Will Coleman might have picked up a pair of Fédération Equestre Internationale wins at The Fork at Tryon in Mill Spring, North Carolina, Sept. 12-15, but he’s got his focus firmly on the future with his blue-ribbon mounts Off The Record, who won the CCI4*-S, and Cold Red Rum, winner of the CCI3*-S.

Off The Record, a 15-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding (Arkansas—Drumagoland Bay, ARD Ohio), bred by Peter Brady and owned by the Off The Record Syndicate, is an old partner for Coleman, who competed him in the Young Event Horse series as a 5-year-old. “Timmy’s” resume is deep as the only U.S winner of the Aachen CCIO4-S- (Germany), and includes an FEI Eventing World Championship team silver medal and three Kentucky CCI5*-L completions, all within the top 15. They were named to the U.S. Eventing Team for the Paris Olympics, but Coleman withdrew Timmy prior to the start of competition. Now the pair are targeting a new challenge, the Pau CCI5*-L (France) in October.

“Really the whole weekend was kind of seeing where he was in the dressage and the jumping,” Coleman said. “He hasn’t done anything since before we’d gone to France for the Olympics. But on the cross-country, I, more or less, wanted to give him a really solid run, make sure that the rideability and the focus was there, and he was spectacular on the cross-country; he just ran around like a clock. He was amazing.

“He kind of left the startbox like a rocket,” he added. “I always feel like there are times where he could jump through the combination by himself. He absolutely loves what he’s doing, and it’s just an absolute joy to ride around on a cross-country course on him.”

For “Rum,” the weekend was more about assessing where the 11-year-old Westphalian gelding (Cassone—Quo Vada, Quo Vados), bred by Matthias Rosenkranz and owned by the Cold Red Rum Syndicate, was after a year off from competition following an injury.

“He’s a lovely little horse,” said Coleman. “We got him a few years ago, and unfortunately, he had a very minor injury last year that kind of took him off the campaign trail, but he’s a great horse. He’s had some good results at three-star level. He was basically on the cusp of moving up to four-star when he had this very, very minor injury, but he’s come back, and he’s seemingly picked up where he left off.

“He was also incredible around the cross-country,” he continued. “It was a really stout three-star track, I thought, and asked some good questions. He was on it from the jump. It’s great to have him back, so we’ll try to look now to see what the future holds for him. But nice horse, tons of blood and really could gallop for days. He gave me a great trip around the cross-country at Tryon.”

Read on for a Q&A with Coleman about the weekend:

What made you pick The Fork as a prep run for Timmy?

I didn’t think he needed more than one run before we went back to France. I just decided that Tryon’s a little closer to Pau [than the USEA American Eventing Championships (Kentucky)], and it might end up suiting him a little bit better from a timing standpoint, and I also thought that the venue might be a better prep for kind of the feel of Pau. I do think Clayton [Fredericks, who designed The Fork’s cross-country track] laid out a nice course, and I was really happy I took him there. I think it was a good run for him.

Clayton Fredericks took over course design from Capt. Mark Phillips, who has designed there for years, what did you think of the track Fredericks laid out?

I think Mark did set some good courses there over the years. Clayton has kind of re-imagined some of the routing, and I do think that it’s been a good thing. I think it adds to the flow of the place. It’s not the easiest venue to design cross-country courses that I would say reward rhythmic and forward riding, but I thought Clayton did a pretty good job of doing that. It’s only his first time designing there; I expect going forward it will be even better, and I look forward to going back.

How do you feel like the track helped prepare you for Pau?

Tryon, it’s an old golf course, and so the cross-country kind of loops in and out of this golf course and sort of follows the track of the original golf course design, but there’s lots of little humps and bumps. It ends up riding and feeling kind of technical because you always seem to be coming around a turn or going over a little bump in the ground and then having a jump or a combination. It kind of rewards quick, efficient riding, which I think is sort of what Pau asks of us on the cross-country, and I do think that it’s relatively flat, but there’s lots of undulations, lots of turning. The horses have to be quick-thinking and reactive and very much with their rider, and I think Tryon does reward some of those same things. I’m pleased that Timmy felt so good running around there this weekend. He hasn’t run at Tryon in years, but I’m hoping that we can kind of hold onto some of that when we go to Pau here in a few weeks.

