Sometimes winning looks easy and sometimes it just doesn’t. Ask the junior jumper riders about the $7,500 Prix des States Junior Jumper Team Championship. The Zone 2 team representing the best junior jumper riders from NJ, NY and PA made every jump count as they edged the Zone 1, New England squad, by a single downed rail. The defending champions, Zone 5 (IL, IN, KY, MI, OH) were never better than third where they tied with West Coast Zone 10 (CA, NV).
A novice team, they didn’t have a clear round until their fourth and final rider, Hilary Dobbs on Quincy B. Still, they were ahead. Only five of 29 riders negotiated the demanding 15 fence course without flaw; two rails was the average with as many as 9 down on occasion. One competitor retired and two were eliminated.
As 16-year-old Clementine Goutal of NYC observed, “There was no resting point (on the course). It is a small ring.”
“Yeah,” added teammate Dobbs, a freshman at Harvard. “Seeing tonight’s course was WOW; these jumps are bigger and wider than last night’s course. It was grueling, testing both horse and rider’s mental and physical endurance.” Watching the earlier rounds and seeing how the other riders handled, or didn’t, the technical challenges the course presented was a big benefit, she admitted.
Using the International format, the top four teams ride the course a second time, so her teammates enjoyed some of that benefit. Miasha Fisher, 18, had two rails on her second trip, one more than in her first round. Her goal was to “stay solid, not get bogged down thinking about the rails.”
Goutal, riding third, tipped the bar on her first fence of the second round. “I get discouraged sometimes when I ride. It’s such a mental game. Being on a team is good. It was very supportive. I just had to ride the rest of that second round as if it was clean. It was a very technical ride.” She and Rastella succeeded. Their team led as the final team members had their second round. Dobbs, being the anchor and the last rider in the rotation, opted not to show.
“We have a great tradition here at Harrisburg,” said Carolyn Kelly, showing in her second Prix Des States here at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show. “It’s really great to see the flag commemorating our Zone’s victories.
Inspired or irritated by the silver she and Dobbs won in the Young Riders Team Championship earlier this year, she admitted to being “really fired up” to win.
Zone 2 has won seven times in the 26 year history of the event. Only Zone 10 can claim more success. They have 9 victories to their credit.
Competition in the Junior Jumper Championship concludes tomorrow night when riders vie for Individual honors, bringing their accrued scores for the past two nights efforts with them. Also the rider demonstrating the verve most similar to Olympian William C. Steinkraus, will receive a trophy in his name.
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