Spectators and competitors enjoyed a thrilling day of cross-country at The Dutta Corp. Fair Hill International Three-Day Event where international pairs battled Derek di Grazia’s challenging track. Colleen Rutledge took over The Dutta Corp./USEF CCI*** Eventing National Championship with Covert Rights, and Tamra Smith and Sunsprite Syrius kept their lead of The Dutta Corp./ USEF CCI** Eventing National Championship.
A fast cross country round awarded Maryland-native Colleen Rutledge and her own Covert Rights the top position in the CCI*** division. The 11-year-old Thoroughbred Cross remains on his dressage score (39.8) after a fault free performance.
“He gets every gold star I could possibly give him. He saved my butt when I got us into trouble, and he was foot perfect at ninety percent of the course,” she commented noting that she had experience on her side with four-star partner Covert Rights. “Luckily I know that he’s got the experience behind him. He’s already done two four-stars. He reads the fences. He’s so much more mature now, and he’s so much more experienced now where I could just gallop down and see the stride from six strides away and attack the fences. That was probably one of the most fun cross countries that I’ve had in a long time.”