Second Postcard: 2009 Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament
October 31, 2009 -- Today's biggest winners at the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament were the North Run crew of Missy Clark, John Brennan and Kristy McCormack. They scored an incredible double, sending Zazou Hoffman out to win the ASPCA Maclay finals, and then, a few hours later, celebrating the victory of their stable rider, Darragh Kenny of Ireland, with their horse, Obelix in the $100,000 Budweiser World Cup Qualifier of Syracuse.
I don't recall any stable ever doing anything like this in the same day. It was pretty impressive and a testimony to the ability of these trainers.
But talk about a long day! The Maclay got under way with 150 riders at 6:30 a.m. at the War Memorial arena, which meant many of those involved got scant sleep, if any, while preparing for this.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the first round course, which was lovely to look at, rather than tricky--as I've seen a little too often in this class--had the aura of an old-fashioned hunter route, with rustic rails, hedges and tree stumps. This layout, happily, wasn't in the least bit contrived. I watched a bit of the competition with U.S. show jumping coach George Morris, who won the Maclay himself as a junior and trained many riders to the title in this class. And he's designed a few very testing Maclay courses as well.
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George explained to me that the course enabled riders to demonstrate their ability without stepping out of their comfort zone, which explained the lack of the heartbreaking disasters I've often seen in the Maclay. Those who were up to it could make a tight turn or hand gallop along one of the long, unrelated distances.
"There are definitely places to show off. What competition is about at the end of the day is all about showing off; based on horsemanship showing off, not something stupid," he told me.
After the flat phase, Samantha Harrison of California was in the lead, followed by Zazou, who is also from California; Catherine Pasmore, Laura Pfieffer and Jennifer Waxman. The judges, Billy Moroney (president of the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association) and Jack Towell came up with an unusual second round. It's apparently been done elsewhere, but never in the Maclay in the eons that I have been covering it.
Look at the course map: It was a take-your-own-line route. Sally Ike, who oversees show jumping for the U.S. Equestrian Federation, had the unenviable task of keeping track of what each of the 24 finalists chose to do, making sure they took the required nine fences and included the required trot jump and hand-gallop. Putting in a whine for myself, it was really tough to take photos of this round, because I had no idea of who was going where, so I couldn't choose the best vantage bpoint; I just had to shoot what I got, trying to second-guess what competitors would do.
They could pick a line that would emphasize their strong points. Zazou, for instance, did a lot off the left lead, because that is the best direction of her mount, Ivy.
This round was very influential, and afterwards, Zazou moved up to first, followed by Chase Boggio, who was 10th following the flatwork, when his counter-canter got interrupted by a horse bumping his mount. Samantha dropped to fourth and dark horse Morgan Hale--who was impressive but had never won a ribbon in an equitation finals--moved into third place.
I was surprised the judges wanted one more test, but they did, asking the top four to ride a conventional course without stirrups. The test did not change the placings, and Zazou's consistency earned her the top spot.
Zazou dissolved into tears when Chase's name was announced as the runner-up in the Miss America-style pinning of the class, from tenth to first. The tears took only a brief respite during the awards ceremony and post-class congratulations and interviews. Zazou, by the way, is named after old-time actress Zasu Pitts. I heard the story when I first met Zazou a couple of years ago at the George Morris Horsemastership program in Florida. At that time, I was told Zazou means "wild thing" in French, according to her mom, Winter, who picked out the name because of its resemblance to Zasu.
Zazou has come close before; she was second in the Pessoa/USEF Medal Finals this year, and third in the Maclay finals last year. It was her final shot, and she hit the bull's-eye. Sadly, her parents couldn't make the trip from California to see her victory. Zazou has been living in Vermont with her trainers, but now will return to the West Coast to finish high school and begin college.
"She's such a hard worker. I can't say enough about her work ethic," said Missy, who has trained her for five or six years.
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