The odds for a win were in Buck Davidson’s favor at Poplar Place Horse Trials: he rode 11 horses on March 25-27, in Hamilton, Ga., and scored a win in the event’s inaugural CIC** aboard May I Tell Ya.

Cassie and Carl Segal of Pottersville, N.J., purchased May I Tell Ya last June from Patricia Nicholson in Kells, Co. Meath, Ireland. He and Davidson scored a 48.0 in dressage to stand second behind Denise Rath and Dinosaur Roar. When Dinosaur Roar was eliminated on cross-country, May I Tell Ya took the lead and stayed there, finishing on his dressage score and besting a field of 42 horses.

Davidson said that there was no reason that May I Tell Ya should not win the event, his third win this season. “After a good dressage test, he’s a good jumper and he’s fast. He was probably the best horse out there, and he deserved it,” he said.

He plans to ride the 7-year-old gelding at Foxhall (Ga.) and Jersey Fresh (N.J.), both at the two-star level, and then turn him out for a well-earned break.

Davidson also placed third in the two-star aboard Private Treaty, owned by Luke Allen. “Luke has been a friend and supporter for a long time, and it was cool to have him here watching this weekend,” said Buck. “Hopefully this horse will be his first one to compete in Kentucky.”

Tremaine Cooper’s CIC course included fences from the intermediate track, as well as a few beefed-up additions and extra ground. Only four horses did not complete the course: two were eliminated, one retired, and one withdrawn. Nine horses, including May I Tell Ya, completed on their dressage scores.

At the preliminary level, Davidson also piloted Diane Pardee’s 9-year-old gelding Justin to victory. “He’s quite green; this was his third prelim. But he’s a fancy horse,” he said. “He also won his last two. Physically, he’s a world-beater, but mentally he’s an eggbeater! But he has a lot of talent, and I have a lot of hope for his future.”

Davidson also rode five horses for his father, Bruce Sr., who is temporarily taking time out of the tack to heal a broken hand. One of these horses was Jam, a homebred mare by Lion King that Buck previously raced, and placed third in the My Lady’s Manor (Md.) timber race. “He’s Dad’s favorite–he loves her,” said Buck, who rode her to sixth place in advanced, test C, division 2. “It’s harder to ride for Dad than anyone, but I’m glad I can do it.”

Davidson attributed his success over the weekend to the girls at the barn who keep the horses going for him when he is out of town teaching between events. “It’s a complete team effort,” he said. “And I’m lucky to have owners that are also friends and whose company I enjoy.”

A Team Effort

Megan McGregor, 21, took second place in the CIC** riding NZ Dip, a pinto imported from New Zealand. McGregor also won the CIC* riding Pipkin, who took the lead in dressage and added just a little time on cross-country to keep her lead.

McGregor, in her third year at Duke University (N.C.), rides four horses while maintaining a 3.9 grade-point average. She is able to compete largely due to her parents’ help.

John and Trish McGregor, now living in Kerrville, Texas, flew to Raleigh, N.C., to help Megan drive the six hours to Poplar Place, help her during the event, and then drive the horses home on Monday. Sunday after show jumping, they drove her to the Atlanta airport, a little over an hour from the event, so that she could fly back to North Carolina and make it to class on time on Monday.

Poplar Place marked the end of McGregor’s spring competitive season so she can focus on her studies, with the goal of eventually completing a Ph.D. in psychology.

McGregor has owned Pipkin, a Quarter Horse purchased from a girls’ camp in Texas where she spent her summers from age 8 to 16, for four years and trained him herself. “He’s always strong in dressage, and his suspension and movement just gets better,” she said. “He’s the most honest horse I’ve ever had. He just has a hard time making the time on cross-country, but I have started galloping with a friend, and I think it’s working because we almost made the time here, with 3.2 penalties.”

McGregor was confident about the one-star course except for fence 10B, a keyhole corner. “I was terrified of it, but he jumped the log before it and locked right on it. I have a real prelim horse!” she said. “He was fabulous.”

