DerbyCross competition held Saturday
By Betsy Parker
Byyny, Dutton top world-class DerbyCross competition
By Betsy Parker
Times-Democrat Staff Writer
Combining imagination and ingenuity with a dash of spice has turned a sometimes staid horse sport into a spectator-friendly, high-energy event.
Riders Sinead Halpin, Rebecca Howard and Dana Voorhees said they love three-day eventing, the triathlon of horse sports that combines dressage, cross-country and show jumping, but hate that it is largely unknown to fans. The problems, Voorhees said, include the fact that a traditional event often spans two or three days, and that the opening phase, dressage, though elegant, is not exciting to watch. Scoring in the jumping phases is confusing, further distancing potential fans from the game.
"We wanted to make a sport that focused on fun and excitement," said Voorhees, 42. "That's something lacking in a lot of the horse sports. Somewhere to cheer and shout for your favorites."
DerbyCross, the trio says, bridges the gap.
The second annual DerbyCross was held Saturday at Great Meadow in The Plains. Though attendance was sparse, the five teams featured many of the world's best riders, including five Olympians.
Similar to competitions held in Europe, the American version of DerbyCross combines the boldness, athleticism and speed of cross-country with the precision and strength of show jumping, adding a loud rock-and-roll soundtrack as background music.
Another attraction is substantial prize money from sponsors — $4,000 to the winning team, something virtually unheard of in the sport of three-day eventing. And another draw, DerbyCross creators involve riders from a "guest" sport to be part of four-man teams. This year, as in last year's inaugural DerbyCross, polo professionals joined event riders on five teams that boasted the best of both sports.
World-class athletes from both sports took to a three-minute course set on the track's homestretch and infield. Riders first negotiated a twisting, eight-fence show jumping course before setting out on a five-fence cross-country course that circled and crossed the Great Meadow lake. Riders then tackled another eight-fence show jumping course.
Scoring, Halpin explained, is simple. Only time counts: A rail down is penalized with four seconds. A refusal or run-out penalized automatically by the extra time it took to re-present the fence. An optional "bonus" fence, a big airy vertical set in front of the crowd, was worth 10 seconds off the final time.
Event riders jumped an intermediate level course – 3 feet, 9 inches — polo players, mounted on experienced veterans borrowed from teammates, jumped a novice level course set at 2-9.
"It's very hard for us," said 8-goal polo pro John Gobin, who rode on the Orange Crush team with Allison Springer, Kristen Bachman and Sharon White. "You get nervous and kind of go blank."
Gobin had no trouble staying on course to help Orange Crush to earn second place, just 10 seconds off the winning Dutta Corporation team of Phillip Dutton, Boyd Martin, Jan Byyny and Gonzalo Fuchi. Dutton, a two-time Olympic gold medalist for his native Australia, recently became a U.S. citizen. He is based in southeastern Pennsylvania.
"This was a kick," Dutton said of his first DerbyCross, saying that the rock music, cheering crowd and up-close action made DerbyCross a natural for building a fan base for eventing and, by association, all horse sports.
Voorhees said plans are already underway for the 2008 DerbyCross. "We've been very well supported by the [riding] community," she said. "It's a great opportunity for serious riders to have fun with their horses. It's a team competition, which adds another element, plus the music, and the different scoring and combination show jumping and cross-country.
"And the prize money is something riders are thrilled about," she added. "It's a big draw. The riders had fun, but they took the competition very seriously."
More details on DerbyCross are online at www.derbycross.com .
Results
1. Dutta Corp. (Jan Byyny, Phillip Dutton, Boyd Martin, Gonzalo Fuchi); 2. Orange Crush (Sharon White, Allison Springer, Kristen Bachman, John Gobin); 3. Team Glaus (Leslie Law, Lesley Grant, Bonnie Mosser, Doug Barnes); 4. Team Stubben (Will Colman, Shannon Lily, Kim Severson, Nico Eurnekian); 5. StoneHall (Clark Montgomery, Donna Smith, Lynn Symansky, Dominic State).