David Raposa had a decision to make before he jumped off in the $65,000 Budweiser Grand Prix de Penn National CSI-W.

Going first of four in the jump-off, he had to choose whether to loop left in a rollback after jumping a triple bar and then gallop down the long side to the last oxer, or to turn right and snake around another fence to get to the last fence.

Raposa chose to turn right, taking the short but windy route to the last jump. And his decision proved wise, as he topped the last class of the Pennsylvania National, Oct. 17-23 in Harrisburg, Pa., aboard Audi’s Fanny de la Tour.

“Sometimes, if I get a long gallop to a fence, she’ll see it and anticipate it, and the wheels will start spinning,” said Raposa. “I practiced doing the turn in the schooling area. I thought if I didn’t do a dead run to the last, she wouldn’t get so excited.”

Raposa set the pace with his clear round in 40.86 seconds, but McLain Ward, next in on his Olympic mount, Sapphire, took a bid.

Ward made a sharp inside turn to the triple bar, and then turned left for the long gallop to the last. But he had to take back at the last minute and stopped the timers at 43.02 seconds.

“I knew they’d all have to go pretty fast to beat me, but after McLain did the one inside turn and was still more than 2 seconds slower, I thought I might have a shot at winning,” said Raposa.

His hope proved valid, as both Georgina Bloomberg, on Riviera, and Candice King, aboard Copa Cabana, grabbed rails and had slower times while turning left.

Harrisburg was Raposa’s first grand prix win since 2002 and a welcome breakthrough with Fanny de la Tour.

“She’s been very unlucky this year; she’s jumped so many four-fault rounds. She’s been jumping so well, but we just haven’t caught a break,” he said.

Raposa, of Clinton, N.Y., bought Fanny de la Tour in the summer of 2003 from Paul and Emile Hendrix in France. “The second day I tried her, I set up what I thought was a quite hard grand prix course, and I warmed up and just jumped her around it. She didn’t put a foot wrong, and I said, ‘OK, I’ll buy her.’

She’s got all the right technique, and she’s very fast,” said Raposa of the 11-year-old Anglo-Arab mare.

Indian Summer’s Winning Season

Indian Summer has all the right technique, too, but his pace is a little slower. He and Sandy Ferrell combined to capture the grand and first year green hunter championships. “His talent is just so natural. It all comes easy to him,” said Ferrell.

She and the elegant chestnut gelding have had a spectacular year, taking the circuit title at the Winter Equestrian Festival (Fla.) and the grand and first year tricolors at Devon (Pa.). “I have to say, pretty much from the first week of WEF, he’s been the same. He’s just so consistent,” said Ferrell.

“I think he’s learned his job so well. He might make a green mistake here and there, but he has a tremendous amount of confidence in what he’s doing,” she added.

Indian Summer, 5, lives with owner Holly Caristo, so Ferrell only gets to ride him occasionally and meets him at shows. “It’s a little bit
hard for me mentally, because I’m such a perfectionist, but Holly does a great job at keeping him going.”

Caristo has also done her own winning on “Indie,” claiming the WCHR adult hunter challenge on him two weeks before Harris-burg, at the Capital Challenge (Md.).

Truly has also notched a winning record with his owner, Molly Ohrstrom, but at the Pennsylvania National, professional Ken Berkley had the ride. He was pinch-hitting for Truly’s usual pilot, Scott Stewart, who broke his ankle in a fall at the beginning of the Capital Challenge and couldn’t show any of his horses.

“To have that kind of string walking onto indoors was great. They’ve all been champion or reserve at all the shows this year. It was a little nerve-wracking, though,to try and fill Scott’s boots,” said Berkley.

“Truly’s two trips the first day were probably my two best hunter trips ever. He was flawless, and he jumped so high and round. He looks through the bridle with class and he’s so athletic,” said Berkley.

Stewart bought Truly, 6, from Jimmy Torano early this year, and Ohrstrom bought him in August. She rode him to a championship in a section of the adult amateur hunters at the Hampton Classic (N.Y.) just days after buying him.

They Know Their Jobs

Morgan Thomas knows Nairobi very well, having ridden the bay stallion since 2002. And they’ve been knocking on the door of big results, but “for some reason, he’s reserve champion a lot,” Thomas said wryly.

Still, it was the Pennsylvania National championship Nairobi claimed, in the regular conformation hunter division. “This is the most consistent he’s been at the bigger horse shows,” said Thomas. “Since he’s a stallion, he’s been a little slow to mature. He kind of has to do things on his own terms. But now he knows his job inside and out, and he likes his routine.”

Nairobi (Lauriston–Iletta, Burggraaf), 9, is an approved Dutch Warmblood stallion and has hundreds of get on the ground in Europe. Owner Kimberly Wang imported him in 2001. She has some babies byNairobi, but he hasn’t been breeding since 2002. “It’s helped to have him full-time, without him getting distracted by breeding,” said Thomas.

GG Valentine only showed nine times this year before the fall indoor season, and she was champion seven times and reserve twice. She kept the spectacular record intact by claiming the Penn National’s regular working hunter tricolor with Jennifer Alfano aboard.

