Phillip Dutton and I’m Sew Ready finished a seamless weekend on the top of the leaderboard at the Cloud 11 – Gavilan North LLC. Carolina International CIC3*, part of the Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series. “Jackson” (Lupicor—Jarda) has only competed in two CIC3* competitions, and Phillip kicked on to make the 7:05 optimum time for have a shot at the $35,000 purse. “He probably hasn’t gone that fast in his life. It was a little bit of an eye-opener for him but I believe it’ll be a good experience,” said Phillip. “The horses have to think quick and look for the flags and the jumps have to become a magnet to him and I think he started to figure that out.” “It’s a unique kind of cross-country riding here; there’s a lot of jumping and turning and you have to be able to look for the jump through a bending line or through the woods where the jump is coming at you,” he said. “They’ve done a good job opening the track up but at the end of the day it’s still in a tree forest. It’s not so much about travelling at high speed but being able to make tight turns and save time coming to the jump and being able to get away from the jump. But I’m very pleased for the Bonds and the Nortons...he’s got a great future.” Phillip was also effusively happy with Mighty Nice and Mr. Medicott, who finished third and second in the CIC2*, respectively. “Mighty Nice and Mr. Medicott are just unbelievable cross-country horses. I’ve been doing this a long time but you don’t get any better cross-country horses than that. It’s a real privilege to ‘go along with them,’ is probably the right way to put it.”
