The Jersey Fresh International three-day event will not be held in 2022, even though the Horse Park of New Jersey trustees had voted to stage it one last time.
Under the new U.S. Equestrian Federation eventing calendar process, it lost its 4-star Long and Short designations for 2023-2027 as it was not granted those divisions, or the 3-star Long it previously hosted.
“Understandably, it was hard for our incredible sponsors, who have been so critical to our event over the years, to commit to supporting an event that they knew was quite literally on its last legs,” stated Adam Furlong, president of the park’s board of trustees.
“If the governing body of our sport has determined that this event should not be permitted to continue, what message does that send to our sponsors about the value of their investment in our sport,” he asked.
“The Park does not have the financial flexibility to operate the event at a loss, nor are we willing to compromise the integrity of the event by drastically cutting expenses,” he observed.
“It went so well in 2021, why run something less good in 2022,” wondered Jane Cory, co-organizer of the event with cross-country course designer Morgan Rowsell.
USEF didn’t waste any time following the Jersey Fresh cancellation–it has opened a one week bid process that runs through Oct. 29 to fill Jersey’s space on the calendar for an event that could host an East Coast 4-star L May 17-19, in 2022 only.
The Tryon, N.C., Spring International, one of only six events in the U.S. to be awarded a 4-star Long for 2023-27, will be on the May weekend before the dates USEF is seeking to fill. Many competitors who previously came to New Jersey obviously will be going south instead. Venues with more bells and whistles than the Horse Park had an edge, and that includes not only Tryon, but also the new TerraNova facility in Myakka City, Fla., east of Sarasota, which has never held a horse trials but whose management is investing heavily in its event.
“This is the trend. It takes a lot of money to do it,” observed Jane.
She acknowledged the Horse Park has some weaknesses, but noted organizers worked hard to overcome them. The footing is not the artificial material that is found at the “name” facilities, and the stabling is far from fancy. But a footing expert was hired for Jersey Fresh to show how to maintain the rings with the footing they have. She noted there have been no complaints from others using the facility, including dressage riders who are known for being picky about where their horses tread.
Carol Kozlowski, a former president of the U.S. Eventing Association and a member of the USEF board, observed “these riders get so wrapped up in footing and then go to Europe and you’re competing on grass.”
She noted that while many consider it “a cool thing to run FEI events, the lower levels become something of an afterthought,” though they can pad the budgets of a big event with their fees.
Adam mentioned that the trustees have “been enthusiastic in approving new investments into the Park as we can afford them, and will continue to meet the needs of all equestrian sports that operate at our facility. We recognize that the Horse Park is in need of improvements in the ring footing and stabling, and we are actively working to raise the funds necessary to make these investments.
“In recent years, JFI has had enough success to allow profits to be invested back into the park and into the event. Had the process of awarding dates played out differently, we may have still been able to operate the event in 2022 and make more money to be invested back into our facility.”
The park was granted an Advanced designation by USEF for its horse trials at the end of June, and Jane doesn’t know if something special might be done for that competition in lieu of Jersey Fresh. Will Connell, the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s director of sport, said he hopes “Jersey Fresh stays on the calendar in some form or another.”
Explaining the need to reorganize the eventing calendar, he said it was in such a state that the only option was to “call a half-halt” and closely examine what needed to be done by a committee under the leadership of Olympic cross-country designer Derek DiGrazia.
The 4-star Long is “a major qualification to go 5-star,” Will pointed out, noting that a horse “can only compete in so many in a year.”
The 5-stars, in turn, are crucial in preparing teams for global competitions such as the Olympics and world championships. The committee had to look at the spacing between competitions to make sure high-level competitions did not flood the calendar . The events need to know they can get enough riders to make their events viable.
There are fewer top-level competitors in eventing than show jumping, where there are huge numbers of entries in Florida during the winter, with enough exhibitors to fill three major circuits and a couple of minor ones. Show jumpers also can compete more often than eventing horses.
Will said the choice of location for the 4-star Longs have “nothing to do with elitism. We want all of our events at that level to be the very best.”
He said an event with the 3-star Short division and below was not affected by the calendar change and “carries on,” which is an option for the Horse Park.
The Horse Park event, known for its great footing on cross-country, definitely has its fans. Pennsylvania-based Boyd Martin, winner of the Jersey Fresh 4-star L this year with Luke 140, maintained, “Jersey’s always been a special event, especially for everyone up in this region. It would be sad to see Jersey go, but I still think it’s a venue that could thrive on a championship event, horse trials, there’s been so much hard work put into developing the course.”
Boyd Martin on his victory lap at Jersey Fresh 2021.
Erik Duvander, the USEF eventing performance director, said, “I think the venue has a real good purpose for the short formats. They do a really good job there. It was always a little hard for them to get the distances and so on in the long format. I really, really wish they keep going, because I love the venue myself and in the short format, it’s a very important part of what we do.”
Jersey Fresh was started in 2003 by Debbie Adams, a professional from Medford, because a 2-star (now designated as a 3-star by the FEI) was needed in the area following the demise of the Essex Horse Trials in Gladstone after its 1998 edition (Essex was revived four years ago in Far Hills.)
“The Horse Park is a multi-purpose place with so many activities during the year; that’s why we picked it,” Debbie said. But she noted as the sport is evolving, it gave rise to Tryon, the Jockey Club in Ocala and other more glamorous locations, including Morven Park, that were able to invest a lot of money in their facilities.
Debbie said coming up with the event’s name was easy, because it reflected the importance of agriculture in New Jersey. She bowed out of the event management after two years when the Horse Park took over running it, but she often attended the competition.
“It’s tough putting a 4-star together because of the distance and length of the course; it’s hard for smaller properties to host it,” she commented. .
Adam Furlong believes that the Horse Park “will adapt and overcome. We have already had some really exciting conversations about what we plan to do in the future years, and we hope to be able to share that good news soon.
“We remain committed to developing and growing the larger sport of equestrian within the state of New Jersey, and that certainly includes eventing. We are confident that our next actions will reflect that commitment, and the Park will continue to be a facility that sees former, current, and future world champions compete on the property.”
Toward that end, Adam said, “We are going to follow up with USEF directly about the process and hopefully find a solution that is committed to developing the sport of eventing in the U.S., and particularly in the Northeast and insuring there is that pipeline for that next generation of world championship riders.”
He offered “one final thank you to the organizers, volunteers, and sponsors that have (been) integral to Jersey Fresh. The event could not have been possible without the love, grit and determination that went into JFI for the past 20 years. We know that we will make the supporters of JFI proud of what comes next.”
