Anyone know what is going on with Sea of Clouds. Olivia Dutton has been riding the horse in its last several events at 2*. I looked up the horses record and it was doing well at the 4* and 5* level.
Also, if you are in a syndicate with a horse like this, does the syndicate dissolve know that P Dutton is not riding the horse?
According to posts on Instagram, Olivia now has the rides on SOC and Carlchen. Not sure what happens to syndicates.
This is nothing but my own speculation, but I think this may just be a passing of the torch. Phillip Dutton has said he’s scaling back/retiring for years.
SOCs is one of my favorite horses competing so I hope to see Olivia and him back up to advanced… I think we will.
I know SOCs’ ownership has not changed.
In racing, a syndicate can and will move a horse between riders and trainers. It happens all the time. In eventing, the rider is often the manager of the syndicate or an active partner in it, so that is less likely to happen.
I have the same impressions regarding passing the torch. Thanks for the info on syndication.
LOVE THAT HORSE! 
When I read the posts, my impression was that it was with the syndicate owners’ agreement. If they didn’t agree to the ride being passed to Olivia, presumably the horses would have been put up for sale or moved to another rider if PD wasn’t going to continue to ride them. My guess is they were on board for supporting the passing of the torch/next generation, and happy to keep the horses under PD’s training.
Adding to the speculation that PD’s scaling back/passing the torch:
Hachi was just posted for sale on his IG.
So…
SOCs and Phillip Dutton are on the pre-elite eventing pathway list.
I guess he took the torch back.
Based on this document, it looks like SOCs and Phillip met the qualifying criteria for the pre-elite list (and therefore are on the list), but Olivia may still have the ride.
https://www.usef.org/forms-pubs/PqM7F_lhQxg/2023-eventing-pre-elite-program
So they put out the list without even confirming with the rider whether or not he’s actually competing the horse anymore?
Wow.
From what I gather, the list is automatically compiled from anyone who meets the criteria.
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