Teen Tops U.S. Olympic Show Jumping Selection Trials

Reed Kessler, 17, took the measure of the veterans in the trials and also tied for the U.S. national championship with Margie Engle, who is second on the Olympic long list rankings

WELLINGTON, Fla. -- The U.S. national show jumping championship ended in a tie last night between veteran Margie Engle, who competed in the 2000 Sydney Games, and teenage sensation Reed Kessler, who has never even ridden in a senior Nations' Cup.

It was pinned in conjunction with the fourth and last Olympic selection trial, which drew a crowd of about 7,000 to the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. But the fans were denied a jump-off. Though both Engle's mount, Indigo, and Kessler's ride, Cylana, wound up the trials with 12 penalties each, the riders agreed that in the interest of the horses, it would be better to skip a tie-breaker against the clock.

"Four rounds in three days is a lot," explained Engle, the oldest rider in the trials, who turns 54 on Saturday.

"You want to have something left at the end of the time; you still have two more observation trials plus an Olympics to do. It's almost like they did an Olympics here," she continued, referring to the size of the fences the horses faced on Wednesday, in two rounds on Thursday.
and last night.

First-place prize money of $60,000 was combined with the $44,000 set aside for second place to give each woman $52,000. But when it came to the Olympic trials, Kessler amazingly stands atop the ranking list; pretty impressive for a high school senior. The selection committee put Engle second. Laura Kraut (Cedric) and Beezie Madden (Coral Reef Via Volo) were excused from the trials because of their records, but were ranked third and fourth, while Kessler is fifth on another horse, Mika.

McLain Ward' got a bye because of his record, but he couldn't have participated since he is recovering from a broken kneecap. His two horses, Antares F and Sapphire -- part of both the 2004 and 2008 Olympic gold medal efforts, are ranked eighth and 10th.

The courses at the trials, designed by Alan Wade of Ireland, with input from Leopoldo Palacios and Anthony D'Ambrosio, got increasingly difficult, winnowing the field with each successive round until no one emerged with a perfect score.

The questions the trials prompted are the usual ones that pop up before every major championship: Are the horses jumping too much and too hard? What about the time frame, more than four months out from the Games? Who should be excused from the trials? Is objective better than subjective, and vice versa? Are the trials needed at all to produce a medal-winning team?

The answers vary widely, depending who you ask in the sport. Riders and officials from foreign countries, for instance, view the trial concept with puzzlement.

"Why should you ever be restricted to not picking your best available team at the time?" wondered Great Britain's Nick Skelton, the leading rider at the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival here. He has two of the top horses in the world and will simply choose which one to ride at the London Games this summer in consultation with his country's chef d'equipe.

"To go through all the rigamarole of trials and jumping horses. I'm not personally for it," said Skelton, but he added slyly, "I enjoy watching it."

Wade, the designer, said, "I think when you employ a man to do a job, you should have faith in his ability to do it properly. I'm sure a good chef doesn't really need a selection trial; it's hard enough to keep horses healthy and sound, but it just seems to be part of the process over here."

A lawsuit over team selection for the 1990 World Equestrian Games prompted a completely objective process for the 1992 Olympics. That led to the team's loss of Gem Twist, who had earned double Olympic silver four years previously. In the trial, he was eliminated for refusing under difficult conditions and there was no provision for a drop score that could have put him on the team.

The trials have been changed over the years, with an eye toward making them as accurate and flexible as possible, but it's obvious there never will be a perfect solution. Justin Rogers, who is here representing the U.S. Olympic Committee, noted that for some sports, it's simple. In track and field, he said,the first person over the finish line makes the team. Period. In swimming, he added, if 14-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps were to stub his toe on the way to the pool and didn't get in the water, he'd be out. Rogers noted equestrian sport requires a different approach, dealing with horses who are athletes, too.

After the ranked long list is issued, horses still will have to participate in two "observation" competitions during May and June. The short list for the Games will be developed after that by the selection committee in consultation with chef d'equipe George Morris.

Ward thinks the process has become too subjective, even though he points out he's the beneficiary of that by being excused from the trials.

"I think more objectivity needs to be injected back into it," he commented, noting what is needed is "a balance of the two."

Even so, he said, "It's a good system; I don't know if it's exactly the right system. Every year, you have to tweak it a little bit and hopefully you have the right horses healthy at the right time when the Olympics roll around."

Kraut, Skelton's partner, said, "I don't think it's too much jumping this early in the season. It's still the end of March and horses won't have to go to the Olympics until August."

