The bright sun and cloudless sky the morning of the 100-mile AERC National Championship, Oct. 7, brought the promise of a very hot day, as 30 riders took the trail at 6:30 a.m. at the Warner Springs Ranch, northeast of San Diego, Calif.

Heather Reynolds from Los Gatos, Calif., piloted Aleclipse (MHF Eclipse C–Malabar Athena) home first to clinch the lightweight championship at 11:48 p.m.

“It was a very difficult course, but he was great and did his job,” Reynolds said. “He liked having company but did well alone on the last loop.”

At Aleclipse’s cardiac recovery index exam at the end of the ride, head veterinarian Barney Fleming said, “That horse looks like he came off the trailer instead of off the trail.” He looked ready to go the next morning and received the best condition award and the prize of a Specialized saddle.

Reynolds, 27, rode in the lead for most of the day, ticking off the first loop of 12 miles in an hour. The first check at 12 miles was a pulse and go, and Aleclipse immediately pulsed down, allowing Reynolds to be first out of the gate. Right behind her onto loop 2 by minutes were Cheryl Dell of Springville, Calif., riding Mack, and Suzanne Ford Huff of Gardnerville, Nev., riding Chase The Wind AH.

There followed a long climb to the Los Coyotes Indian Reservation and the Lost Valley Boy Scout Camp at 34 miles. The 58-mile vet check and one-hour hold were back at base camp, where Aleclipse again had great recoveries.

Reynolds set out for the Mataguay Boy Scout Camp and the 73-mile mark, riding most of the way in the company of Dell and Huff. The trio took almost three hours to make this 15-mile loop, as they encountered “a mountain” that they walked up in the almost 90-degree heat. This route took them through the area burned in the spring by arson. The three riders pulsed down, and after their hold, left within seconds of each other. Out on the trail, they elected to ride the 17-mile loop back to base camp together.

Aleclipse’s excellent recoveries and Reynolds’ competition experience gave her an edge on this moonless night. Leaving vet check 5 minutes before Dell and Huff, Reynolds let “Al” have his head on this last, 10-mile loop. There were some tense minutes as the leader discovered herself truly in the dark, as the glow bars were difficult to find on this section of the trail. With the late rising of the tiny sliver of moon, there was truly no light.

Reynolds said, “We got lost for about 15 minutes on the last loop. We went down a ravine and found a barbed wire fence. When we had to backtrack, we turned around. I got re-oriented, and I saw a glow bar as I was facing in the opposite direction.”

She made the finish line, unaware that Dell and Huff were not right behind her. They had also had trouble with trail markings and would not finish for another hour and a half.

Judith Ogus and Becky Hart, owners of Aleclipse, have been working with the Arabian race farm, Cre-Run, to retrain retired race horses for endurance.

When the other horses they were training were sold, she and Ogus elected to keep Al. “We’ve been bringing him along slowly for three years,” Hart said.

Ogus had worked with Al on ground schooling and dressage and took him on his first 50-mile rides. “The first time we asked him to move out was the Pan Am in 2003, and he did and won on recoveries,” said Hart. “We discovered early on that he had great recoveries. Even unfit, he recovered quicker than our fit horses. He’s just starting to come into his own.”

On the track, Aleclipse had a tendency to run away. “He bolted on the track and hurt his jockey,” Hart said.

A veterinarian believed he had a nerve pinched from a crooked pelvis, an issue common in race horses. Hart and Ogus had a chiropractor adjust his pelvis, and they dealt with some anxiety issues as well. “He was already totally used to travel and trailering and eating different food, and he loves to eat,” said Hart. “I think now it is more personal for him. He has people he knows. He’s real confident.”

Reynolds’ endurance record includes 10,800 AERC-recorded miles. She has won the Tevis’ Haggin Cup on two different horses and received the individual gold medal at the 2001 Pan American Championships in Woodstock, Vt. She rode Aleclipse, then a new mount to her, to second place in the 2003 PAC.

Dumas Dominates Heavyweights

After riding most of the day 1/2-hour off the lead, Crockett Dumas from Escalante, Utah, riding OT Moniet Nessous, passed Dell and Huff on the last loop, and arrived second at 1:03 a.m. on Friday morning for first heavyweight. Dell came in third at 1:15 a.m. for first featherweight, with Huff (second featherweight) finishing one minute behind.

Robert Ribley, riding Oak Hill Regina, checked in at 3:45 a.m. and received the first middleweight award. Eleven riders finished the ride, and, at the end, every rider had a tale to tell. The last two riders in were 12-year-old junior champion, Tylek Bradley, and his mother Nalissa Bradley, who had one of the longer rides of the night, coming in at 4:33 a.m.

“We were lost for six hours,” she said. “We did Tevis two hours faster.”

On this moonless night, the two discovered that the glow sticks that were supposed to light the path were very sparse. “We didn’t know where we were going or what direction we were supposed to be heading,” she said.

Finally, Dumas, coming in the opposite direction, gave them a hand. “He went about 1