Liz Halliday-Sharp, Miks Master C, Cooley Be Cool, & Cooley Nutcracker (3* & 4* Cross Country) - EDITED
11:50PM Mar 18, +0000
Speakers:
Speaker 2
Liz
Keywords:
horse
thrilled
thought
cooley
great
partnership
plan
run
kentucky
keen
totally
politeness
tryon
bold
brilliant
stable
recap
star
stride
wec
So you want me to sit here? Be professional? Okay. Why is it always only me?
That's because everyone else leaves.
Is Will not going? Is he not coming for the prize giving? Oh, I'm staying till tomorrow because I got girls in the events. I'm staying because I have two girls helping the events, so I'm going to drive back after that. Yeah.
All right, very good. Well, good day for you. Let's start with the four-star with Mickey, can you just recap that ride for us?
I mean, he was fantastic, I'm totally thrilled with it. He was brilliant. Obviously, some of the distances were a little challenging -- they were quite short and he's like a big, bold, big-striding horse -- but he was with me the whole way. I had a few more controls than I expected, which was a good thing. It was sort of my plan, but I probably over-set him up for the odd place, which is where the 0.8 time faults were, but that's totally fine. Looking ahead to the future. I know I could have easily put 10 more seconds into it without much effort, so that's awesome. He is just a world class horse and just had a really great round on him. I feel like we're a real partnership now.
Yeah, so it sounds like he really ticked all the boxes you were looking for this weekend from him.
I was thrilled with him, totally thrilled.
And will he do anything else in between now and his next?
He'll do Stable View, yeah. I'll have probably a quieter round at Stable View, just to make sure we're really organized, and then we'll go to Kentucky.
When you were out there walking, what was your impression of Ian's course, and in terms of what your plan was, did anything kind of shift as you were out there?
For the most part, it went the way I walked it, which was good. I told Ian actually -- I spoke to him after and I said it was a great course -- we maybe could have done with a little bit more room off the bank complex to the angle, because it meant that the bold horses, you had to really pull their heads off. I'd sort of thought about doing three there, and as he jumped the log, I went, 'Oh, no, I don't think three is there,' because he kind of wrapped around it and then I just had a really short four. Everything else, I felt the last water complex was really great course design and made them quick on their feet and thinking, and was great for the riders, great for the horses. I thought it was a really, really good course, one of the best he's ever done here.
How does today's success make you feel set up for Kentucky?
I'm very glad I came here. I came here for a reason; this is probably some of the biggest drops the horse has ever done in competition actually, he hasn't really done that many, so it was a great test for us. A lot of ditches and things like that. It kind of puts you in a place where you know where you are, which was great. I came here, like I said, for a reason: to ride around his track, and I think it was very beneficial.
So less than not even a year into your partnership. Can you just think back to your first cross country on him when you first got him, and then kind of compare that to now?
I don't even think I can compare it! My first competition on him was only like two weeks after I'd had him, and I went to Bromont in the two-long. It just made sense, it was when I could fit it in. He was pretty keen there. He obviously won, but it's not a big feat for a four-star horse. We've come a long way, even from Boekelo last year. He's a very different horse, and we have a much more solidified partnership. He's important. It's a lot of it.
Can you talk a little bit about anything specific? I know there's a lot of things you work on in the off-season, but can you talk a little bit of what your focus might have been with him or what you were doing?
It was my biggest plan to just get him stronger, taking more weight behind. Just keeping him very polite in the jumping from the very beginning, especially in the show jumping as well because he used to get pretty keen and a little bit rude. So it was about just starting out with politeness. That was the plan and I think that's helped him a lot.
Okay, so just moving on to the three-star then, you obviously had a great day there too, if you just want to recap those rides for us.
I was thrilled with both horses. Cooley Be Cool hasn't had a run since last summer and he felt totally world class. It was just brilliant. I was totally thrilled with him. I knew that I had a bit of time in hand so I wasn't necessarily trying to make the time, but I wanted to be quick enough to win and also to test the brakes out, because I was completely out of control in the four-long at Tryon. If anyone saw me there, they know! So I kind of re-jigged that this year and he was brilliant. Just found it easy, found everything in stride, and was very polite. I had a great time, he's just such a class horse. I think he's even better than anybody knows he is. I think he is every part of a five-star world-class horse, so it was just wonderful to be back with him. Cooley Nutcracker was great; again, I didn't go out necessarily trying to run the legs off him. He's gonna move back up to four-star soon. He was very, very good. He's a horse that gets pretty high and careful, so I purposefully came here in the three to just give him a good run. He was great.
I'm just curious, what was your decision to withdraw Monster?
He wasn't really himself yesterday -- I don't remember the last time he had two down. Honestly, the horse is very consistent and very competitive. He's not a horse I run slow because it doesn't suit him. I just thought, 'you know what, we're not going to win today or be at the very, very top,' and he just didn't need the run, quite frankly; he's got Stable View and Kentucky coming up, and he's a very bold horse. -- he's not a horse that needs the extra run. When he's in a place to be competitive, it suits him for the fitness, but he just didn't need it. I thought, let's take him out and jump him at WEC next week, or the week after instead. That'd fit him well, and every horse is allowed an off day. I thought, 'what's the point, he doesn't need the extra run on his legs.' He knows his job, so I feel good about it.
I'm gonna make you repeat yourself just a second because I'm going to make a video for the Carolina Press.