An Amazing Run at Burghley for Halpin

Pittstown-baed rider made a mark at one of the world's toughest three-day events. Also: Driver Sara Schmitt survives a scary accident and an update on this weekend at HITS

"It has been kind of a wild summer, hasn't it," Sinead Halpin said with a laugh last week, thinking back on the emotional roller-coaster of just missing a spot on the U.S. Olympic eventing team, then recouping by finishing second in one of the world's toughest three-day events.

After an incredible showing at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials in England, where she led the way in dressage and cross-country before falling one show jumping knockdown short of winning last Sunday, she won't play the game of "what if" as she looks back at the Olympics from the vantagepoint of being home again in her Pittstown stable.

Halpin wound up as the Olympic squad's first alternate, making a pre-dawn trip on July 27 to the "staging area" for the Games' Greenwich equestrian venue, where she waited with Manoir de Carneville (nicknamed Tate) in case one of the U.S. mounts came up lame or had a problem on the morning of the first horse inspection. None did, so she set her sights on the Burghley 4-star instead.

"It all worked out in the end for me," she said.

Her dressage score at Burghley (36.3) was more than 4 penalties better than that of individual gold medalist Michael Jung of Germany (40.6) at the Olympics, though of course, it's not possible to draw a true analogy because the two tests and situations were completely different. Still, it was an excellent mark; she was the only Burghley starter to score in the 30s.

As Jung did in London, Halpin accumulated no time or jumping penalties cross-country at Burghley, deemed by some to be the toughest course in the world.

Their paths diverged with the show jumping, however. Jung was fault-free on Sam in that phase on all-weather Olympic footing; Halpin had three rails down on a natural grass surface to give her lead away to New Zealand's Andrew Nicholson with Avebury, who dropped only two poles.

Halpin wants no comparisons with the Games. If she'd been in the Olympics, she believes, "We wouldn't have been able to lay down a (dressage) score like that at that time.

"I feel like I learned so much in (training) camp after the team was named," she explained, "and I was just getting comfortable with a little bit of a different way of riding him, and I knew if I had another two weeks to get used to that, I'd be able to push that, and that's exactly what happened."

The French-bred Tate has "always been a horse that's been a bit tricky; he's not a horse who takes a lot of contact, never really in front of the leg," she said, noting she had "danced around the issues" for years.

"He's got to go in front of the leg and accept the contact and once you get those two things sorted, you can start to work with his frame and lengthening his neck and be comfortable in that," she explained, citing help she got from Olympian Phillip Dutton and chef d'equipe Mark Phillips.

In the process of getting down to basics, the 30-year-old rider and Tate lost confidence, but by the time Burghley came around, the two of them "owned it."

Tate was scheduled to go in the dressage arena at Burghley after Great Britain's extremely popular Mary King, and Halpin was advised to wait before her entrance, since there was certain to be a huge roar from the crowd after King's test. But she went ahead, the applause thundered, and Tate was proud.

"He thought it was all about him. He picked up another couple of inches. He was brilliant," she chuckled.
"Now he can handle the pressure."

Only four of the 50 starters, including Tate, who completed Burghley's cross-country were double clear. He competently handled such challenges as the Cottesmore Leap, the biggest ditch and brush combo anywhere; the huge Waterloo Logs and Trout Hatchery water complex.

The show jumping, normally a good phase for him, became difficult because of the surface, explained Halpin, who noted Tate jumps better on all-weather footing.

"The course was big and the horses were tired and they didn't jump great out of it. He was struggling covering the back rails," she said. Only four were double-clear.

"He was so exceptional in the other two phases. You can't be disappointed," said Halpin. Burghley is big into ceremonies, so a fuss was made over Halpin and Tate. Like the winner, Halpin got a trophy and was feted at a post-competition champagne reception with her mother, Bernadette Cogdell, who owns the horse.

Tate will get a vacation as Halpin, who got a great deal of support for her English stay from local New Jersey fans, ponders her next move. She'll have to decide on a plan for the spring, choosing between England's Badminton 4-star or Rolex Kentucky, where she first made her name in 2011 by coming in third as the highest-placed American.

Halpin wasn't the only top-10 finish at Burghley for the U.S. Allison Springer, also overlooked for the Olympics, stood sixth on Arthur, who was second at the Rolex Kentucky 4-star last spring. The performances of Halpin and Springer offered a nice boost for the U.S. after a dismal Olympics, where the eventing team was seventh.

"We can play on the international stage, and this proves it," said David O'Connor, who takes over as the U.S. eventing chef d'equipe in January.

"Sinead keeps building; she has a great relationship with the horse, so a success like this to me is not that surprising."

