June 29, 2008 — A good Sunday! Some quick results: The grand prix course was big and technical; 51 entries and only seven clear.
Michael Morrissey was first to go of our team on Crelido and had a smooth clear round. We were hoping for four more clears but Lady Luck wasn’t with us. Tracy Magness was next on Tarco and just had the vertical going into the triple combination down for four faults.
James Benefetto on Gigi rode 35th in the order and ended up with 12. Gigi had given her all in the Nations’ Cup on Friday and had no spark left today. James said he knew it when he warmed up.
Alexa Lowe and her phenomenal mare, Nadyleen, only touched one fence in the whole round, soaring high above them all. She definitely benefited from only having to go one round in the Nations’ Cup. She lightly rubbed the vertical coming out of the triple and that was that. Such a shame.
Jeanne Hobbs on Nielson was last to go of ours out of the 44th spot. She rode a masterful round but was .3 over the time allowed for one fault–a heartbreaker.
So all our hopes were riding on Michael who went fourth out of seven in the jumpoff. He went for it, cruising through the first part of the course slick as could be. Crelido grabbed himself off the ground going into the double, stuttered and had it down, then had the last rail galloping to be the fastest four. He ended up with eight faults and slid into fifth place, a very credible and exciting performance. Jeanne finished 10th and Tracy just missed a ribbon in 14th.
That’s it for now. Everyone is eating dinner, then headed back to load trucks and luggage, shower and get a couple hours’ sleep, and then up before dawn to ship out.
We’ve had a great time–learned a lot, enjoyed every moment–now on to the next event, wherever that may be!
