Peter Atkins will have a harder time avoiding the spotlight after his advanced win at the Millbrook Horse Trials.

Atkins, who gave up a professional riding career in favor of real estate, rode away with the blue ribbon in advanced, division 2, at the Millbrook Horse Trials, held Aug. 10-13 in Millbrook, N.Y.

Atkins’ win is likely to bring more prospective students knocking on his door. But he’s not sure he’ll open it.

“A few people have come asking for lessons, but I’m lying low right now,” Atkins said.

Until Millbrook, Atkins hadn’t competed in an advanced division in six years. In fact, he said he hasn’t really ridden much at all in the past three years.

“I stopped being a horseman, got married and have been doing other things because it was too hard trying to support a family and be serious doing horses,” he said.

His time out of the saddle certainly didn’t set him back, but it did cause him to be a bit surprised by his first-placed finish, especially considering that it was the first advanced that he and his partner, Figjam, had done together.

“I didn’t care whether I came in first or 10th because of the rounds that we had. I was very pleased with him,” Atkins said.

Atkins, who is from Australia but now lives in Ocala, Fla., said he always wanted to get back into horses, but not working for others. Hence, he took up real estate.

“I went from buying and selling horses to buying and selling houses. I make a little bit more money sometimes,” he said. “And I wanted to earn enough money to buy my own horses and do my own thing rather than trying to do it for other people.”

Atkins owns Figjam, a 10-year-old, 16.1-hand, Thoroughbred gelding that he bought in Australia last year and imported to the United States in December.

“I’ve only been competing him this year because he didn’t travel real well on the way over. So, unfortunately, it’s been a bit slower than I wanted it to be,” he said.

Figjam is Atkins’ only upper-level horse at the moment. Although he’s looking to add more horses to the family stable, he’s not intending to return to eventing as a professional.

“Right now, my wife and I are just enjoying working our own horses,” he said.

Along with adding horses to the family, Atkins is looking to expand his farm property. He currently has a 10-acre farm in Florida but is now searching for property in the Northeast.

Windfall Comes Out On Top
Atkins’ final score of 46.7 penalties gave him the win in advanced, division 2, but it wasn’t enough to earn the overall advanced win and the Adequan/U.S. Eventing Association Gold Cup that went with it. That went to advanced, division 1, winners Darren Chiacchia and Windfall, who finished with a final score of 40.7.

The 13-year-old, 16.2-hand, Trakehner stallion, jumped into first place after dressage and never left that spot.

“Windfall was in great form and put in a great round yesterday and today, which I’m very happy with because we’re trying to prepare for the World Cup in Sweden. So this was a really good go, a really positive weekend for him all around to prepare for that,” Chiacchia said.

James Alliston, of Great Britain, rides with Bruce Davidson Sr. and was in first place in advanced, division 2, after cross-country with Davidson’s former mount, Little Tricky. Alliston was one of only two advanced riders to make it through the cross-country with no jumping or time faults.

But Alliston had to withdraw Little Tricky, a 15-year-old, Thoroughbred gelding before show jumping. “He was sore, and it was the best thing to do,” Alliston said.

The other rider to go clear cross-country was Kristen Bond on Are You Ready. Bond and Are You Ready had a great weekend with the exception of the dressage phase. They finished second in advanced, division 2, on their dressage score of 47.5 penalties.

Bond, who trains with Buck Davidson, said the score was rather unusual for the 8-year-old gelding owned by her father, Ray Bond.

“He started off fantastic, and we had a couple of 8s and everything was going fine. We did the canter work and he just went a bit crazy, but I guess he wasn’t the only one that lost it a little bit halfway through the test. So that was a bit disappointing. And the judge’s comment was like, ‘Oh that’s too bad, he was doing so well�’ ” Bond said.

A Tougher Course
The cross-country course, designed by Tremaine Cooper, knocked a number of competitors out of contention. In the two advanced divisions, of 52 starters, eight failed to finish and most who did had time penalties.

“It was a very challenging course,” Chiacchia said. “I’ve been here before, but I think the addition to the question at fence 5–the corner to the skinny–that was a very serious question, especially early in the course. And then you had a couple of jumps and then faced the second most serious question of the course at 8AB. So you really needed to come out of the box right on your game and get it done early.”

Mara Dean, who finished third in advanced, division 1, with the 11-year-old gelding Nicki Henley, appreciated the challenging course.

“I think they’ve made some good changes out there that made it more difficult than in years past. It was almost a little too easy last year,” she said.

Atkins said the problem was less with the horses than with riders, who let the course get to them.

“It was a good course. But the corner out there scared the hell out of a lot of people, which it shouldn’t have since it was just a nice galloping jump. Cooper’s courses are always challenging. They scare a lot of riders, but the horses love them if you gallop up to them and they’re always very safe,” he said.

The dry weather gave riders their one complaint about both the cross-country and show jumping courses–hard ground. “It was pretty firm out there,” Dean said.

Chiacchia also rode both Better I Do It and Gaspar II in advanced, division 2. He finished fourth with Better I Do It, a 13-year-old, 17.1-hand Swedish Thoroughbred, and finished 10th with Gaspar II, a 7-year-old, 16.3-hand German Warmblood.

“Better I Do It is a new mount for me that I’m just connecting with, so I’m riding him for the Iorios [Theodore Iorio] to see where we’re going to go with him in the future. And Gaspar, owned by Dr. Tim Holekamp, is just 7 this year so he’s just learning the level,” Chiacchia said.

His winning show jumping round with Windfall certainly had spectators holding their breath. The stallion clipped a number of rails, but they all stayed up.

“He does tend to tick them a bit,” Chiacchia said. “But they don’t come down.”