Local rider Buck Davidson and Carlevo, owned by Catherine O’Brien, prevailed to win the CCI4*-S at Plantation Field International today after jumping clear around a heavily influential cross-country track designed by Derek diGrazia. Adding 6.0 time faults to his score put Davidson atop the leaderboard with 32.5 penalties, with Woods Baughman of Lexington, Kentucky placing second on 34.0 riding C’est La Vie 135 after Liz Halliday-Sharp and Cooley Quicksilver, second after yesterday’s show jumping, added 15 faults for missing a flag and dropped to 5th place. Halliday-Sharp also finished 4th riding DeNiro. A clean and fast run with just 0.4 time launched Jennie Brannigan and FE Lifestyle right up the leaderboard from 1th into 3rd place overall.
Out of 40 entries in the CCI4*-S, just 27 horse and rider combinations completed the event. Five withdrew before cross-country, three retired on course, two were eliminated and three riders fell. Though the twisting and turning, technical course made sure cross-country was an influential phase, there were no significant injuries to horses or riders.
Catherine O’Brien, who has owned Carlevo for the past two years, said, “It’s fabulous. This is a first for us at this level”. The horse has taken the O’Briens, who are from Lexington, Kentucky to the Kentucky Three-Day Event where he placed sixth, to Aachen, Germany and with any luck to the Maryland five-star. Davidson’s student Allie Knowles, who finished 12th in the CCI4-S at Plantation Field riding Morswood, is the resident trainer at their farm in Kentucky.
Brannigan, who rode three horses in the four-star, said that FE Lifestyle jumped great, but she ran slow with Twilightslastgleam, who claimed the top-placing Thoroughbred award. He is the alternate for Boekelo, so time will tell where he is heading next.
Brannigan and Davidson were held on course because a rail on a frangible fence fell just before Brannigan jumped it, and Davidson said that it was challenging getting Carlevo to be sharp on course after standing around during the hold.
“He’s a bit of a homebody, and going last of the day when there was a hold because of the fence that fell down, he was just hanging out, and everybody left. Getting him awake and ready to go is not always super easy, especially since he’s not the fastest horse in the world. He jumped off the little drop to the hedge thing and he wasn’t really with it so I fired him at the next fence and then he was awake. He was right on the markers at four and five minutes but he goes at one pace – he was the same way at Kentucky – he’s not the kind of horse you can make up time with.”
Davidson said he was really happy with his mount Erroll Gobey, whom he focused on keeping quiet and relaxed, and Sorocaima, who is heading to the Maryland five-star. Carlevo sustained a small puncture from a stud today, so he said his entry at Maryland depends on how that heals.
Woods Baughman said that he recently took C’est la Vie to Burghley, but the horse ran off with him on cross-country and he wasn’t able to complete the event. He changed bits and bridles and found a better solution that he tested out at Plantation Field and found it worked well.
“It’s a Myler combo with a barrel in the mouth, shanks, and a hackamore. It’s got a lot of things going on but it’s a soft bit with more poll pressure and it keeps him from crossing his jaw,” he said. “It’s not necessarily strong as much as putting pressure in a different place, and he seems to be quite happy in it.”
Baughman said he forgot to reset his watch when he was held on course, and time faults relegated him to second place. “You can’t argue with finishing second to Buck though,” he said. Overall he was pleased with the event, said the footing was very good, and felt that it was a good preparation to test C’est la Vie with the new bitting system before they head to the Maryland Five-Star next month.
Results here.
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