Kent Farrington and Up Chiqui did just what they do best in the $75,000 Budweiser Grand Prix de Penn National CSI-W—they went fast.

“I was going to go as fast as he can, which is pretty fast,” Farrington said.

Pretty fast indeed—Up Chiqui’s round brought the crowd to the edge of their seats as Farrington sliced all of the turns and took a daring gallop to the last oxer to win the final class of the Pennsylvania National, Oct. 13-19, in Harrisburg, Pa. It was a repeat of their 2007 victory in the class.

Todd Minikus had set the bar high with an extremely speedy and clear jump-off round on Pavarotti.
“Todd was very fast. We’re both fast riders, but I think I’m riding an exceptionally fast horse. I always think there’s a chance to win riding that horse. If we mess up, it’s my fault,” Farrington said.

“I knew I’d put down a pretty fast round but nothing was for sure,” he continued.

With 10 riders in the jump-off—including speedsters McLain Ward, Margie Engle and Jill Henselwood—Farrington knew speed would be the key factor. There would be no winning with a slow clear round.

But Up Chiqui is built for speed.

“Even doing the same number of strides, I think he’s much faster across the ground. He can do seven strides faster than a lot of horses could do six or five; that’s just the type of horse that he is. He spends very little time in the air. I thought he was neat on the turns, and then I just let him run to the last jump,” Farrington said.

Up Chiqui’s remarkable performance was a welcome change for Farrington from their Pennsylvania National warm-up class, the $25,000 Big Jump, in which Up Chiqui picked up 13 faults.

“I felt he was unfocused, and his rideability wasn’t good. When he’s too fresh, he’s all over the place—it’s like trying to ride a pinball,” he said.

Farrington didn’t have a complicated strategy for improving Up Chiqui in the day between the classes. “I just prayed and left him alone. He just needed to settle in,” he said.

Serio Writes Her Name On The Wall
There’s not much that Louise Serio hasn’t won in the hunter divisions, but until this year, the leading hunter rider title at the Pennsylvania National had eluded her.

“This is something that I’ve always wanted to win, and I’ve been showing here since I was 6 or 7 years old,” said Serio, 53. “Old as I am, I’ve never gotten it done before. When the signs [listing the leading hunter rider from previous years] went up in the ring, I thought, ‘I really want to get on there one time.’ ”

The win meant even more for Serio since the show is almost a local competition for the Kennett Square, Pa., trainer.

Castle Rock, the grand hunter and regular working hunter champion,helped Serio to the leading rider title.
She also rode La Fayette to the first year green hunter reserve championship.
 
Serio’s student, Bryan Baldwin, bought Castle Rock last November. The striking, gray gelding had previously been shown by Holly Orlando.

“He’s got great presence, and he’s a beautiful mover. He really tries to be a winner every time he goes in the ring,” Serio said.

Serio showed the 9-year-old Dutch Warmblood, by Corland, to the regular working hunter circuit championship at the Winter Equestrian Festival (Fla.), and then he took a break. Castle Rock stayed at Baldwin’s farm in Brandon, Fla., for the summer.

“He stays in work, and Bryan rides him herself. She has a beautiful farm down there—it’s like horse heaven,” Serio said.

Castle Rock traveled north to show with Serio at the Middleburg Classic (Va.) in September, where they were champions, and at the Capital Challenge (Md.).

Invincible Is Just That
Ellen Toon has a formidable string of amateur-owner hunters in Invincible and Attaché, and it was Invincible’s turn to take the tricolors as Toon rode him to the grand amateur-owner and amateur-owner, 36 and over, titles.

Toon, South Salem, N.Y., and her trainer and husband Jimmy Toon, found Invincible in Europe in the summer of 2006 and imported him. The flashy bay stepped right up to the first year green division in 2007 and was the amateur-owner, 36 and over, reserve circuit cham-pion at WEF that year, behind Attaché.
This year, Invincible, 8, took over the WEF circuit title and also claimed the grand amateur-owner title at the Capital Challenge.

“He was super easy. He does it very naturally. He’s a very quiet horse. In the two years, he’s never tried to be
bad. He tries so hard at the jumps,” Ellen said.

