Irishman leads after early stages of Maryland 5 Star cross-country plus one fall
Austin O’Connor holds the lead after the early stages of the Mars Maryland 5 Star cross-country.
The Irish rider was the pathfinder on his own and The Salty Syndicate’s seasoned campaigner Colorado Blue. He had a great round, finishing six seconds over the time having had to take a longer line to the final angled hedge element at the Mars Equestrian Crab Water (fence 22abc).
No one else has come near to equalling Austin’s time over Ian Stark’s Maryland 5 Star cross-country track, with US rider Hannah Sue Hollberg the next fastest (7.2 time-penalties) on Capitol HIM.
Piggy March took the long route out of the Mars Equestrian Crab Water (fence 22abc) on John and Chloe Perry and Alison Swinburn’s five-star first-timer Brookfield Cavalier Cruise, finishing with 13.2 time-faults. Having been second after dressage, she is now second behind Austin on the leaderboard of completed riders, with Hannah Sue third.
New Zealand’s Monica Spencer, fourth after dressage, demonstrated how to take on the direct route out of the Mars Equestrian Crab Water with Artist, but still came home with 15.2 time-faults.
The home side’s Phillip Dutton had a fall with Azure when they didn’t get the stride they wanted into the second big corner at the Cecil County Corners (fences 18 and 19ab). Both were quickly up on their feet.
Fellow US rider Booli Selmayr had a couple of problems in the first half of the course and was pulled up by the ground jury at fence 24 with Millfield Lancando.
The leader after dressage, Oliver Townend (Cooley Rosalent), starts at 3.25pm local time (8.25pm British time).
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