Doug and Holly Payne Making Their Rolex Kentucky Debut

The USA's only 4-star rated event will be the biggest test in the careers of a brother and sister who have been working for years to compete there

Competition is what it's always been about for the Payne family. When they were little, Doug Payne and his younger sister, Holly, would see who could change their clothes fastest after school and be ready to ride first, recalled their mother, Marilyn.
The two grew up on horseback at their Applewood Farm in Tewksbury, a neat, compact venue where they gave lessons to pay for their first cars and honed skills that enabled them to rise through the ranks of U.S. eventing.

It took years, but the Payne siblings finally will be making their debut in this week's Rolex Kentucky event -- one of only six 4-star-rated fixtures in the world.

At the Kentucky Horse Park, they will ride against each other and dozens of the best competitors from the U.S. and abroad. As luck would have it, a random draw put Doug 24th in the order of go, while his sister is 25th.

It's a disadvantage, because Holly cannot use her brother as a path-finder on Saturday's cross-country phase, since he won't be able to pass intelligence about the route to her before she starts out. On the other hand, it may make things easier for Marilyn Payne and her husband, Richard. They'll get the breathlessly exciting and agonizing spectating over with in one fell swoop.

Though they help each other out and live in the same Gladstone building, in condos bought with money from the sale of horses they trained, the siblings aren't the type to stand aside for family loyalty when it comes to riding against each other.

"Neither of us like losing," explained Doug, 30, who is based at a farm in Califon.
Both will be riding horses they have brought along themselves. ``It makes it a little more challenging, but it's more rewarding in the end,'' he pointed out.

"They're going down the same road, but separately," his mother commented about her children.

Doug and Holly have requested to be considered for the Olympics, since Rolex is a selection trial for this summer's London Games, though there is a line of people ahead of them from the high performance training list. The only ones in the "A" category, however, are Boyd Martin and his mentor, Phillip Dutton, along with Sinead Halpin of Pittstown. But doing well at Rolex can suddenly put you on the map, as Halpin knows. She finished third in her Kentucky debut last year as the highest-placed American, and this year, team selectors decided she doesn't even have to compete at Rolex. Halpin and her horse, Manoir de Carneville, instead will be the "guinea pig" combo for the dressage phase, performing the test so judges can check themselves and make sure they're on the same page before the segment officially begins.

Doug and Holly are carpooling to Lexington with Doug's girlfriend, Jessica Hampf, a member of the Canadian National Eventing Team, who is also trying for an Olympic berth with High Society III. He anticipates they all will walk the course together.

"It's great to have a go-to person who is always going to be honest with you," his sister observed.

Doug is riding Running Order for owner Patti Springsteen, who has never seen him compete. She is on tour performing with her husband, Bruce, so she can't make it to Kentucky, but she'll be well-informed through texts and phone calls about how her Irishbred ex-steeplechaser is doing.

Running Order started out with his rider in the beginner novice category during 2006 at the age of four. In 2011, he was third in the advanced section of the U.S. Eventing Association's year-end awards. Now that he's at the top of the game, Doug said, "it doesn't exactly feel real yet. It's a little hard to believe. Obviously, I'm excited and a little bit nervous."

Giving an interview punctuated by Running Order's hoofbeats as he rode, Doug said the 10-year-old 17.1-hand gelding has been harder for him to bring along than some of his other mounts, but he's been worth the time to develop a partnership because ``he's a very, very talented horse...quick-footed and quick-thinking.''

Doug and Holly prepped for their dressage competition with lessons last week from international dressage judge Linda Zang. She's a friend of their mother, who was an eventing judge at the last Olympics and is a well-known trainer/rider who gave her children a firm foundation in their sport. Their father -- whose preferred competition is automobile road racing with his Corvette -- handles construction and maintenance at the farm.

Although this is his first time riding at Rolex, Doug been there several times, to help out friends and also as a developer of a helmet camera that takes viewers on a cross-country trip from the rider's vantagepoint. Doug, who has a mechanical engineering degree, worked for NBC in 2005, when they used the technology for their broadcast of the event. (This year's competition will be shown from 10 a.m.-noon Saturday on the Universal Sports Network and broadcast from 1:30-3:30 p.m. that day on NBC. Next Sunday, NBC will air the show jumping from 2-3 p.m. Live streaming video will begin Thursday on usefnetwork.com and continue through next Sunday.)

