Christine Tribble McCrea claimed that the FEI Budweiser World Cup Finals next year in Las Vegas, Nev., weren’t penciled into her calendar. “It wasn’t. I can’t plan that far ahead!” she said.
But after she won her first World Cup-qualifier on Sept. 1, at the $50,000 Grey Goose Vodka CSI-W at the Hampton Classic, Las Vegas looked a lot closer. And she might have to start seriously marking that calendar after following it up with a win in the $100,000 Wachovia Securities American Gold Cup CSI-W.
McCrea and Vegas topped their second consecutive World Cup class in the featured event of the Wachovia Securities American Gold Cup, held Sept. 14-17 in Moreland Hills, Ohio.
“You never know what’s going to happen with the horses. I try to set attainable goals, and if I make them, I’m happy. You never know what’s going to happen–the World Cup is a long time from now. We’ll see–I’ll just take him when he feels good,” McCrea said. “I’m so excited right now–I’ve never won this much in my life!”
McCrea, last to go in the five-horse jump-off, shaved just .7 seconds off Chris Kappler’s time on VDL Oranta, relegating Kappler to second place.
“I didn’t watch him go. I just went in to do my thing. I know my horse, and I know how fast I can go, and I said, ‘I’m just going to go for the nice clear and see where I end up.’ That horse is fast on his own, so it worked out,” McCrea said.
Cara Raether claimed third, with a four-fault round in 39.59 seconds, 2 seconds off the lead. “I knew that both Chris [McCrea and Kappler] were very fast, and my horse isn’t particularly quick, so I was trying to stay on the pace as much as I could,” she said.
Raether rode Quilano de Kalvarie, a full brother to Leslie Howard’s 2002 World Equestrian Games mount, Priobert de Kalvarie.
Frankie Chesler-Ortiz had the unenviable task of going first in the jump-off, and she set the pace with the fastest time of the day on Picolien Zeldenrust, but had the last two fences down after shaving a tight inside turn.
“It was tough because there were a lot of fast horses behind me,” Chesler-Ortiz said. “I went in and gave it a shot. It fell apart a little bit on the inside turn, which I then realized no one else did, but going first I had to take the shot.”
For McCrea, the recent World Cup wins are a satisfying byproduct of doing some hard work on U.S. teams on Samsung Super League tours the past two summers.
“I don’t think I’d be winning now if I didn’t do those tours. He learned a lot, I learned a lot. I gained a lot of confidence in him and in myself. I think everything’s just coming together for me,” she said.
McCrea rode Vegas in the Super League Nations Cups at the CSIOs in Rome (Italy) in May, Hickstead (England) in July and Dublin (Ireland) in August, and they recorded two clean rounds and four four-fault trips.
“Riding with all the world’s best over in Europe–there’s nothing better. I kind of had to sink or swim, and I chose to swim,” she said.
Vegas, a 12-year-old, Dutch Warmblood stallion by Voltaire, is just coming into his own. “I’ve had the horse since he was 8. When I got him, he was almost too good a horse for me. I didn’t have the experience to ride him as well as I should have been able to. But I’ve gained a lot of experience in the past few years, and I’ve sort of grown up with him. Now, I think it, and he does it. We have a really good relationship,” said McCrea.
Can’t Go Any Faster
Tracey Weinberg had much the same kind of connection with Larone in the Show Jumping Hall of Fame High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic. She set off to the first fence with a blazing gallop that widened the eyes of the watching crowds.
“I got it in my head that I had to really gallop to the first jump, and I saw the distance from so far away and really went for it,” Weinberg said. “Then I just kept going. The moment I cleared a jump, I’d be looking for the next one and going for it. I’ve never galloped blind like that. I got lucky, and he sighted in on just what I sighted in on.”
The daring moves paid off with the fastest time, with all the rails in the cups. The class was held Saturday evening, under the lights. “It was a real challenge because the lights were a little bit spotty. I had watched the class the night before and seen that the horses struggled to judge the shadows,” Weinberg said. “But I think the spookiness helped my horse a little–he was ultra-careful.
