Sinead Halpin, of Middleburg, Va., received a 24th birthday present she’ll never forget on Sunday, Oct. 9, at the Radnor Hunt CCI**. Aboard Tommy II, she galloped to an almost-clear round that elevated her from third after dressage and show jumping to first when the two leaders faulted at the same jump near the end of the cross-country course.

“I was expecting the horse to do well, but not this,” said Halpin with a smile and a look of disbelief.

It was the second water (fence 21ABCD) that made the difference. Actually, it was the D element, a triangle-shaped skinny that completely made the difference. First, second-placed Fleeceworks Pacific Storm ducked out to the left and destroyed Stuart Black’s chances of winning Radnor for the second straight year. Black turned around and pushed Pacific Storm over the jump on the second attempt, but with 12.4 time faults added to the 20 jumping faults, they fell to 13th.

Then, two horses later, first-placed Carlingford Taldi, who’d already survived a couple of near misses, ducked out to the right side of the skinny and then declined to jump the second time. “He just ran out of gas,” said Ransehousen philosophically.

Black said that Pacific Storm didn’t seem to comprehend the skinny, and that he may have ridden it a bit too casually since the dark bay gelding is normally completely reliable on skinnies. “I probably needed to be more on it, to set him up better,” said Black.

Halpin was doubly ecstatic to finish with merely .8 time penalties because combinations had been her undoing since she bought the Australian-bred Thoroughbred last spring from advanced rider Cricket Worthen. “We both have a really hot personality, and it doesn’t always work because neither of us really likes to take a check” before a fence, she said.

Halpin and Tommy were close to the lead throughout the competition, but second-placed Maley Combs, on Land Hope, and third-placed Kurt Martin, on Wood Work, turned in old-fashioned come-from-behind efforts. “I’ll be honest, the only reason I’m here is the rain,” said Martin, 24, of Round Hill, Va.

Combs said she never would have dreamed on Friday night that she’d up second, considering she’d placed only 28th in dressage, 19.1 penalties behind Missy Ransehousen’s winning score. But she climbed all the way to eighth with a perfect show jumping round and moved up six more places by finishing just 1 second slow.

Wood Work was a mere 1.5 points behind Land Hope in dressage, a difference of seven places. And his faultless show jumping round accelerated him 22 places, to 13th before cross-country. With a clear cross-country round, Wood Work was the only starter to finish on his dressage score.

“I’m stoked. I can’t ask any more of my horse than to finish the way she did. It’s just surreal,” beamed Coombs, who purchased the dark bay mare last December in England from Brazilian rider Carlos Parra. She’d completed the British three-stars at Bramham and Blenheim in 2004.

Only four horses finished cross-country with no jumping or time faults (Wood Work, fifth-placed Addis Abba/Lucia Strini, sixth-placed Expedience/Melissa Hunsberger, and eighth-placed All Star Secret/Makendra Palm), with another 10 finishing with no jumping faults but fewer than 10 time faults, including Tommy II and Land Hope.

Five more finished with no jumping faults but more than 10 time faults. Two horses were eliminated for three refusals, eight retired, and 12 withdrew before the day started. Since two more horses failed the final vet check (Happy Valley/Bonnie Mosser and Phantom/Nadeem Noon), and two were eliminated and four retired in show jumping, only 23 of 54 starters finished (42.5%)

Vincent Vega and Dierks won the award for best turned-out at the first horse inspection. Addis Abba won the award for the best-conditioned and the leading young horse, while Strini was the leading young rider. Brittany Brooks, a Canadian citizen who lives in Michigan, won the award for the best-placed Pony Clubber (she’s a member of the Huron Pony Club) and the best-placed foreign rider. She finished 15th with two stops on cross-country.