MYAKKA CITY, Fla.--Sydney Elliott on QC Diamantaire, barn name “Q”, had a clean stadium jumping rounn on Sunday, Nov, 16 to move up from second place to win the feature event, the CCI4*-L at Terranova over 11 horses that returned for the final phase.
Sydney Elliot on CC Diamantaire (Photo by Shannon Brinkman)Will Coleman on Diabolo had won the CCI4*-S the day before.
After a double-clear cross-country round Saturday over a challenging course, Elliott had another clean round jumping, just one second over the optimum time, to secure the CCI4*-L victory.
Phillip Dutton on Possante had been in the lead after dressage with a score of 26.8, but after a rider fall at Fence 6A on cross-country, Dutton was eliminated.
“Dressage has been a work in progress with him,” said Elliott, who was second in that phase score on a sore of of 29.3. “He’s so striking and has great movement, but we’ve never really been consistently scoring in the 20s. I’ve been working with Bettina Hoy for the last few years, just chipping away little by little to improve in the phase.”
“After cross-country yesterday, he felt incredible, so fresh, and even during the hold on the cross-country course, he wasn’t breathing hard," said Elliott. "That gave me a lot of confidence coming into today. He was very fresh this morning, which I was thankful for. He jumped well in the warm-up, and we kept things simple. I focused on not overthinking it. He knows his job and loves it, so I just let him enjoy himself out there, and here we are!”
Elliott had been briefly held on course while a frangible pin was reset from the rider ahead of them, which didn’t seem to faze QC Diamantaire.
“I HAD A big surgery last August, so I was out for a full year. This is only his second run back, and he’s been great,” said Elliott after cross country. “The first was a three-star, then we took him to Plantation for the four-star, and now we’re here. Cross-country was tough today. I love this phase, it’s why I do the sport, but it demanded a lot of accuracy. He can be a little quirky going into water, and that bounce in was pretty impressive, so I definitely lost some sleep over that. But he was incredible. The coffin combination was heavy on everyone’s minds, especially after riding the three-star this morning, and I was a bit cautious about it. Still, it rode well. The course was fair and challenging, and it’s exciting that the designer, Alec Lochore, is also working on the LA 2028 course—that was a big part of why we wanted to compete here.”
Will Coleman on Diabolo (Photo by Shannon Brinkman)Elliott said the stadium course designed by Chris Barnard was fair, thoughtful, and true to his signature style.
“Chris’s courses are always so good,” Elliott said. “They ride exactly how they walk, as long as you keep a cool head. You have some leeway with the distances, which I appreciate. Even in the last line, I thought, ‘There might be a five stride here,’ but then I told myself not to get greedy and stick with the six. And honestly, it rode just the way it walked!”
“It’s been about 10 years, going into our 11th, and as my friend and groom likes to say, we’re basically identical characters,” Elliott said of Q. “He’s a bit of a diva in the best way. He’s incredibly sweet and kind, but very particular about who’s around him, when he wants attention, and when he’d rather be left alone.”
“I know Q really well at this point. We got him from good friends of ours when he was 5, and he’s 15 now," said Elliott. "He’s taken me everywhere, from Aachen to the Kentucky Three-Day Event, We call him the unicorn because he truly is one of a kind. We probably won’t ever have another one like him."
Hayley Frielick on Sportsfield Lumiere surged up the leaderboard Saturday, climbing from fifth to second after a clean cross-country round.
On Sunday, Frielick stayed second with a clean stadium jumping round with no time faults.
The overnight third-placed pair, Ema Klugman on Bronte Beach Z, was eiiminated at the jog inspection so was unable to compete in the final phase.
Saturday was cross-country day for the CCI4*-S, which completed both dressage and stadium jumping Friday.
For Coleman on Diabolo, the weekend was smooth sailing from start to finish.
Coleman led after dressage with a score of 26.1, then had a clear stadium round Friday afternoon, adding just 0.8 time faults after being only a few seconds over the optimum time, especially notable as no other competitor produced a double-clear round.
Saturday, Coleman followed it up with an outstanding cross-country performance, finishing with no jumping penalties and only 20 seconds over the optimum time, securing his lead to win the CCI4*-S.
“The time faults were sort of planned—this was his first run back at this level in about a year after a minor injury in 2024, so we’re just ecstatic to have him back,” Coleman said. “He’s such a quality horse and made it all feel easy today. I had a blast out there, and now we can look ahead to next year. This was the perfect way to finish our season.”
Coleman’s other CCI4*-S mount, Fahrenheit Addict, climbed from fifth to second after Friday’s stadium jumping round.
But time penalties on Saturday’s cross-country course pushed the pair back to fifth in the final CCI4*-S standings.
“Fahrenheit Addict was awesome, he’s a younger horse, and this is his first year at the four-star level with us,” Coleman said. “We really just wanted to give him a nice, confidence-building run to finish the season, and we got that today. He’s improved so much this year, and I’m really excited about his future. It was a great day overall. Our whole barn had a fantastic outing, and a couple of my students did really well, too. We’re fortunate to have such a great village behind us.”
After sitting third following dressage, Lucienne Bellissimo on Dyri slipped to sixth when she had eight jumping faults and 1.6 time penalties in stadium.
But with a cross-country round that produced no jumping penalties and finished just one second over the optimum time, Bellissimo climbed all the way back up to finish second overall in the CCI4*-S.