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“I watched the first horse jump-off, and I knew where I could cut the turns because my horse is small and bouncy,” she continued.
Larone, a 13-year-old, Dutch Warmblood stallion, may be small, but he’s got lots of attitude. “I call him a little prize fighter. He knows when it’s important, and he gets 10 feet taller when he walks into the ring,” she said.
Weinberg, 47, has years of horse show experience, but the majority of it has been in the hunter ring. She just started riding the jumpers three years ago and has been training with Joe Fargis for two years. Weinberg, Lovettsville, Va., works full-time at her Weinberg Brokerage Group.
“I’m entering the late 40s era, so it’s hard,” she said wryly. “But Joe has given me a lot of confidence and let me feel my way. He allows me to keep taking steps within my comfort level. I don’t get to ride often–if I ride once a week before a horse show, it’s a lot. Usually, in my first class, I’m a little tenuous, but then I loosen up.”
In the low junior/amateur-owner jumper classic, Cara Cheska faced a similar challenge as Weinberg. Laura Steffee had gone in and laid down a time that seemed unbeatable in the jump-off.
“I had to go quite fast. I saw Laura go, and I thought, ‘I can’t go faster than that!’ But he really was fast today. He’s such a winner and keeps running,” Cheska said of her winning ride, Game Twist.
Earlier this year, Cheska lost a long-time partner when Modra–the horse her husband, Donald, had ridden in grand prix classes and who she’d shown in the amateur ranks for years–was sold to a student.
Donald was talking to Christine McCrea’s husband, John, this spring, and asked about Game Twist, a horse they’d had their eye on. The McCreas sold the game bay gelding, and the mare My Fair Lady, who Cara rode in the high junior/amateur-owner divisions, to the Cheskas in a package deal.
Cara started showing Game Twist, or “Sparky,” in May. “He has been excellent all summer long. He usually does the highs, but I’d gotten into a bit of a rut of problems with my turning, so here I dropped him down to try new bits and practice in the lows,” she said. “He doesn’t like to be told what to do, but he likes to win, so you have to deal with his cocky attitude.”
And Cara is looking forward to another long partnership with Sparky. “He’s 12, which is quite young to me! All my horses are usually in their late teens, so I’ll have him for quite some time. We’ll go back up to the highs now because we’ve figured out how to turn,” she said.
Watching and cheering from the sidelines was the Cheskas’ 11-month-old daughter, Chapin. Cara had to take eight months off from riding due to the pregnancy. “I was chomping at the bit to get back. It was hard to watch everyone, and I was worried that I wouldn’t remember things. But it all worked out well,” she said.
A Second Chance
Winning the adult amateur jumper classic wasn’t just another ribbon earned for John Martino. It was proof that lots of hard work and faith in a horse paid off.
“This is a big deal because I got the horse as a giveaway because he wasn’t sound. He was out in a field,” Martino said. He got Oriola two years ago from the Caroli family.
“Tommy Serio, who’s a good friend of mine, told me about the horse and said that with some maintenance and good shoeing, he probably could be good for me. He knew he had a good heart and was a winner, just had some issues,” Martino continued.
With veterinarian Tim Ober and farrier Dan Hausman on the case, Martino was able to get Oriola, 15, sound and back in action within four months, and they’ve been showing ever since. They were the reserve circuit champions in the adult amateur jumper, 36 and over, division at the Winter Equestrian Festival (Fla.) this year.
“I try to pick and choose what I do with him. I did two weeks of Lake Placid [N.Y.], and then he had two months off before we showed this weekend,” Martino said. “He was on today. You can only take so much credit. The horse is a great horse and is the real reward for me. Really everything I’ve done for him, I’ve gotten back. The rewarding part is that he was kind of done, but now he’s back. He likes to show, and he’s really people-oriented, and he didn’t like being out in a field.”
Martino, 40, didn’t even start riding until he was 34. He began slowly and was showing at B-rated shows, “but then I met Alex Jayne and Donald Cheska, and they put me on the accelerated program. They’re two great people to start out with,” he said.
