New Zealand’s Monica Spencer has taken an early lead in the Mars Maryland 5 Star dressage.
Monica and 12-year-old ex-racehorse Artist, owned by his rider and her husband Andrew, scored 28.4 for their smooth, elegant test. The pair scored two nines for halts from the US judge at M, Robert Stevenson, and showed good lift in their trotwork and relaxation in the walk.
“There were a couple of blips – that horse is capable of a really good score, but I can’t complain about a 28,” said Monica.
This is Monica’s Maryland debut after watching the event on the live stream for the past two years.
“It’s a beautiful venue and course, and well suited to my thoroughbred so I thought we’d come over and give it a crack. There’s a lot to do out there and it’s all to play for.”
The Kiwi combination, who have recently relocated to the US, contributed to team bronze at the 2022 World Championships but are looking for a first five-star completion after Monica fell off at Adelaide in the spring this year.
Austin O’Connor was the first rider into the arena for today’s first session of Maryland 5 Star dressage and was trending around 70% in the trot work. He rode his own and The Salty Syndicate’s Colorado Blue boldly, but lost some marks in the flying changes and for halting in the wrong place on the final centreline. His score of 33.7 puts the Irish pair second at this early stage.
US rider Phillip Dutton put in an energetic performance with the Morans’ grey mare Azure, who was bred by Irish five-star rider Elizabeth Power. She was green at times, being only 11 years old, but showed some promising work. They scored 34.9 to slot in behind Austin and “Salty”.
Fellow home side rider Doug Payne holds fourth on his own and his wife Jessica’s Quantum Leap, who was quite tense throughout his test and scored 35.9.
Piggy March is Britain’s only competitor today, starting at 2.53pm local time (7.53pm British time) on Brookfield Cavalier Cruise.
End of day update: Monica and Artist have dropped to second at the conclusion of the day’s action behind Piggy March with Brookfield Cavalier Cruise, with Austin sixth, Phillip eighth and Doug ninth.
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