Australian Olympian, Phillip Dutton, took over the lead in the FEI World Cup Qualifier (CIC***-W) at Chatsworth, North Georgia International Horse Trials today with two clear rounds over Richard Lamb’s show jumping course on The Foreman and Hannigan to take the top two places respectively. The overnight leader, Kimberly Severson and Winsome Adante faulted twice to drop them into 4th place while Darren Chiacchia held onto third place despite Windfall 2 lowering a rail.

Dutton from West Grove, PA, and Bruce Duchossois’ 14 year-old Irish Thoroughbred gelding, Hannigan, who were lying in 4th place after the dressage, carved the first clear round of only three in the division to finish on a score of 46.9. He repeated his mastery with another clear round on his second ride of the day aboard Ann Jones’ nine year-old Thoroughbred gelding, The Foreman, to stay on his dressage score of 45.0 and was clearly pleased with his performance. “He’s looking like he’s going to be a really good horse. I thought he jumped really well today,” he commented on The Foreman. “It was a really good course, it didn’t let up anywhere,” he added. Dutton, a previous winner here in 1998 (Fairdinkum); 2001(House Doctor) and 2003 (Simply Red) will be a tough act for challengers seeking to prevent him from adding his name again to the North American Beaulieu Classic CIC*** Perpetual Trophy and take home a large slice of the $30,000 purse.

Severson, Scottsville, VA was less than pleased with her round on last year’s runner-up, Plain Dealing Farm Inc.’s 12 year-old English Thoroughbred gelding, Winsome Adante, after the pair finished on 50.5 penalties. “I had a terrible warm-up,” she said. “That [round] was good compared to what we did in the warm-up,” she added blaming herself. Severson was also respectful of the course stating, “It was a tough course; a really good course.”

Chiacchia, Ocala, FL, and Dr. Timothy Holekamp’s 13 year-old Trakhener stallion, Windfall 2, collected four jumping and one time penalty to finish on 50.3. “The horse jumped great today. It was good preparation for Rolex,” he noted. “I thought Richard (Lamb) built a brilliant course, it was very challenging.”

The cross country phase of the FEI World Cup Qualifier takes place tomorrow over Course Designer, Mark Phillips’ course, which is expected to be shortened from 3,700 meters to 3,250 meters to avoid some of the worst of the wet ground and leave out six fences. A sunny weekend is in prospect, which will help dry out the turf here at Bouckaert Farm for the 27 starters in this division. As Phillips noted, “It doesn’t dry out well here on Georgia clay,” so it needs all the sun it can get.

Full results are posted on the web site at www.bouckaertfarm.com.