After a 23-hour rain delay on a stormy weekend in Lake Placid, N.Y., the key to victory in the $75,000 Hermès Grand Prix for Christine McCrea and Promised Land turned out to be “speed, speed, speed.”

“He was really fast today. He was listening and shockingly focused after standing in the stall all day yesterday,” McCrea said of her 13-year-old Holsteiner.

In a jump-off that included half of the 18 entries that started the event on July 7, McCrea and Promised Land finished in 51.49 seconds, more than 3 seconds ahead of Kent Farrington and Up Chiqui, who took the red ribbon with a time of 54.50 seconds.

McCrea claimed victory in dramatic fashion. She and Promised Land were the final entry on the course, charging hard over the last jump. McCrea rose in the saddle and whooped with delight after clearing the timers.

“I really didn’t think there was any way I would catch Kent [in the tie-breaker],” she said. “I knew I had to fly, and I tried to shave time all through the course. I went as fast I could coming up the hill to the last jump, and then my horse jumped it from so far away that he cut enough time to win. He’s so big and powerful, he can jump over anything.”

Their strong performance surprised McCrea as the conditions were trying, and the weather the previous day prevented them from maintaining their usual schedule.

“You just never know with the rain and everything, and he didn’t get exercised at all, so I thought he might be a touch stiff today,” she said. “I just really didn’t know what to expect, but he was on it, and it was fun.”

Strong rains that soaked the final few days of the I Love New York Horse Show helped to knock down the starting field. Originally, there were 31 entries.

The weather affected the course as well as the number of starters, as designer Olaf Petersen Jr. adjusted his test to compensate for the conditions.

McCrea said of the course, “I thought it was good. It was a fair test, and it wasn’t too big, which was nice because the mud took a bit of jump away from them. Some of the verticals were a bit hard.”

Two other riders posted double-clear efforts on the day—Alexa Weeks, of Southport, Conn., placed third with Madison (56.12 seconds), and Debbie Stephens with Allstar took fourth (58.00).

McCrea’s grand prix victory also helped her earn the Richard and Diana Feldman Perpetual Challenge Trophy for Excellence. The award is given to the rider with the most total prize money in the Lake Placid and I Love New York horse shows’ two grand prix events. She placed 11th in the previous week’s $75,000 Budweiser Grand Prix of Lake Placid aboard Promised Land.

Good Combinations
Amy Momrow, Albany, N.Y., scored her biggest win to date when she rode Summer Storm to victory in the $25,000 Leone Family Jumper Classic. Momrow has been partnered with Shaine Brooks’ 10-year-old chestnut for five years and has established a solid partnership with the gelding.

Momrow was one of only five from the starting field of 37 entries to qualify for the jump-off after going clear over the 16-jump first-round course.

Three of those riders finished the nine-jump tiebreaker fault-free, with Momrow first in 48.80 seconds. Danielle Torano, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Vancouver D’Auvrey cruised into second in 49.41 seconds, and McCrea aboard Promised Land was third in 50.03 seconds.

“In the jump-off, I just wanted to go for a clear round,” Momrow said. “Summer Storm is really a very quick horse. I generally don’t have to worry about time allowed. I have to watch that he doesn’t get wide.”

That plan worked out just fine as she was the third competitor in the jump-off, and her fast clear proved unbeatable to the remaining two riders. “I put a lot of trust in my horse and let him take care of the back rails for me,” she said.

Tatiana Dzavik also trusted her mount Esther 126 and was rewarded with a double-clear performance and the blue ribbon in the Levy Family Low Junior Jumper Classic. That trust and a combination of other factors helped to produce the win.

“I have an incredible horse and a great trainer, Missy Clark. It’s just the combination: good riding, good horses, good training,” Dzavik said.

That added up to success on a day when weather and the course provided challenges. “It’s hard riding in that [main grand prix] ring,” she said. “It’s up and down the hills. You know, it’s tough riding out there. The jumps ride a lot bigger than normally in just a flat ring, and it’s on grass and muddy.”

Dzavik also finished 12th on Felix des Noues. “My horses were both incredible,” she said with a smile. During this particular class, victory resulted from avoiding mistakes, not riding fast. Attention to that detail was the key to success as Dzavik and Esther 126 had the only clean round in the jump-off.

“You know, I didn’t struggle with any one particular part [of the first round course],” said Dzavik. “My other horse, Felix des Noues, took one rail down, and it was the tallest vertical on course, jump 6. I just rushed it a little on the first horse and fixed it on the second one.”

Dzavik noted that Fence 6 proved to be the hardest jump on course. “Everybody was taking out that one,” she added. “And then the last jump [in the jump-off] people were knocking down, because they were running, just disorganized. And that one before, people were taking it down, because they were cutting the turn and not riding it correctly. You had to get straight and have enough leg over it.”

Recognition
The best players always remember to give due credit to their teammates. It was just that way with Katherine Newman when she won the junior hunter grand championship honors and the small junior, 16-17, division title.

“I had really good horses, and that was most of it,” Newman said, after taking top honors with Manhattan Mortgage Company’s Corvet Z.

It also took a little luck. A strong rainstorm swept the show grounds during one of her class rides. “Corvet usually doesn’t like the rain, but it didn’t bother him this time,” she said.

Newman, 16, has been riding the 10-year-old Corvet Z for about two years. Owner Melissa Cohn also rides Corvet Z in the adult amateur hunter division, and Newman was grateful for the opportunity with the winning mount.

Debbie Perkins earned the grand adult amateur hunter title and the adult amateur, 36-50, division tricolor with Heart And Soul.

Perkins credited her success to Geoff Teall, who has been her trainer since November. “He really came out of the box and did great,” she said. “He’s a really good fit for me. I’ve really never been with anyone so good. He’s a real professional.”

Following a win in one of her over fences classes, Perkins had high praise for her mount, Heart And Soul. They competed in the muddy hunter ring soon after one of the storms swept through.

“We just went right out, and he did really well,” she said. “It [the weather] does make a difference, but he was a real trooper. It was a great standard course, I thought. Certainly, when you look at conditions, I was happy that it was pretty standard.”