Page 29 - The Hunt - Spring 2024

“I’m not training for the Olympics. I think people who set goals too far in advance can mess up their horses trying to keep on schedule.”
—Jennie Brannigan
uietly handsome in a classic Hollywood sense, Phillip Dutton has mostly lost his Australian accent. Having grown up on a sheep and wheat farm in New
South Wales, he’s ridden horses almost since infancy. “I probably spend between six and eight hours riding each day,” he estimates.
Dutton came to the United States in 1991 at the age of 27. “It was a great area to be in,” he says of Chester County. “Bruce Davidson helped get me started. Boyd came over later.”
Famous in local and international
racing circles, Davidson competed in four Olympics. His last, 1996, happened to
be Dutton’s first. He competed as part of Australia’s team in three Olympics—1996, 2000 and 2004. The Aussie team won a
gold medal in Atlanta’s 1996 games, one of three Olympic medals Dutton has earned. He became an American citizen in 2006 and has since represented the U.S. on three continents: Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio de Janeiro 2016 and, most recently, Tokyo.
Today, Dutton lives in West Grove with his wife, Evie, their twin daughters, Mary and Olivia, and his stepdaughter, Lee Lee. In addition to the Chester County farm, the couple also own Buck Ridge Farm in Loxahatchee, Florida.
Dutton knows his chances are good for making a ninth Olympics—but he cautions, “Just because you’ve been selected, doesn’t necessarily mean you will go. Something can still happen to you or your horse. Things aren’t looking too bad. Americans in general are doing well in eventing competition so far.”
Of course, much depends on the horses. They carry their own international ratings,
just as riders do. The top ones are ranked from three to five stars. “Horses are generally considered in their prime at around 12 to
15 years,” Dutton says. “A horse usually progresses one star per year.”
Overall, Dutton has about 20 horses progressing through their stages. If he makes it to Paris, he’ll most likely be riding his 15-year-old gelding bay, Z—the same one he ran in Tokyo. He’s well-versed in how to prepare. “Once chosen, the
[U.S. Equestrian] Federation pays for you and your horse to go,” says Dutton.
“The Olympics have had to cut back on eventing, so now there are only three riders on a team from each country.”
Horses will be flown to Paris 10 days
in advance to be exercised nearby. It’s a three-day competition, one each for dressage, cross-country and show jumping. The lowest
score wins, and the three individual scores combine for the team score. Each member performs for less than a half-hour. “If your horse is injured, you’re out,” Dutton notes. “You can’t substitute another horse.”
There are others interested in Dutton’s Olympic prospects. “Each horse is owned by a small syndicate in partnership, with everyone getting full accreditation,” he says. “Z is owned by five people. I had to travel to Portugal to get him, although he was Dutch-bred and a six-year-old in England when we purchased him.”
As horse and rider prepare for what would be Z’s second Olympics, the former seems to have the easier role. “Horses jump twice a week, but not always the most- extreme jumps,” Dutton says. “Each horse usually participates in only two major events per year, like a marathoner.”
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