She noted that previously, part of the selection involved competition abroad in the Nations' Cup League, but after a lackluster season, the U.S. was relegated from the league last year.

"Since we're not in it, I think he's (Morris) had to put a little more pressure on these trials than there normally would be," observed Kraut, who rode Teirra in the classes.

"Do I love jumping this big four times in a week? No, but you've got to do it at the Olympics. We need trials, our country's built around that, and I'm a big believer in the trials and a big believer in the chef d'equipe having input."

Sally Ike, the U.S. Equestrian Federation's managing director of show jumping, emphasized how important the trials are in putting together the right team for London.

"It's an Olympic Games, we need to test the horses," she said, noting they rarely jump in that strenuous a format.

The trial concept, she said, "levels the playing field. It's important to have head-to-head competition."

ON THE RAIL -- Dressage trainer Cesar Parra of Whitehouse Station was charged this month by the Hunterdon SPCA in connection with a 2009 incident in which a 4-year-old Hanoverian stallion that he was longeing sustained injuries.

The horse, William PFF, fell and hit his head during the session. The animal's owner, Trudy Miranda, is suing Parra, accusing him of negligence and stating the horse cannot be ridden or used for breeding because of his injuries. Her amended suit also alleges that Parra engaged in "intentional wrongdoing or an act accompanied by a wanton and willful disregard of the rights of another," and tried to longe the horse a second time and "should have known better than to cause the second training incident that resulted in an injury to the horse.''

A statement from Parra said he "is deeply saddened that the horse was injured, but categorically denies any allegation of cruelty, abuse, gross negligence, recklessness or any other inappropriate conduct in the handling of the horse."

It adds, "sometimes horses are injured in the course of being ridden and trained because of their unpredictable behavior without any inappropriate riding or training method involved."

A judge refused to dismiss Miranda's civil suit after Parra's attorney sought summary judgment in the matter.

Parra is to appear in Readington Township municipal court April 5 on separate charges brought by the SPCA of "torment" and "torture... of a living animal," as well as "overdrive, overwork...abuse of a living animal."

While SPCA agents did not witness the incident, the March 9 charges followed notification from a trainer, E. Allen Buck, who is a consultant for Miranda, according to Parra's statement.

Parra, a Pan American Games dressage medalist, is in the process of trying to make the Olympic dressage team.

In his statement, Parra said he believes the legal action is designed to distract him from that goal and reach a settlement, noting he "has no intention to capitulate to such highly suspect behavior."

The first son of Gemini, Gem Twist's clone, was born Friday evening out of the thoroughbred mare, Otherwise Engaged, owned by Lauren McKenna of Pennsylvania.

The news was reported by Mary Chapot, wife of former U.S. show jumping chef d'equipe Frank Chapot. The couple's Chado Farm in Neshanic Station, N.J., owns Gemini. Gem was bred at Chado Farm and Frank Chapot trained him throughout his stellar career, which included earning the title of Best Horse at the 1990 World Equestrian Games with Greg Best riding.

N.J. ACTIVITIES SCHEDULE

Today: Princeton Winter Circuit Show, Hunter Farms, 1315 The Great Road, Princeton; Woodedge at the Park, Horse Park of N.J., Route 524, Allentown; On Course Winter Show Series, 210 Beaver Run Road, Lafayette; Tewksbury Farms Stable Show, Hidden River Farm, 745 Amwell Rd., Neshanic Station; Dressage Schooling Show, Lord Stirling Stable, 256 S. Maple Ave., Basking Ridge.
Friday: Duncraven Winter Circuit and CJL Show, 1300 Trenton-Harbourton Road, Titusville (through next Sunday); N.J. Region Pony Clubs English/Western Tack Auction, Reaville Sportsman's Association Clubhouse, 146 Barley Sheaf Road, Flemington (5 p.m. preview, 6 p.m. start).
Saturday: Wit's End Farm Dressage Schooling Show and Combined Test, 371 Jackson Mills Road, Jackson; Riding With HEART Tack Sale, 639 Route 513, Pittstown; Standardbred Retirement Foundation Tack Sale, Whispering Winds Equestrian, 222 Easy St., Howell (8:30 a.m.-3 p.m.).
Next Sunday: N.J. Region Pony Club Open Dressage Schooling Show, U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation, Pottersville Road, Gladstone.
Nancy Jaffer may be reached at nancyjaffer@att.net.