Ellen laughed when asked about Invincible’s resemblance to her other star amateur horse, In Disguise, who is now retired. “When we first saw him, he was a stallion and much thicker. He looks completely different than when I got him!” Ellen said.

Ellen’s sons helped name Invincible—they’re big sports fans, and the horse is named after a football movie. “We didn’t really know him when we named him that, and Jimmy said, ‘That’s a lot of name to live up to!’ ” she added laughing.

The sports theme continued when Invincible was dubbed “Shaq” as a barn name.

Going For It
Marley Goodman had already won two amateur-owner jumper classes before the Show Jumping Hall of Fame Jumper Classic, and she wanted blue in that one too. But a tight turn in the jump-off didn’t work out for her, and U-2 stopped, leaving room for Paige Johnson to take the win in the class.

Goodman prevailed for the championship on U-2, however, and was philosophical about the mistake.

“I saw the distance—the distance was there—but my horse gets a little nervous in a small ring and it was a blind turn,” she said. “In hindsight, I could have added another stride, but honestly, I thought he was going to be fine. He’s done it before; he can stop, so it’s a fine line with him.”

It was a minor blip for U-2, who was the high amateur-owner jumper circuit champion at WEF and the reserve cham-pion at Devon (Pa.). Goodman had to take some time off from riding this summer, however, since she broke a metacarpal bone in her hand landing off a jump and needed surgery to repair it.

Goodman’s first show back was at the American Gold Cup (Ohio) in September, where she won the high junior/amateur-owner classic on Ronja and placed third on U-2.

U-2 is a Belgian Warmblood (Heartbreaker—Iranka) she bought from Jimmy Torano three years ago. “He’s such a great horse; I enjoy riding him every class,” she said.

Goodman, who is working toward her master’s degree in business, hopes to move back up to the grand prix classes next year at WEF.

Lion King Rules In The NAL
Lindsey Mohr will admit to being a bit nervous before the NAL Adult Hunter Finals. “I was in the stands just shaking,” she said.

“I was more nervous about the first round. I haven’t done the NAL final since 2004, and I won it then. So I kind of felt like I had to win it again. But as soon as I got on, everything was fine.”

That 2004 victory had been in the NAL Children’s Hunter Final, and it was one of her first on Lion King, a flashy chestnut gelding who would become a treasured member of the Mohr family. Lion King and Mohr turned in scores of 85 and 86 to win the adult final this year.

“I think that my two rounds were very consistent, and I think consistency was the key here. He relaxed a lot in the second round. It was so much smoother than my first round; he felt more comfortable,” she said.

Just two weeks before the Pennsylvania National, Lion King had carried Mohr’s younger sister Kristen, 11, to the win in the Taylor Harris National Children’s Medal Finals at the Capital Challenge (Md.).

“He’s so versatile. He’s a character; we call him the diva. He doesn’t like to come out of his stall without a treat. He gets treated like a prince at home,” Mohr said.
 
The Mohrs, who have owned Lion King, 15, for five years, keep him at home at their farm in Long Valley, N.J.

“He gets a lot of time off, just hanging out at our house,” she said. Mohr, 19, is a sophomore at Centenary College (N.J.) and rides in the open division on their Intercollegiate Horse Show Association team.

Tiffany Hammack didn’t know her ride in the NAL Adult Jumper Finals half as well—it was only her fourth time showing Rebound. Hammack, 20, rode the speedy chestnut for her trainer, Lance Williamson.

Another of Williamson’s students, Stephanie Dubois-Emond, rode Rebound to sixth place in the NAL Children’s Jumper Finals two days before.

“He’s very fast,” Hammack said of the 9-year-old. “I think it’s the Quarter Horse in him; he’s got great foot-speed. When he’s running, he’s very smooth. You don’t feel how fast his legs are churning.”

Hammack shocked the crowd with a daring last jump in the jump-off.

“He saved my life at the last jump,” she said. “Originally, our plan was to do five strides, but then Lance saw a few people do four strides, so he told me to do that. I landed and didn’t quite get there, but Rebound took off and jumped anyway. The more you dare him at the jumps, the higher he jumps.”

Molly Sorge