“We treat her like such a little princess,” said Alfano. “If it’s too hot, or too cold, or too wet, she doesn’t show. But she’s earned the right to be treated like that. She’s really quite a phenomenon.”

Alfano has had the ride on “GG” since the mare’s first year green season in 2001, and they’ve been consistent winners ever since.

Ocean Park claimed the second year green hunter tricolor with Peter Pletcher aboard, and then went on to take the amateur-owner, 36 and over reserve title with owner Lynn Walsh.

Amateurs Just Can’t Be Beaten

La Cara and Leah Schwendeman have been champion or reserve in the amateur-owner hunter, 18-35 division every time they’ve shown this year, including the Capital Challenge. They also earned the grand amateur-owner tricolor at Devon in May.

They continued their triumphant ways by winning all four over fences classes at the Penn National to claim the amateur-owner, 18-35 and grand amateur-owner championships.

“I feel like I’m dreaming,” said Schwendeman. “I was just so excited after I won the first class that anything after that was just extra.”

Schwendeman, of Belleville, Ill., started riding La Cara in the spring of 2003, after the mare had been turned out for two years. Trainer Heidi Fish put the two together, since she thought Schwendeman’s tactful riding would suit the 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare’s sensitive nature.

“They just have a really good relationship,” said Fish. “Leah does all the work for the mare. She cleans the stall, feeds her, rides her, everything. They’re very good friends. Leah keeps the program simple and consistent. She knows the mare and what she needs to do to keep her happy.”

Schwendeman keeps La Cara home with her, and doesn’t have to do much to keep the mare in winning style. “I mostly just turn her out. We do a lot of hacking in the fields. She gets a lot of treats, and I just try and keep her routine the same,” she said.

In another repeat of the Devon results, Caroline Moran claimed the amateur-owner hunter, 36 and over tricolor with her own talented mare, In Return. The bay mare also finished as the regular conformation reserve champion with Havens Schatt.

“She had a little bit of a rocky start in the regular conformations earlier in the week, but finished up great. By the time I got to show her, she was ready to roll out of bed and go straight to the ring,” said Moran. “She’s been so consistent all year and just gotten better and better.”

Moran and her venerable Saint Nick were amateur-owner, 18-35 champions at the Pennsylvania National in 2002 and ’03. Moran plans to retire Saint Nick after the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament (N.Y.) in November.

Katrina Woods had a feeling she and Susdal might win the Show Jumping Hall of Fame amateur-owner jumper classic, especially since they’d won a class the night before. “I could tell when I warmed him up that he wanted to win today,” Woods said.

And win they did, topping a six-horse jump-off. Susdal, last to go, shaved more than 2 seconds off the leading clear time. “I didn’t know what I had to beat; I just went in and went as fast as I thought I could,” said Woods.

The jump-off track was complicated, since no jumps were removed from the first round, and riders had to weave their way around them. That, said Woods, “made it hard to go fast, but he’s just so quick. He’s always looking ahead of himself.”

Woods, 19 and a sophomore at Lafayette University (Pa.), and the diminutive chestnut gelding were on the gold-medal Zone 2 team at the North American Young Riders Championships (Ill.).

The Colemans Conquer The NAL Finals

All the glory in the North American League adult hunter and jumper finals went home together, as a husband-and-wife team combined to claim the victories in both. Scott Coleman rode Franco to top the NAL adult jumper finals with the only clear round, while Sharon Coleman claimed the adult hunter finals aboard Hidden Treasure.

Scott and Franco’s clear first round was the only one of 32 starters. Course designer Pierre Jolicoeur built a very technical track, which included a Liverpool that spooked quite a few horses. “The fences came up out of the corners, and they came up fast,” said Scott. “It was tough out there.”

But Scott and Franco were up to the challenge. “I had only one plan–to stay out of his way and let him do his job,” said Scott. “He’s so capable, that usually if I try and do something, I just interfere with him, so I know I need to let him handle it.”

Scott, who trains with Frank and Stacia Madden, has ridden Franco, a 14-year-old warmblood, for three years. The bay gelding has a checkered past.

Max Amaya, an assistant trainer at the Maddens’ Beacon Hill, found Franco pulling a cart in Argentina and paid $400 dollars to buy him. He partnered him with an Argentinian junior rider who he trained, and Franco developed into a talented jumper. Franco accompanied Amaya to the United States a few years ago. When he came up for sale, Sharon knew he’d be the perfect mount for Scott.

“I have my wife to thank for getting Franco. She knew he was for sale, and told Max, ‘Don’t let anyone else buy him.’ Now all the juniors in the barn are very jealous of me because I have Franco!” said Scott.

Scott, of Shrewsbury, N.J., owns a Mercedes dealership and started showing again in 1998 after having ridden as a junior. He and Sharon have been married for 11 years. “She’s my best critic. Every time I go into the ring, I have to get my final instructions from her. But she’s also the best sportsman in the world. She’s the first one to go up and congratulate the winner, no matter what,” said Scott.

Sharon did her own winning in the NAL adult hunter finals aboard Hidden Treasure. She and the bay gelding have a long history together: They earned the amateur-owner hunter, 36 and over championship at the 2000 Washington (D.C.) International.