December 2019/January 2020 Issue

EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN December 2019/January 2020 Page 7 By Leslie Mintz, US Eventing Association The finale of the 2019 edition of the Ocala Jockey Club International Three-Day Event CCI4*-L could not have been more dramatic. First Sharon White comes in with Cooley On Show, sitting in fourth place, but White starts the course before the buzzer was sounded and was eliminated. Then Erin Sylvester and Campground come in and have a rail down, but with only two previous double clears they seem to be able to hold on to their third place spot. Then Phillip Dutton and Sea of Clouds come in and have a very unusual seven rails down. Overnight leaders Lauren Kieffer and Landmark’s Monte Carlo have three rails in hand in order to stay on top of the division. Landmark’s Monte Carlo slams on the brakes, Kieffer circles and has the rail down, and then one additional rail and some time penalties give the win to Sylves- ter and Campground. Sylvester, Cochranville, PA, and Marnie Kelly’s 12-year-old Thoroughbred gelding (Forest Camp x Kneel) started the week- end in 24th place out of 31 pairs in the CCI4*-L, but at the end they were the victors. And for Sylvester this is her second four- star victory in a row having just won the Fair Hill International Erin Sylvester on a Roll at Inaurgural Ocala International Event CCI4*-L last month with Paddy the Caddy. The inaugural Ocala Jockey Club event, a qualifier for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, was held November 15-17 in Ocala, FL. The event, held at a thoroughbred farm, offered $16,500 for thor- oughbreds competing there. “He’s a really special horse, but he is a Thoroughbred and every event isn’t his special day and this was his special day,” said Sylvester. “He’s got a heart of gold. I wasn’t sure what I was go- ing to have in the show jumping today. I tried a different bit and a different warm-up and I couldn’t have felt better in the arena. He didn’t get as nervous as he has in the past. I got a great feeling over the first few jumps, and I thought, ‘All right he’s going to do this.’ I tried to pilot him the whole way around and get him to the dis- tances he wants to be in. He just really tried out there. . . It’s not in the bag for him to have a good show jumping he has to try really hard and he did that today.” The duo rocketed up the leaderboard by crossing the cross country finish line one second over the time. The pair were in 24th place coming into cross-country, but with time pen- alties flying they put their name up in the top. “I was really happy with him,” said Sylvester. “This is the first long he’s done in a year in a half. The last was Bromont in 2017. He is a super cross-country horse, but he had a mild injury last year, and I’ve been battling a little bit bringing him back with rideability. He loves cross-coun- try so much, so he became a really strong horse this year to the point where I was not really able to go fast on him anywhere because I was just spending so much time setting him up. We did a different bit today, which was really strong for him. I think it suited him most of the way around.” Sylvester shares the ride with Campground’s owner, Kelly, who is a longtime client of hers. Kelly competed Campground at the Training level in July at Full Moon Farm. Kelly bought him as a 3-year-old when she went to watch the World Equestrian Games in 2010, and Sylvester said that “he has an absolute heart of gold.” Even with his 12 jump and 2 time penalties, Lauren Kieffer and Landmark’s Monte Carlo, Jacqueline Mars’ 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding (For- mula One x Glamour), held onto second place – finishing less than two points out of the win. Ema Klugman and her own and Jeni Klugman’s Bendigo, a 17-year-old Trakehner gelding by Refuse to Lose, made their own impressive move up the leader- board starting the competition in 28th place on a 42.9, adding 7.6 time penalties on the cross-coun- try to sit in 10th overnight and then jumping one of only two double clear show jumping rounds to end up in the top three. Hallie Coon and Celien were the only other double clear round to move from 17th overnight into ninth. For most of the cross country day Phillip Dutton was showing up in ninth place with Sea of Clouds due to quite a few time penalties, but Dutton was sure he crossed the finish line under the optimum time. Dutton and the 8-year-old Thoroughbred gelding (Malibu Moon x Winner’s Ticket) were held on course before fence 7 when Arielle Aharoni fell from Dutch Times, but the hold time was miscalculated and after Dutton protested his double clear round was recorded and he moved from 12th to second overnight. “I didn’t think it would be quite as strong of a course here. Fair Hill typically has more of a championship feel, but today rode more like a championship. I wanted a nice move up course, and obviously it didn’t ride like that, but he stepped up and did his job. He’s a very fast horse and he’s a good cross-country horse but he hasn’t been exposed to a lot of the stuff that he saw today, so I’m very proud of him,” said (Continued on page 26)