O'Connor, an Olympic individual gold medalist (Sydney, 2000) and president of the U.S. Equestrian Federation, added that "Allison has done an exceptionally good job with that horse, quite a difficult horse, and every experience she has is a learning experience. She's got a way of riding him that is producing results, only because of her outright dedication to keep improving."

Halpin trains with O'Connor, and formerly worked with the world's most successful eventer, William Fox-Pitt of Britain, third at Burghley on Parklane Hawk, his 2012 Rolex Kentucky winner.

ON THE RAIL -- Sara Schmitt's summer had a wild and unhappy ending, as she barely escaped serious injury when her horse, Kaboom, bolted while training in Germany for the U.S. team that will compete in this week's World Single Horse Driving Championship. The Flemington trainer, a veteran of several driving world championships, was warming up for schooling the cones phase when the gray gelding took off and nothing she was able to do could stop him.

"He picked up the canter and he was gone. He ran right next to a building, I tried to run him into the building, and the carriage got stopped and he kept going," said Schmitt, who was fearful of having the carriage tip over. She was dragged a short way as it was.

Schmitt and a groom emerged with scrapes and bruises, but she pointed out, "it ended up being the best of a worst-case scenario. We could have died. He could have broken his neck," said Schmitt, who isn't planning on driving him again.

"He's never done it before," said Schmitt, who had no idea why he ran away. She plans to continue with him in his other profession, ridden dressage, noting a rider has much more control than a driver.

She withdrew from the championship in Portugal.

Today is Laura Chapot's debut in the $1 million Pfizer grand prix at the HITS show in Saugerties, N.Y., but she's not just riding for herself. The Neshanic Station woman in effect will be performing therapy for her 80-year-old father, Frank Chapot, the former U.S. show jumping team coach. He is in a Hunterdon County rehabilitation center after surgery for a subdural hematoma.

"He loves to watch me ride," Chapot said. "It really boosts his spirits when he sees the photos and watches the videos."

Although he can't be on hand in person, he'll be able to see the live streaming of the event, in which his daughter will ride Quointreau Un Prince. She won her sixth grand prix at HITS this season on Friday aboard the horse, which she owns with McLain Ward.

The 38 starters include Ward on his Olympic mount, Antares F, and well as a number of other big names, including 2004 Olympic individual gold medalist Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil (Winsom) and U.S. veteran Margie Engle (Indigo).

Meg O'Mara of Rumson, champion in the high junior jumpers at the Hampton Classic last weekend, continued her streak at HITS Friday with a victory in the National PHA Junior Medal Final on Vancouver.

ACTIVITIES SCHEDULE
Today: Spring Valley Hounds Show, Sand Spring Lane, New Vernon; Oxbow Dressage Show, Combined Test and Horse Trials, 39 Orts Road, Hamburg; Monmouth Local Series Show, East Freehold Showgrounds, Kozloski Road, Freehold; Judged Ride, Horse Park of N.J., Route 524, Allentown; Standardbred Pleasure Horse Association National Show, Horse Park of N.J., Route 524, Allentown; Delaware Valley Horsemen's Association Hunter Show, DVHA Showgrounds, 299 Ringoes-Rosemont Road, Sergeantsville; Woodedge Stable Show, 116A Borton Landing Road, Moorestown; Palermo Championship Series, 1555A Burnt Mills Road, Bedminster.
Wednesday; Blue Spruce Farm Dressage Show, 5 Stanley Pl., Jackson.
Friday: Lord Stirling Stable, 256 S. Maple Ave., Basking Ridge (go to http://www.flss.org for tickets for performances through Sunday); Eastern Pennsylvania Reining Horse Association Show, Gloucester County Dream Park, 400 Route 130 South, Logan Township (through next Sunday).
Saturday: Dressage Schooling Show, Horse Park of N.J., Route 524, Allentown; Sussex County Benefit Show, Sussex County Fairgrounds, Plains Road, Augusta; Tinicum Park Polo, Tinicum Park, 974 River Road/ Route 32, Erwinna, Pa. (one mile south of the Frenchtown, N.J. Bridge, 2-4 p.m. Check for weather cancellations, tinicumpolo.org).
Next Sunday: Tewksbury Trail Pace, Christie Hoffman Park, Tewksbury: ESDCTA Eventing Championships and Dressage Championships, Horse Park of N.J., Route 524, Allentown; Delaware Valley Horsemen's Association Western and Draft Show, DVHA Showgrounds, 299 Ringoes-Rosemont Road, Sergeantsville; Central Jersey Horsemen's Association Show, East Freehold Showgrounds, Kozloski Road, Freehold.
Nancy Jaffer may be reached at nancyjaffer@att.net.