Unionville Honoree.

A five-time Eclipse Award winner, successful racehorse breeder and owner, Strawbridge is well known in the United States and Europe for his success with horses in flat racing, timber racing and steeple chasing. He has long trained these winning horses over the hills of Chester County, PA.

A former President of the National Steeplechase Association, Strawbridge is a former amateur steeplechase and timber rider. He has fox hunted all of his life and his commitment to conservation of open space and involvement with the Brandywine Conservancy is well documented. He retains ownership of more than 900 acres of Pennsylvania farmland which are under conservation easement.