Grand Prix Eventing

from The Aiken Horse April-May 2020

Hold Your Horses

Liz Halliday-Sharp Wins Again

By Pam Gleason, Photography by Pam Gleason and Gary Knoll

Liz Halliday-Sharp was primed and ready for the second annual $50,000 LiftMaster Grand Prix Eventing Showcase at Bruce’s Field in the Aiken Horse Park. The event ran from February 28- 29, with dressage and showjumping on Friday and cross country on Saturday. Liz won the showcase in 2019, its inaugural year, aboard Fernhill by Night. This year, she came to Aiken with three horses: Cooley Quicksilver, Carpe Diem IV and Deniro Z. There were a total of 37 entries, including most of North America’s top names in the sport. World class riders such as Phillip Dutton and Boyd Martin, Doug Payne, Buck Davidson, Lauren Nicholson and Allison Springer all descended on the Aiken Horse Park, where the course was set with spectacular jumps inspired by Aiken landmarks.

The showcase has a hybrid format that is designed to make the competition both more accessible to spectators and a good training exercise for an upper level horse. The main difference between the showcase and a regular horse trial is that the cross country course is shortened and run in a smaller area, with a track that requires riders to cross their own paths as they gallop from one fence to the next.

Because of this, there are never two riders on the course at the same time. At the Aiken Horse Park, some fences are set on the grass, while others are in one of the manicured arenas that normally hold hunter-jumper and dressage shows. It is easy for spectators to follow the action, especially because the final fences are placed in the main arena in front of the VIP tent. The jumping phases are set at the Advanced level, and all of the horses are elite athletes, making for an exciting and impressive show. For training purposes, jumping a shorter track in tight quarters is a good way to accustom horses to performing close to crowds such as those that throng to major international events. The shorter course is also a little easier, causing less wear and tear on athletes preparing for big things in the season to come.

On Friday, competitors started the morning with dressage, performing a five star test, the same level as the one that was scheduled to be at the LandRover Kentucky Three-Day Event at the Kentucky Horse Park in April. Lauren Nicolson (formerly The victory gallop: Liz Halliday-Sharp and Deniro Z

Kieffer) had the best score aboard Veronica, an 18-year-old Dutch warmblood mare. Buck Davidson and Carlevo earned the second spot, a bit less than a point back. Boyd Martin and his Pan American and World Equestrian Games mount Tsetserleg tied for third with Liz Halliday-Sharp on Deniro Z.

In the afternoon, a tough stadium course set by Aiken’s own Michel Vaillancourt scrambled the leaderboard. Lauren Nicholson and Veronica had a rail, knocking them back to a tie for fifth place with Will Faudree on Caeleste, who moved up from the 11 th spot by jumping double clear. Buck Davidson and Carlevo dropped a rail and had time faults to finish the day in ninth place. Liz Halliday-Sharp and Deniro Z jumped clean, but a few time faults put them in second place behind Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg who went double clear. Meanwhile, Phillip Dutton, who was seventh and eighth after dressage aboard Z and Fernhill Singapore respectively, put in his usual professional performance, leaving all the rails up and moving into third and fourth place. It was clear at the end of the day that anything could happen on cross country, and there were several contenders for the Grand Prix crown and the generous prize money.

**Boyd Martin and Tseterleg jumped double clear to take the lead in the afternoon**

On Saturday, horses jumped in reverse order of standing to heighten the drama. Although only two horses had jumping faults, it was immediately obvious that the time allowed of four minutes and three seconds was challenging. To make the time, horses would really have to run between fences, a lesson that riders who went later in the program took especially to heart. The jumps themselves were, if possible, even more spectacular than they were last year. Crowd pleasers included scaled down models of the Willcox hotel, the Palmetto Golf Club, and a new fence this year, Memorial Gate in the Hitchcock Woods.

A few things had changed overnight. Boyd Martin, sitting in first place, had withdrawn Tsetserleg in order to keep him fresh for the upcoming Pine Top Spring Horse Trials two weeks later. Twelve other horses were also withdrawn before cross country day, mostly by riders who considered the event an excellent schooling opportunity and did not have much chance of earning a check. This left Liz-Halliay Sharp in first, Phillip Dutton in second and third, and Will Faudree and Lauren Nicholson tied for fourth.

**Arden Wildasin and IL Vicci over the fox squirrel.**

By the time the leaders were ready to go, everyone knew that they needed to have the same strategy “Go fast and jump all the fences well,” as Liz-Halliday Sharp said afterwards. Of the top five, only Lauren Nicholson and Veronica had time faults, putting them in fifth place. Will Faudree sped around the course in 3:53 to notch the second fastest time so far, behind Doug Payne with Vandiver (3:49.) Then Phillip Dutton put in two excellent rounds, just a few seconds slower than Will. And then it was all up to Liz Halliday-Sharp.

And she flew. Deniro Z, his bay coat glistening in the sunshine, devoured the earth like a racehorse, leaping each fence with room to spare. Stopping the clock at 3:48, he and Liz garnered the fastest time of the day as well as the championship title and the winner’s share of the $50,000 purse.

“Deniro Z and I have a great partnership,” Liz Halliday-Sharp said after her win. “He’s a very good friend of mine, and he was just magic. This horse just keeps getting better and better.”

Asked about how the course rode, Liz said that she thought it was more challenging this year than it was last year and that she knew that she would really have to push to make the time. “But I didn’t feel like I was going crazy. I galloped fast in between fences, but I never felt like I was taking a risk.”

“It’s a lot of fun to be here,” she continued. “The course was a bit stronger than it was last year, and certainly the showjumping was really tough. That’s excellent. It’s what we all need, to be put out of our comfort zone and be put under pressure. It’s why we come to these things: to get better.”