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“Alex always helped me buy horses that weren’t perfect–they were stoppers or had problems. But I learned how to ride them, and they’d get sold, and I’d start over. I tried a horse once and fell off three times at the same jump, and Alex said, ‘I think you should buy this horse.’ And I looked at him like he was crazy, but he said, ‘It’s a good horse, and it’ll teach you how to ride.’ I bought him, and it worked out. And then this horse fell into my hands and has been so great.”
Martino spent 20 years in a career as a dog trainer, but this year he decided to devote his life to horses. He spent the summer as barn manager for Bob Kraut and just started the barn manager duties for trainer Jim Perfinas.
“It really makes the day when you’re working hard all day, sending everybody else to the ring, and then you have your own shot. It completes it,” he said.
When Rachel Udelson galloped into the ring to collect her blue ribbon in the children’s jumper classic, ring in-gate person Kevin Giblin called to her, “You get the most improved award!”
Udelson hadn’t had a good day in the first class on Friday, and then she fell off of Lazuli in the first class on Saturday. But she rebounded with verve and pulled off the win in the classic.
“I wanted to end with a strong last round. I’d watched all the rounds before, and I knew that if I went clean in the first round, I’d have a good chance in the jump-off. She’s really quick across the jumps, and she really covers the ground and turns really well,” Udelson said.
Udelson, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, only bought Lazuli in July, and she just started showing in the jumpers this year. The feisty bay mare had been showing in the low junior jumpers with Parris Sellon.
“I watched her show one weekend, and I’ve always loved her. When I got the chance to try her, I was thrilled,” Udelson said.
Udelson, 15, lives just a few minutes down the road from the Cleveland Metroparks Polo Field showgrounds. She’s been a prolific pony rider and just started riding horses. She keeps Lazuli, her equitation horse, and three junior hunters at friend Jennifer Waxman’s farm in Chagrin Hills, and also just started training with Waxman’s trainers, Ken and Emily Smith.
Returning To Its Roots
The 36th American Gold Cup returned to where it all began–Cleveland, Ohio. The first Gold Cup took place in 1970 in Cleveland, and Conrad Homfeld won it on Act 1. The class was originally part of the Chagrin Valley PHA Horse Show, which in 1965 also hosted the first show jumping grand prix.
In 1971 and ’72, the American Gold Cup took place in Tampa, Fla., and then it moved to JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Pa., for seven years. In 1980, it found a home in the Dixon Oval at the Devon (Pa.) showgrounds. And this year, it was welcomed eagerly back to its first home in Cleveland, at the Cleveland Metroparks Polo Field showgrounds.
“The Gold Cup in Cleveland obviously has great history,” said amateur rider Tracey Weinberg. “But I don’t think I’d really realized the significance of it coming back to Cleveland until I was out hacking on the polo field one morning and saw a bronze plaque commemorating the first grand prix, held there. When I read that, I had a great sense of nostalgia, and of the history that had taken place there.”
The facility received a major uplift last year, with the installation of an all-weather surface ring. The 200′ x 300′ ring has been filled with Riso Horse 2000 footing. The former grass footing in Cleveland had made showing grand prix horses in inclement weather a challenge.
“It’s a great facility. They try really hard. It’s a great place for it to come back to,” said Christine McCrea, who won the $100,000 Wachovia Securities American Gold Cup CSI-W. “It was a fantastic show, I loved it. It was a little bit of a slow week because I only had one horse. But now that I’ve been here and seen the facility and the great footing, I’ll definitely be back and bring more horses. I learned how to sleep in this week!”
The show hosted just jumper classes, including the Gold Cup, the $25,000 Wachovia Securities American Gold Cup Welcome Stake, 1.50, 1.45 and 1.40-meter jumpers, junior/amateur-owner classes, and children’s and adult divisions.
“It’s really a rider-friendly show,” said Frankie Chesler-Ortiz.
Molly Sorge