Darren Chiacchia came to The Fork, in Norwood, N.C., with an agenda. After winning the dressage a month earlier at the Red Hills CIC-W*** (Fla.), the nylon rope of Windfall’s gag bit broke near the end of the cross-country course and cost him the victory.

But at The Fork, April 6-9, he encountered no such technical difficulties on his way to winning the $30,000 CIC-W***.

Chiacchia finished on his winning dressage score to take the title that had eluded him earlier this season and show that, after giving Windfall a break from competition for most of 2005, he’s now on track for a spot on this summer’s World Equestrian Games squad.

Judges Brian Ross and Jo Young scored Chiacchia, who rode the final test on Thursday afternoon, almost a point (33.8) ahead of Kim Severson and Winsome Adante (34.7), who rode the first test Friday morning.

“He scored well, but I’ve been really working hard to take it to the next level, and I didn’t have the work in the ring that I’d had in the warm-up,” said Chiacchia. “There’s still another gear in there in the trot.”

Severson said that Winsome Adante had room for improvement, too, and both riders credited their work with six-time dressage Olympian Robert Dover through the U.S. Equestrian Federation for drastically improving their dressage.

“We’ve got the horses going more like dressage horses,” said Severson. “But it’s going to be some time before we can get that in the ring. I was a little disappointed [with my test], but ‘Dan’ is so consistent all the time, he still got a good score.”

On Friday night, reports that the severe weather that had spawned tornadoes, hail and thunderstorms in Tennessee was headed toward North Carolina prompted officials to push cross-country back to Sunday and hold show jumping on Saturday. Marc Donovan’s course, on all-weather footing caused little trouble, with 18 of 31 horses in the CIC-W jumping clear and the top standings virtually unchanged.

“This tends to be more the format we’re used to [at horse trials], so I had to get myself fired up a little more, remind myself it was really important to jump clean,” Chiacchia said. “It’s not quite the same pressure as when show jumping is last.”

Chiacchia managed to produce a clear round with his 2004 Olympic partner to maintain his lead, despite riding through the worst of the downpour. “I thought there would be more penalties than there were,” he said. “The World Cup jumps were bigger, and I was surprised it didn’t present many problems.

Everything was off a bending line; there were no gifts. You had to go out and negotiate the course, but these are top-shelf horses and riders.”

Following the loss of his lead at Red Hills, Chiacchia wasn’t planning to just have a canter around Capt. Mark Phillips’ new cross-country course at The Fork. He said he would “have an earnest go, provided he feels good out of the box. I feel like I haven’t had a real earnest go before Rolex yet this year because of my equipment failure at Red Hills.”

As planned, he finished the course right on the time. “He was just super,” said Chiacchia. “The course was really challenging, and things came up quickly, but that’s where he’s at his best.”

Chiacchia thought The Fork was an ideal venue for a final run before Kentucky. “On your final go before Rolex, you have to be able to depend on the footing, and they have the equipment here to manipulate the footing and prepare the surfaces,” he said of the irrigation system that was watering the track on Friday. “It’s a new venue, so I think their goal was to have a good confidence-builder, and I think [Mark Phillips] and Jim [Cogdell, owner], accomplished
what they set out to get done.”

Close Behind
Severson and “Dan,” Chiacchia’s Olympic teammates, never gave him any room for mistakes, remaining just .9 points behind him all weekend. Severson said her cross-country round with Winsome Adante benefited from mistakes she made on her first ride, Royal Venture.

On “Vennie,” she had a sticky ride through the first water (fence 13 ABC), a series of three turtles to be jumped into, in the middle of, and out of, the Turtle Pond. He then stopped at the goose in the second water, The BB&T Opportunity Pond at fence 17ABC, which involved a drop down a 61�2-foot drop and jump over a goose, followed a few strides later by a narrow fence out of the water.

“Having had the ride on Royal Venture woke me up to some of the issues on the course,” Severson said. “Dan was great. The tougher the courses, the better he goes. I was surprised it rode as hard as it did–it was harder than I’d anticipated.”

While Phillip Dutton withdrew his Red Hills CIC-W*** winner, The Foreman, at the last minute, he had an old star take center stage at The Fork. Nina Gardner’s House Doctor finished fifth in the 2002 World Equestrian Games but suffered an injury there that could have ended his career. After a few years of rest and treatment, he returned this spring to win at Southern Pines (N.C.) and take third in the competitive CIC-W*** at The Fork.

“He’s like Nina’s other child–she bred him, and he’s done so much for her and for me,” said Dutton. “I didn’t think he’d come back to this level; we’re taking it day by day.”

House Doctor was only 10 when he competed at the WEG and just 8 at the 2000 Olympic Games. “He had his young age on his side, and we’ve given him plenty of time,” said Dutton. “We’ve experimented with all the latest veterinary procedures, like stem-cell therapy. He still has a zest for the sport, and he still likes to do it.”

