Hannah Sue Burnett found a home at the top of the Essex Horse Trials’ leaderboard, and brought her associates along for the ride this weekend at Moorland Farm in Far Hills.
She took the marquee event, yesterday’s Open Preliminary, with the Irish-bred Coolrock Wacko Jacko, while her fiancée, Matthias Hollberg, finished third aboard Bellefleur Z in the rider’s first Prelim outing.
Wacko Jacko, imported from England, was 10th after dressage, moving up to fifth following stadium jumping before taking the win on 30.2 penalties.
Hannah Sue Burnett and Coolrock Wacko Jacko made a big splash at Essex. (Photo © 2021 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
With the veteran Harbour Pilot, the 18-year-old Irish-bred gelding she rode to team gold and individual silver at the 2011 Pan American Games, Hannah Sue was fifth and didn’t push for time on the cross-country course designed by Morgan Rowsell.
Harbour Pilot and Hannah Sue Burnett. (Photo © 2021 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
Today, the very busy rider was first again in the Open Training section on the thoroughbred Chakiris Star, while Sophia Middlebrook, who rides with her, was runner-up by a mere two time penalties on Monbeg Odyssey.
Interestingly, Chakiris Star was clocked in 5 minutes, 25 seconds for the route, which had an optimum time of 5:45. It was the same mark turned in by the mother-daughter duo of Marilyn Payne and Holly Payne Caravella of Tewksbury Township, who finished third and fourth respectively on Fairway King and SF Double Entendre.
In the Open Prelim, Wacko Jacko was one of only three horses that made the optimum time of 5 minutes, 36 seconds there, though Matthias–who usually rides jumpers–impressed by being 11 seconds under.
Matthias Hollberg drew on his experience as a jumper rider to put in the fastest cross-country trip in Open Prelim with Bellefleur Z. (Photo © 2021 by Nancy Jaffer)
He finished on 32.3 penalties behind Nora Battig-Leamer on Dubai Gold (31.7), a thoroughbred who returned from a life-threatening injury to resume his eventing career.
Hannah Sue rides for Jacqueline Mars, who owns Harbour Pilot and has a piece of Bellefleur, as well as Christa Schmidt, Jacqueline’s daughter, who often competes Chakiris Star herself, and also is a partner in Bellefleur.
When we talked about the courses, Hannah Sue noted that the water complex surrounded by spectators’ tents, was “quite a grand place. The horses are impressed by it, so the water kind of backs them off a bit with all the people and cars. I had to ride that a bit harder than anything else.”
It was interesting to find out more about Wacko Jacko from Hannah Sue. Take a look at this video to catch our conversation.
Hannah Sue, based at HSB Eventing in Pennsylvania, also received the Jean and Elliot Haller Horsemanship Award for demonstrating “a superior partnership between horse and rider.”
Chakiris Star lived up to his name in the Open Training. (Photo © 2021 by Nancy Jaffer)
It is named for the couple who started Essex on their Bedminster farm and were the parents of the late Roger Haller. He was an influential figure in eventing, along with his wife, Anne. The trophy is donated by Ann David, the current owner of Hoopstick Farm where Essex had its roots.
A fixture in the area from 1968 to 1998, Essex was revived in 2017 but cancelled in 2020 due to Covid. Its comeback this summer on new dates (it used to be in June) was well received both by riders, who filled the various divisions, and spectators, as tailgating sites around the water complex sold out.
The list of Essex winners now includes Wacko Jacko. (Photo © 2021 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
The weather, with temperatures in the high 80s, put a wrinkle in things Saturday as the action had to be halted for thunder and lightning (New Jersey on a summer afternoon; go figure) but competition was able to wrap up before a really big storm made its appearance.
“When there’s lightning, you’ve got to play it safe,” said Morgan, co-organizer of the event with Ralph Jones. “But the riders stuck around and the volunteers stuck around and we had a great crowd, so it was successful all the way around.
“We want quality riding and quality horses and we clearly got that. I hope the riders got out of it what they wanted to get out of it for the development of their horses.
The footing was optimum–the blessing is that it rains and the curse is that it rains,” he added with a smile.I asked Hannah Sue about the storm situation, so you can find out what she said about it and Harbour Pilot by watching this video.
Open Prelim offered $10,000 in prize money from Running S Equine Veterinary Services, which also sponsored a tent where riders could take a welcome respite near the stables after finishing their trips around the course.
Explaining his practice’s sponsorship, Dr. Greg Staller of Running S noted, “Very few events offer prize money and we wanted to do that, kind of the same idea as the grooms’, owners’ and riders’ tent, to make sure they get taken care of. It was nice to see everyone braved the heat and the possibility of rain. I was glad after Covid that everybody came and rallied behind us. There’s a lot of support for Essex.”
The Friday night concert was held next to the landmark announcer’s stand at Moorland Farm. (Photo © 2021 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
In addition to Running S, the event’s sponsors include Mars Equestrian, Open Road Group, AIG, Peapack Gladstone Bank, RWJ Barnabas Health. The event’s beneficiary is LifeCamp, which offers a day camp experience in Pottersville for Newark youth.
Essex, billed as “a country weekend” is as much of a happening as it is a competition.
On Friday night, a hilltop cocktail party that offered an impressive view of Moorland preceded a concert from Music in the Somerset Hills, presenting a 43-member orchestra from Broadway shows.
Saturday featured a car show in memory of Peter Chesson, the owner of the Barker Bus Co. and an influential car racing aficionado from Bedminster who held a national drag racing record for more than a decade.
The Chesson brothers, James, Tim and P.J. at the car show held in memory of their father, Peter Chesson, who owned the blue 1955 Chevy Nomad. (Photo © 2021 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
As his obituary noted, he liked to say, ” `At the core of every challenge is a very simple solution.’ This was his North Star and guiding principle throughout his life.”
He was the father of sons Tim, P.J. and James Chesson, as well as Lizzy Chesson, the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s managing director of show jumping, who was in Tokyo for the Olympics and couldn’t be at the show. Peter was formerly married to Sharon Chesson, well-known for her achievements in the world of combined driving.
Looking for complete results? Here’s the link: Essex Horse Trials Results
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