“I came out of the box ready to win this,” said Sonya Crampton. And with the confidence of Gorgeous George to mirror her own, the pair won a division of the Morven Park CCI*, Sept. 28-Oct. 2 in Leesburg, Va., with a final score of 53.9.

Morven was the first one-star win for Crampton, 34. After finishing with 53.9 in the dressage, Crampton and George went clear on cross-country and in show jumping to seal their victory.

“I think they’re a team that is meant to be together,” said Gorgeous George’s owner and breeder, Nancy Kilcrease. “I actually placed George with Sonya to sell him, but there were no takers. So I thought, ‘This is destiny!’ He was supposed to be with her.”

The 7-year-old Thoroughbred stands at 17 hands and is by War Secretary. Crampton started George as a novice and plans to step him up each year. She’s been working under the guidance of David and Karen O’Connor since January of 2004.

“I think he is one the best horses I’ve ever had,” said Crampton. “I feel like I’ve hit a place in my riding where I’m ready to win, and this year has been getting better and better. It’s so exciting to have built a strong relationship with this horse from the beginning.”

George’s dynamism on the steeplechase seemed to boost his confidence on the cross-country course. “He’s never done a steeplechase before so he didn’t know what it was about. But he just went out there; he found his way,” said Crampton. “And then going into cross-country he was very ahead of my leg and very confident. He just ate it up!”

Originally from British Columbia, Canada, Crampton made frequent visits to Spruce Meadows. So she felt comfortable going into the show jumping at Morven. “I can’t say I wasn’t nervous. This was the hardest work I’ve done in my whole life because I wanted this so bad,” said Crampton. “But jumping is the area I am most confident.”

George will graduate to intermediate next year. “I feel like we are both getting better and better,” said Crampton. “And I’m so happy to be working with the O’Connors. I have the skills, but this year they’ve really taught me how to be competitive.”

Crampton also credits their win to the support of Kilcrease, and her groom, Carrie Mulks.

In division 2, Carrig View proudly finished his first three-day event wrapped with a blue ribbon. Carrig and Emily Beshear galloped their victory lap with a total of 46.8 faults for the three days, an advantage of 8.6 penalties over the nearest competitor.

Beshear, of Orange, Va., has been riding and competing Carrig for a year and a half. The 11-year-old, Irish Sport Horse stallion com-peted as a jumper before owners Jess, Sharon and Robin Sweely of Acorn Hill Farm, near Charlottesville, Va., decided to try Carrig in eventing.

Already soundly involved in the jumper world, the Sweelys are beginning to make their mark in eventing. Beshear also rides several other young eventing horses owned by Acorn Hill.

Carrig View competed at intermediate at the Kentucky Classic in early September, but Morven marks his first championship victory as an eventing horse.

“Right from the first fence, he just ate it up,” Beshear said. “I actually finished the course a lot faster than I expected. I’ve ridden a few courses recently that this horse has not felt as confident on, but he was so confident on this course.”

The pair added no faults to their final score after the cross-country and turned in a clear round in show jumping. “I had to keep telling myself there is no reason to worry because this horse knows his job better than I do,” said Beshear of her show jumping. “He doesn’t like to touch anything. The only concern I really had was if he was going to be tired.”

Beshear said the Sweelys deserve a lot of credit for having patience. “They really believed in this horse. When he started eventing, he was not the most confident and not the most straight forward, but they’ve really given me a lot of time and support to get him to this point,” said Beshear.

Hepp’s “Cross-Country Machine” Runs To Victory

Holly Hepp describes Damien as a “cross-country machine,” and the 13-year-old Thoroughbred-Dutch cross lived up to his title. Damien and Hepp won the Area II Advanced Championship at Morven with a final score of 41.4.

Hepp, of Vass, N.C., has been competing Damien since the summer of 2003 when Phillip Dutton, her trainer, and the horse’s owner, Mari Secrist, handed her the reins. The pair placed eighth at the 2004 Rolex Kentucky CCI****.

Hepp and Damien started the event with a positive performance in the dressage, finishing with a score of 32.3. “He tends to get a little bit anxious in the dressage ring. But for some reason, he loves Morven Park and was really good. He won here last year and won the intermediate with Phillip,” Hepp said.

Hepp approached the cross-country course with the Fair Hill CCI*** (Md.) in mind. She allowed Damien to run at his own pace on the hard ground. Still, his forward stride commanded the course to add only 5.2 time faults, elevating the pair to first place.

Hepp found this year’s new advanced course to be challenging and beneficial for both her and Damien in preparation for Fair Hill two weeks later. Hepp likened the second water drop in particular to one of “Kentucky status.”

“That drop felt huge, and the brush made the horses want to jump higher. Normally you can sit back and drop right in, but you almost wanted to do a second kick-back on this one,” she said.

Damien and Hepp retained their lead with only one rail down in show jumping. “I thought this was a good course too. There were many options, but you had to be accurate,” Hepp said.

Three’s A Charm For Costello

In division 1 of Morven’s advanced horse trials, Wild Delight and Robert Costello claimed victory with a final score of 48.8 in their third appearance at the advanced level.

Costello, of Southern Pines, N.C., began leasing Wild Delight this summer from the horse’s owner, Kati Foley. At Morven, the pair showed a great partnership. But their current affinity hasn’t always been so.

