A win for Halliday-Sharp and Maryville Sir Henry

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Elisabeth Halliday-Sharp (Lexington, KY) and Maryville Sir Henry were untouchable all weekend in the Open Repliminary A Division, ending on a score of 28.50 after a clear Cross-Country run on the Captain Mark Phillips course design. Dominic Schramm (Cochranville, PA) and Quadrocana, the Quadrocana Syndicate-owned 2013 Dutch Sport Horse mare (Quadrofino x Ituango XX), climbed to second by ending up on a score of 30.00 after all three phases, while Nilson da Silva (Aiken, SC) and Giana, the 2008 Oldenburg mare (Gatsby x Exetera) owned by Cindy Burke, improved their sixth place score to finish on 32.90 in third.

Halliday-Sharp and her own 2013 Irish Sport Horse gelding (Sir Shutterfly x Cavalier Royale) were up for the challenge on course, and he was “outstanding,” Halliday-Sharp reported. “I was really happy with him. I thought it rode really well, and all the courses were up to height this weekend, which was good. Mark [Phillips] always designs them that way, which I think is very good.

“I think this was, and particularly Intermediate, too, was one of the stronger tracks I’ve ridden for a long time. It was a bit stronger than we’ve seen since COVID in a few divisions, and that’s not a bad thing because maybe we need a kick in the [pants], and it’s given us a preview for what it’s going to be like in November.” Halliday-Sharp elaborated that the White Oak Cross-Country Course, also utilized at the FEI World Equestrian Games™ Tryon 2018, grabs rider attention even between fences. “It’s always quite intense here, because even when you’re not jumping you have so much undulation and different ground, so it always rides intense, and that side of it makes things more challenging sometimes.”

Halliday-Sharp will be bouncing back and forth between several competitions between now and the Tryon International Three Day-Event in November, but will have prepared her horses for the challenge by getting them to the venue in September, she concluded:

“I’m pretty busy between now and November. It’s insane, but we’re just trying to break up the rides so we don’t take ten horses to every event. It’s just better, especially when the upper level horses are running. The [Blue Ridge Mountain Horse Trials presented by EquiSafe Global] is a great event, and we love coming to this venue. It’s just so good for the horses to be in the big arena and experience all the atmosphere. It was an educational weekend for all!”