First one I saw who committed to her hand-gallop stride and didn’t either go GAAAAAAH and kick harder, or tap the brakes.
She reminds me so much of Maggie back in the day!
Grace has such a lovely rapport with her horse - they just look totally in sync.
Interesting that Dominic took a loop around when most have chosen to go directly to fence 1.
Cent makes me swoon too
I didn’t keep a card, but I would probably say:
Dominic
Grace D
Natalie J
I’d go Grace, Dominic, Natalie and not test so the horses can go to bed. But I think there’s testing room if the judges are awake.
I think it’s Natalie over Dominic for me right now. She was a little smoother to the trot fence and bolder in the hand gallop. I liked how businesslike she was right from the in gate.
I thought Dominic, but I am not as expert as MHM and Renaissance.
She was very good, but she came back in fourth place, so that would be a pretty big jump. It just depends how close those top kids were going into that round.
I easily had Natalie winning the last round. But I have no idea how far behind Dominic and Grace she was to start with, and if her final round is enough to move her in front.
I wonder if the winner gets to take a victory lap in the car. That could be a recipe for disaster! Lol.
Thank you for the compliment. I am an amateur.
I thought Dominic was conservative but I also thought he had enough room over Natalie to hold onto the spot ahead of her. However, I was not on the ground watching them on the flat, and I don’t know if the judges would agree. Grace’s trip was elegant and correct. Natalie was brilliant.
That’s true. I was thinking strictly about round 2. I’ll blame it on the late hour
And Natalie’s first round was stronger. Dominic really pushed to the Swedish oxer after the two stride and then really waited into the last line. I had Natalie and Grace on top after the first round. But I couldn’t see any of the flat so I’m not going to make a final placing without seeing the entire class.
For fun and posterity, here’s the way I pinned the top 14
Dominic
Natalie
Grace
Amira
Zayna
Riley
Alexandra
Aristea
Eva
Alexander
Madison
Schuyler
Madeline
Hensley
I didn’t watch the flat at all, so I’m just throwing that phase out the window. Lol.
I just need them to pin it because I’m about to fall asleep and I need to know if I can throw a ZONE 3 REPRESENT party for Grace Debney.
I watched the flat but I feel like there was so much that I was out of the frame. Hard to judge when it felt like we only saw a small portion of what was going on at any given time.
I was an amateur eons ago (I still can’t get over the enormous fake tails), so I think you probably know better than I.