His sister qualified for Rolex in 2009, but skipped it in order to get mileage abroad by competing at the Blenheim, England, 3-star with Madeline, known around the barn as Baby.

The 12-year-old 15.1-hand chestnut, was part of a bargain package deal with two other horses her mother bought from a farm in the Midwest. The two larger horses wound up as foxhunters, but Baby and Holly went on to bigger things, with Rolex the biggest so far. Injuries meant they missed Rolex in 2010 and 2011, so actually heading to Kentucky seems a little unreal for Holly, 28.

"I won't believe it until I actually get there until I'm going down center line," she said.
"It's always been a goal of mine forever to go there. The atmosphere is so huge; they do such a good job putting together the event. You can't find an event like it in the U.S. The amount of people who turn out for it and the quality of horses and riders that go there, the cross-country is well-built: It's a world class event."

The mare was purchased by Jill Gordon as a project for her daughter, with the idea of selling her before the girl went to college. But after the daughter graduated, Holly, who works out of her parents' stable and a place in Far Hills, started riding the mare to get her ready to be sold.

"It took a while, but when she was saleable, her owner fell in love with her and decided she never wanted to sell her," Holly recounted.

"I'm really hoping for a good run. I've got all the confidence that she can do it, but we'll see. You know horses, anything can happen."

Baby's weak point has always been dressage, but the lessons with Zang apparently are paying off. Holly tied for first on 32.20 penalties in the advanced sections at this weekend's Fair Hill, Md., horse trials, her last prep for Rolex.

ON THE RAIL -- Centenary College is hosting a "Denim, Diamonds & Cavalrymen" fundraiser May 10 at the Equestrian Center on Califon Road in Long Valley.  Featured are a cocktail reception, dinner and auctions.

Being honored for their commitment to the college's equine studies program are Glenn and Laura Pabst, parents of a Centenary equestrian student; the Essex Troop, an organization of elite horsemen and military veterans associated with the 102d Armor Regiment and its roots as a cavalry unit; and Penelope Ayers, an advocate for the program.

The celebrity guest will be Sussex County native James Fairclough of History Channel’s "Full Metal Jousting." Money raised from the evening will go toward the Equestrian Center Enhancement Project and therapeutic riding. For information call Kate Booth at (908) 852-1400, ext. 2468, or e-mail boothk@centenarycollege.edu. ...

Sara Schmitt of Pittstown finished third with Kaboom in last weekend's National Single Horse Championship. The event was won by Sterling Graburn with Ulano. Donna Crookston and RG Cowboy's Black Cadillac were second.

ACTIVITIES SCHEDULE

Today: Woodedge at the Park Show, Horse Park of N.J., Route 524, Allentown; Palermo Finals Warm-Up Show, 1555A Burnt Mills Road, Bedminster; Palermo Winter Finals, 1555A Burnt Mills Road, Bedminster; On Course Winter Show Series, 210 Beaver Run Road, Lafayette; Garden State Appaloosa Association Show, Horse Park of New Jersey, Route 524, Allentown; Garden State Paint Horse Club Show, Gloucester County Dream Park, 400 Route 130 South, Logan Township; Delaware Valley Horsemen's Association Hunter Show, DVHA Showgrounds, Route 604, Sergeantsvile; Amwell Valley Hounds Hunter Pace, Hillsborough Golf and Country Club, 146 Wertsville Road, Hillsborough (9 a.m.-1 p.m.); Oxbow Stables Combined Test, 39 Orts Road, Hamburg; CJL Show, East Freehold Park, 1500 Koslowski Road, Freehold; Saddle Up for St. Jude's Hunter Pace, Bucks Mill Park, Colts Neck.
Wednesday: Hunter Farms Spring Classic, 1315 The Great Road, Princeton (through next Sunday).
Friday: NJ Quarter Horse Association Show, Gloucester County Dream Park, 400 Route 130 South, Logan Township (through next Sunday).
Saturday: Garden State Preview, Sussex County Fairgrounds, Plains Road, Augusta (through next Sunday); Central Jersey Horsemen's Association English, Western, Standardbred Show, East Freehold Park, Kozloski Road, Freehold.
Next Sunday: Horse Park of New Jersey Dressage Schooling Show, Route 524, Allentown; Delaware Valley Horsemen's Association Driving Show, DVHA Showgrounds, Route 604, Sergeantsville; Spring Nature Trail Ride, Lord Stirling Stables, 256 S. Maple Ave., Basking Ridge
Nancy Jaffer may be reached at nancyjaffer@att.net.