Dutton rode four horses in the World Cup class, finishing inside the time with three and just 2 seconds over the time with the fourth. “A third of the course was ‘let-uppy’ jumps; you didn’t have to take back too much,” he said. “It could get bigger and harder.”

Way Ahead Of The Pack
In her first advanced run of the year, Fleeceworks Starlight ran off with a win, more than 20 points ahead of anyone in the CIC***. Despite a slight hind-end injury in February that set the Irish Sport Horse’s training back, she looked like she hadn’t missed a beat, winning the dressage and just pulling farther and farther ahead of the 43 other entries.

“She had three easy weeks [to recover from her injury], which stalled my fast work and put back my training,” said Black. “I came here to have a serious run and see where she is.”

Black, of Bluemont, Va., chose not to enter the World Cup class since he thought the course in the CIC would be a little shorter.

“To go in the World Cup class would have been pushing my luck, and it would be our last experience before Rolex,” he said. “But it was good to see her score–she would have been third [in the World Cup division].”

He and Starlight, owned in partnership with Cortright Wetherill, won the High Prairie CCI** (Colo.) and the Radnor CCI** (Pa.) in 2004 and finished 10th and eighth at the Foxhall (Ga.) and Fair Hill CCI***s in 2005.

“She’s such a cantankerous devil at home, but she’s as sweet as she can be at a competition. She loves to be here, and it’s fun to be doing this with a horse who loves it,” he said.

Black, a former Canadian Olympian who now has U.S. citizenship, has benefited from the U.S. training sessions, especially from Dover’s help. “At Fair Hill [CCI*** (Md.) last fall] we were not anywhere near the same level of collection [that we have now],” he said. “We were only a few marks off of Kim and Darren [this weekend], and for a 9-year-old, that’s quite an achievement. The help from Robert has been very valuable. I have a very special horse on the flat now.”

He jumped her quietly around the Fair Hill CCI last fall due to her young age. She’d already completed the cross-country at the Luhmuhlen CCI**** (Germany) but wasn’t able to show jump there since she’d banged an ankle.

“Last year I was a little more careful, but this year I’m taking the fast routes,” he said. “This year I came out going for the time, and I got it the first time. I was able to go faster around the course, thanks to Mark [Phillips] helping me ride her from my leg into my hand and to keep galloping.”

He’s hoping Starlight will be fit enough to be competitive at Kentucky and earn a spot on the WEG team, this time riding for the United States. “If I feel I can be quick and competitive, I’ll go,” he said. “Or I’ll skip it and go to Jersey Fresh [CCI*** (N.J.)]. The selectors want to see her do a four-star, but in my opinion, she’s already done one.”

Black thought The Fork’s cross-country course was a little inconsistent. “There were some very tough problems, and there were some intermediate fences,” he said. “You could get lulled into a false sense of security. The few questions he did ask rode fabulously, and it was a super track and used the terrain well. I think it will be a fun future event, and they can do even more with the land.”

A Devotion To Conservation
Jim Cogdell, of Charlotte, N.C., bought 1,500 acres south of Albemarle, N.C., in December 1999. He’s the chairman of Cogdell Spencer Advisors, a real-estate investment trust that specializes in health care, and he raises Irish Draught horses and enjoys foxhunting and bird hunting. He has extensive knowledge of the natural resources in the Stanly County area and a keen interest in preserving the land and its wildlife.

“I wanted to have a wildlife-habitat management area,” said Cogdell, who has won state and regional awards for his innovative soil and water conservation strategies at The Fork.

Every year, he welcomes 250 children to his farm, located at the fork of the Pee Dee and Rocky Rivers, to entertain and educate the children, some of whom are handicapped and developmentally disabled. The weekend of the CIC, 126 local children came to the Outdoor Heritage Days, held in conjunction with the event, and got to meet the riders. In addition, the event brought more than $2 million to the local economy.

The Outdoor Heritage Days included demonstrations from World Clay Champion Jon Kruger, as well as falconry exhibitions and retriever demonstrations.

Cogdell has been an enthusiastic supporter of eventing ever since meeting Capt. Mark Phillips and learning about the sport. “I grew up with champion walking horses, but the eventing world is more to my feeling of going out into the environment, rather than horses who live in boxes,” he said. “I wanted to have turf to please these high-performance horses. When I saw the jumps they’d built, it amazed me that animals can go through there.”

As chairman of the U.S. Eventing Association’s Insurance Committee, Cogdell has worked to protect event organizers and landowners, and he developed the idea of cancellation insurance, to repay at least part of entry fees in the event of a cancellation. His other goals include educating the public about the sport and creating more enthusiasts.

Cogdell has even made arrangements for an endowment to keep the land as open space after his death. “I want to give a lot to the sport,” he said. “I want every rider who rides in the Olympics to ride through Stanly County.”