Why did you choose Pau as a fall three-day for Timmy?

You know, he’s an older horse, but he’s done a few five-stars. I’m not sure he has a million five-stars left in him, but he’s in a good place. He obviously was ready to go to Paris [for the Olympics], and we didn’t really get the opportunity to do that, but I still feel like there’s still good results in this horse. He’s not a horse for Burghley [England] or Maryland because I think the stamina and the terrain would just tax him a bit too much. But Pau, like I said, it’s a five-star on relatively flat ground, and seemingly would reward his style of cross-country, which he’s quick thinking and agile. I’ve never been, so I’m sort of speaking without a lot of first-hand knowledge, but I’ve watched it a ton over the years, and I see what horses have done well there, and I’m hoping Timmy can be one of them.

With the disappointment of not getting to compete at the Olympics with either Timmy or Diabolo, has it affected you mindset at all going into the fall season?

My mindset is the same. I just want to try to do right by my horses and try to give them the best opportunities to be successful. I wouldn’t say it’s affected my mindset at all.

Even if these horses had done the Olympics, I think there’s still a good chance that we would be targeting these events.

As disappointed as we were to not get the chance to run in Versailles, we also are very grateful that we still have these horses looking and feeling well and now we can just hopefully put all that energy into Maryland [for Diabolo] and Pau.

Where did you find Rum?

He came from Germany. I got him from Dirk Schrade. He hadn’t really done a lot. He was sort of a green 8-year-old that had very, very low mileage. I think he’s a horse that had just slipped through the cracks, and we picked him up as an 8-year-old and took our time with him. Originally, I hoped would be a horse I could aim to the Pan Ams last year, but his injury killed those dreams. But he’s still not a very old horse, and hopefully he’s got a lot of good career left in front of him.

What’s he like to ride?

He’s a really blood horse, but I wouldn’t call him hot. He’s an incredible galloper. He’s a very, very supple horse to ride. I would say on the flat, the challenge is sort of putting enough structure into the way that he carries himself, because he’s so elastic that he can be a little almost wiggly. But he’s just a nice horse to ride. He goes in a snaffle all three phases and is not a terribly complicated horse. He’s been in our program for a few years, and it all feels very familiar.

Do you have a fall goal for him?

We don’t. We decided we’d get these first two runs under his belt and then see. He’s done one three-long, so I’m sort of half considering whether we should do another one. In many respects, he is ready to move up to the advanced level. We’re still mulling over what might be the best path for him. We’re in a new cycle, and he’s a horse that might figure into some future plans for team stuff. I think he’s come out of this event well, and we’re just going to move forward and maybe take a week or two to set our sights on his next run, whether that’s a move up to advanced or maybe keep him where he is and do another three-long.

Another of your top horses Chin Tonic HS missed most of the year after a concern with his carpal sheath surfaced before dressage at the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S (Kentucky) in April. How is he doing?

He’s great! I rode him today. He’s been back in work now for about 45 days. He had a very minor arthroscopy at the end of May basically just confirming that nothing was wrong with anything in this carpal sheath and this forearm. He feels great. He’s going to come back next season with no restrictions and hopefully be a horse that we can figure into some plans for 2025 and beyond.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I think we’re all still very much pulling for Liz [Halliday, who is recovering from a head injury sustained in a fall at the AEC] and hoping she can make a recovery. This past weekend I know people were wearing ribbons. We’ve had a couple tough accidents this year, and just want to send some positive vibes to her and her team and her family and just know we’re still thinking about her and very much hoping and praying she’s going to make a full recovery and be back to being Liz.