McGregor has competed twice at the advanced level on NZ Dip, who was imported just before she bought him in 2000. “He had an injury so he had some time off, but now he is sound as ever and his dressage has finally come around this year,” she said.

Saras Top Advanced Test C

Sara Kozumplik of Clifton, Va., won advanced, test C, division 1, riding The Middle Man, and Sara Davis of Middleburg, Va., won advanced, test C, division 2, on Dexter Wong. Both horses are New Zealand-breds imported from Vaughn Jefferis, and both riders are students of Karen and David O’Connor.

Kozumplik, 25, is excited about The Middle Man, because he is the first horse she has bought that was already competing actively in eventing. Usually she buys young horses off the track and starts them herself.

“It was a race to buy him,” she said. “I had talked to Vaughn Jefferis about him, and he said there were already some people coming to see him. I bought a plane ticket and went to New Zealand as fast as I could. He’s a special horse. He’s such a competitor. He really knows when it’s important to do well.”

Kozumplik also rode her more experienced campaigner, As You Like It, but said that she rode badly to fence 4 on cross-country and he stopped, so she pulled up. “He’s going to do Badminton [CCI**** (England) in May], and I just want to keep him sound and happy,” she said.

It will be the horse’s sixth trip overseas, after which he will go to his owner, Edith Hornberger’s, daughter to do preliminary. “He’s a teacher in every way–he’s like a seeing-eye dog. He’s always safe on cross-country. Now I can ride Dan [The Middle Man] and have the experience of having jumped those courses already.”

Kozumplik and her fianc鬠advanced event rider Eric Dierks, recently purchased a farm in Ocala, Fla., as a joint venture with their friends Robert and Christopher Desino. The farm backs up to the O’Connor’s farm, and Kozumplik, who still enjoys starting babies off the track, is excited about having a business there.

“We really want to promote U.S.-bred horses,” she said. “When you want to buy a horse here you have to look all over, but we want to have a selection that people can come see in one place.”

Davis, 22, credited her win to the help that she has been receiving from the O’Connors for the past year. “They have gone above and beyond for my riding,” she said. “Karen is totally my idol. I’m built like her and ride the same type of horses, so she can really appreciate what I need to do on a horse. She has helped me learn what to do with my body and how to ride the smaller horses and give them confidence. Since David retired from international competition, he’s really into the coaching, and they have both done amazing things for me.”

Davis plans to compete Dexter Wong, who is named for a London fashion designer, at Foxhall.

Davis also rode Mackinac, a horse she purchased from Olympic skier and advanced eventer Diane Roffe 11³2 years ago. “I had to work really hard to get his trust, and I finally feel like we’re a team,” she said. “He’s an unbelievable little horse.” Mackinac placed fifth in advanced test C, division 1.

Comet Wins Again

Repeating their Poplar Place victory from last fall, Becky Holder of Mendota Heights, Minn., and her gray gelding Courageous Comet won the advanced, test D (31.5). It has been a stellar season for the pair, who also won Sporting Days in Aiken (S.C.) and Pine Top (Ga.) as they prepare to compete at the Rolex Kentucky CCI****.

After an especially good dressage ride that scored a 26.3, Holder was a little disappointed to learn that she was in second place to Bonnie Mosser and Jenga, who scored 25.4. Holder decided to go fast cross-country in hopes of catching Mosser, and her plan worked–though barely. She gained 1.2 time penalties, while Mosser earned 3.6 penalties. They each had a rail down in show jumping, but the gap was wide enough over Jennifer Carter on Leaps

And Bounds, who also had one rail, that the placings held.

“The main water had some good questions,” said Holder of the cross-country course. “They added a second corner to an already big one–they were huge–but they rode really well. I came away really confident, and my horse came away feeling like superman.”

On Saturday night a storm moved in, soaking the ground so thoroughly that the training level and some preliminary cross-country, scheduled for Sunday, had to be canceled and pinned as a combined test. The event was also dampened by the death of Lindsay Pearce’s Rollick In The Sun, who misjudged the distance at the last fence on the intermediate course, flipped and broke his neck. He died instantly. Pearce, a young rider from Ontario, was released from the hospital with no serious injuries.