BROMONT, Canada--Caroline Pamukcu on HSH Double Sixteen leads in the four star- long.and Phillip Dutton on Denim leads in the four star- short after the cross country at the Bromont CCI.
Caroline Pamukcu on HSH Double Sixteen (Photo by Cealy Tetley)Over the course designed by Derek di Grazia and Jay Hambly, and with persistent rain hovering throughout the day, Pamukcu, the first to compete over the course, was clean with just 4.0 time penalties to finish on a total of 39.5.
After the morning withdrawal of dressage leader Sharon White on Claus 63, Pamukcu is now in the lead.
HSH Double Sixteen raced in Ireland before beginning his eventing career with Irish rider Leila Barker.
Pamukcu picked him up with the intention of reselling him, but after three years in which the gelding went unsold, Pamukcu struck up a partnership of her own with him.
He’s become one of her most consistent CCI4*-S horses, winning four times at the level.
“He's kind of a weird little pony, but I really have so much fun with him,” Pamukcu said. “He's like a little dirt bike. He gave me a really good feeling in the beginning; everything rode to plan. I should have done a better job on dressage, but I wasn't so wound up because I saw we were gonna have rain, then I walked the course before I did my dressage test, so I knew I didn't have to be so stressed.”
“DEREK was very kind here at this course,” Pamukcu said. “He gave you options in all the combinations, so if you wanted to add a step to make it a little bit easy on the horses, you could, or you could do a more direct line, like more of the five-star line. It was really kind of him.”
Phillip Dutton on Denim (Photo by Cealy Tetley)Pamukcu on She's The One is also third going into show jumping after Arden Wildasin on Sunday Times withdrew after the cross country.
She’s The One finished clean with 13.6 time penalties for a two-day total of 48.6.
“At Kentucky, she hit a couple of frangible pin jumps and lost her confidence, so I took an extra second and made sure I jumped the similar types of fences well, and she was just great,” Pamukcu said..
In second is 2025 Bromont CCI4*-L winner and U.S. Olympian Lauren Nicholson, this time riding Jungle’s Gold, who was clean cross-country with 12.8 time penalties added to finish on a two-day score of 45.8 going into show jumping, meaning Pamukcu has a fence in hand.
“It's a hard course for my horse to be quick on, because he can gallop all day long, but this course kind of suits to be quick," said Nicholson. "You need horses a little bit like the type who land and sprint off from things, and he needs a few strides to get up to speed, But he's super rideable, and he just jumped everything in front of him, and I was really happy with him. Bromont is more of a kind of proper track fitness course for him as well.”
Seven time Olympian Dutton on Denim, despite 14.8 time penalties cross country, kept his lead in the CCI4*-S on a total of 44.1.
Only five horses will go on to show jumping on Sunday after one rider retired on course and there were some withdrawals,
Denim is quite experienced at this level, and after a Technical Elimination at Tryon International last month, Dutton opted for the Short division this weekend.
“I wanted to have a good performance, and wanted to go quick, but save a little tank to build things up, but he couldn't have had a better round,” Dutton said. “I was just so mad at myself at Tryon and I just thought this would be a better run for him. This is a great four-star Long but it’s pretty taxing on them too. He’d had a good build-up to Tryon, then to back off and try it again – we just settled on doing the short here.”
Dutton will have two horses qualified for the upcoming FEI Eventing World Championships at Aachen, with both Denim as well as Possante ready for upcoming team selection.
Dutton has one rail in hand over second placed Jessica Phoenix on Fluorescent Adolescent, who finished on a total of 48.3.
Boyd Martin on Fetiche des Rouges is third on a score of 50.7.
Canadian Olympian Colleen Loach moved up from second place with a quick clear round on Chiaro Z Excalibur to finish on 42.1 and overtake the lead in the CCI3*-L division.
“He did the two-Long here last year and he was definitely a lot more tired, especially muscle-wise and body-wise," said Loach. "He was more body tired last year. He looks much better after today compared to a year ago, so he’s getting stronger, muscling up, maturing. The thing I've been working on with him is that he kind of looks ahead for the jumps a little bit more. He's such a good boy, he just sees something at the last minute and he'll jump it, but I would like him to start thinking ahead and looking for the flags. I thought that he did that better today, so I was happy with that.”
Ariel Grald moved from third into second on Obalix on 42.3, and Arden Wildasin jumped from 10th into third on Dalegra with a score of 45.8.
