Alliston Swaps The Lead At Woodside International Horse Trials
Woodside, Calif., Oct. 6, 2012—James
Alliston survived a bittersweet day at the Woodside
International Horse Trials, presented by Equine
Insurance of California and Professional’s Choice.
It was a day of both exciting victory and
disconcerting defeat for him. He won the CIC3* with
Tivoli, after his other ride, Jumbo’s Jake was
eliminated at a brush corner on cross-country. Jake
had been leading after dressage and show jumping.
James also won the CIC2* aboard Mojo.
Jolie Wentworth finished second in both the CIC3*,
aboard GoodKnight (58.9), and in the CIC2*, aboard
Man On A Mission II (55.7). McKenna Shea rode
Landioso to third place (69.6) in the CIC3*.
Tivoli, an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood who was
standing in second place, was the first horse to
tackle Derek di Grazia’s cross-country course in the
CIC3*, and the chestnut gelding galloped around with
authority. With no jumping faults and no time
faults, Tivoli’s performance guaranteed that
Alliston would win the CIC3*.
On Jumbo’s Jake, “It was disappointing, that’s for
sure. He was flying before that. I was having a
great ride,” said Allison, 27. “He was certainly a
bit naughty, and he’s not where I want him to be
right now, so it’s back to the drawing board.”
Alliston thought he might try a different bit to
keep Jumbo’s Jake focused on the jumps.
“But this was a big effort for Tivoli. This show is
the first time he’s been at the head of the class
after dressage, the first time I could really go for
it,” said Alliston. “Being the first out of the box,
you don’t really know how hard the time is to make,
and I wanted to leave nothing to chance, but it
wasn’t a round that felt like it was on the edge.”
Tivoli also won the Fric Frac Berence Heart Award
and $1,000 prize money after a panel of judges
decided that he’d had the best cross-country
performance in the CIC3*.