An unfortunate fall at Poplar Place (Ga.) in September became an invaluable experience, inspiring Costello to revise his technique aboard Wild Delight. “I tried to micro-manage things too much, and I overrode him,” said Costello. “I’ve been getting to know him a little better each event. I think I probably rode him the way he really wants to be ridden this time; that is, with lots of pace and staying out of his way.”

Costello and Wild Delight set the pace on the advanced cross-country course with only 5.6 time faults. He expressed slight concern competing on the hard ground but commended course designer Tremaine Cooper for the condition of the course. “The first part was kind of old-fashioned, very forward galloping.

But the last third was more modern and technical with a number of jumps in a short distance, like a power and speed class almost,” said Costello.

“Tremaine, as always, did a beautiful job!”

Their cross-country run elevated the pair from ninth after dressage to first place.

Dressage trainer John Zopatti will accompany Costello and Wild Delight to the Fair Hill CCI. Costello looks forward to the event knowing that Zopatti’s
guidance “will make a huge difference.”

Dutton Meets Le Samurai

Phillip Dutton had only ridden Robyn Fisher’s Le Samurai since the Monday before Morven. Nonetheless, the pair took home the advanced, division 2, blue ribbon.

“I started riding him on Monday, and this is my last day,” said Dutton. “Robyn’s been doing well with him, but he’s been getting a bit strong, so she asked me to ride him.”

Fisher of Woodland Hills, Calif., owns the 10-year-old Holsteiner-Thoroughbred cross. But at this year’s Rolex Kentucky and at the FEI World Cup, Le Samurai became too strong, and Fisher sought out Dutton’s assistance.

“I want to do Fair Hill, but I don’t want to do it like that,” said Fisher, referring to her mishaps at the World Cup and Kentucky.

Dutton agreed to ride Le Samurai at Morven to help assess a strategy for Fisher. The pair placed 12th after dressage, but with only 7.6 cross-country time faults and 1 time fault in show jumping, Dutton and Samurai took over the lead to clinch victory with a final score of 55.1.

Le Samurai was the only horse Dutton rode on the advanced cross-country course. House Doctor, Connaught and Hannigan were withdrawn from competing on the hard ground. “They’ve actually had plenty of competitions so I wasn’t too worried about running cross-country with them. I would rather save them for Fair Hill,” said Dutton.

He will run Hannigan and Connaught at Fair Hill, while Fisher is expected to compete aboard Le Samurai.

Jungle Tale And Free And Clear Draw Attention At Young Event Horse Championship

Four-year-old Jungle Tale, ridden by Donna Smith, emerged victorious at the USEA/Spalding Labs Young Event Horse Championship at Morven Park, Sept. 20, with their final score of 85.6.

Jungle Tale is an Irish Sport Horse sired by Cougar. Her dam, Winter’s Tale, was ridden by Karen O’Connor. Jungle is owned by Jacqueline Mars and is part of Mars’ young event horse program as well as the O’Connor Event Team.

Since April, the gray mare has been running novice events with Donna Smith of Taniwha, New Zealand. Smith and Mars broke Jungle in June of 2004 upon her arrival from Ireland.

The course for 4-year-olds combined traditional fences, oxers, water, ditches and hills. “The course was really good,” said Smith. “It teaches the horses everything. It teaches them to rein in, and it showed them ditches and waters. The water going away from home was especially good.”

Jungle seemed unaffected as she trotted through the water without concern. “I was so proud of her! She actually got quite strong and I thought, ‘Wait a second,’ ” said Smith.

Plans for Jungle remain flexible for now. “She’s a really nice young horse and rides well; we’ll just have to see how far she progresses,” said Smith.

In the 5-year-old division, Pedro Gutierrez’s Orujo de la Galerna was awarded the championship during the awards ceremony. However, after officials discovered a miscalculation in scores, Free And Clear, ridden by Phillip Dutton, turned out victorious with a score of 85.3, just half a point ahead of Gutierrez’s 84.8.

Free And Clear, also called Flinn, was imported from Ont., Canada, last summer from Keith and Elizabeth Douglass, two veterinarians who own Pairadox Farm. He is sired by Mountain Pearl, and Rare One is his dam.

Flinn’s photograph struck current owner, Colleen Hostetter, when she discovered him online. “He had a very nice look with big, confident shoulders. He looked like an eventing horse,” said Hostetter.

Hostetter embarked on the trip to Ontario, reiterating to herself to remain objective, regardless of how the horse looked in the photo. Alas, it was love at first sight.

Flinn had only been under tack a month when Hostetter brought him home. She and Dutton fully broke Flinn in July of last year. Dutton and Flinn competed in several novice events, including a win at Seneca (Md.).

Flinn glided through the course with only a brief look at the water that troubled so many other young horses. “I thought it was a really great course for young horses. It’s nice and wide open and asks good questions of the horses,” said Hostetter.

“It was a good course that really tested the horses, and I think it’s a great addition to this event,” said Dutton.

Hostetter and Dutton are avoiding making any serious plans for Flinn at the moment. “Phillip has really brought this horse along, but we’re taking our time,” said Hostetter. “There is no rush, so we’re just playing it by ear for now.”