This article orginally appeared at www.useventing.com.

Allentown, N.J. - New Jersey-native Doug Payne led from start to finish in the CIC3* at jersey Fresh riding Crown Talisman, whom he owns in partnership with Larry and Amelia Ross. Payne recently relocated to Raleigh, North Carolina with his new wife, eventer Jessica Hampf, and made the trek back to his home state in hopes of a solid run in preparation for the Pau CCI4* in France.

“Coming away from the event, I think it’s about the most ideal test I could hope for as I prepare to take him to Pau. You sort of learn something new each day – I think he warmed up really well for dressage but I warmed up a touch too long. He’s a hell of a mover, but there’s a fine line of keeping him rideable but not overtired. Silvio was there helping in the show jumping and we also worked on a few things at Rolex on Friday; it was really helpful, working on Tali popping off the ground and being just a little bit sharper. It worked out really well in show jumping here at Jersey Fresh.”

Doug hopes that the Jersey Fresh course, with all its twists and turns, will be the ideal preparation for the notoriously twisting, turning course at Pau. “It doesn’t give the horse a lot of time to read the questions, but Tali was awesome, he’s a very genuine horse. I had ten time penalties; I was going out to be about 80%, I didn’t want something stupid to happen going too fast. I did sort of press him up the cardio hill, but it was sort of a measured thing rather than opening him up all the way. Cross-country was a challenge, for sure, but Tali was great.”

Finishing second was Erin Sylvester on No Boundaries, who is a student of Boyd and Silva Martin. This pair had a fall at Rolex Kentucky, and Sylvester succeeded in rebuilding her confidence with a positive run this weekend. She is planning to go to the CCI3* at Bromont next.

“I schooled with Boyd last week and that was helpful, but I was really scared of making a mistake this weekend and falling again,” she said. “I’ve never had a fall on a course like that where I was having the ride of my life and then, snap, it’s over. That rocked my brain a bit that I could have that bad of a fall and not have any idea it was coming. I really needed this weekend to just get out and have a good run and it felt like my horse was a little wary for the first few jumps, but after we got through the first big combination he kicked out and felt awesome the whole way around.”

The CIC2* also wrapped up Saturday at Jersey Fresh, with last year’s CCI3* winner Lauren Kieffer claiming the division riding Meadowbrook’s Scarlett (47.10). Sarah Cousins was second on Ideal Contini (52.4) and Tik Maynard rounded out the top three on Sapphire (60.2).