Timmy Is As Timmy Does: Coleman and Off the Record Overtake US Equestrian Open Lead

It was a day for which there were multiple potential outcomes. Cross country, as it should be, is a big equalizer here at Morven Park, and the top of our $200,000 US Equestrian Open Final leaderboard was full of experienced horses. But not all of them came in to today on exclamation points.

One scenario that, had there been betting or what we seem to like to call “prediction markets” for our sport, would’ve attracted much support is that of the sixth-placed pair — the ultra-experienced Off the Record paired with newly-crowned World #3 Will Coleman — rising to the top on the heels of their strongest phase.

Sometimes, even if a story could be deemed predictable (a humorous and really somewhat offensive word to use in the wide world of sports), that’s what makes it the stuff of legends.

What does it take to create a great event horse?

You can sort of breed one now, but even modern breeding doesn’t touch the depth of foundation that the prolific show jumping and dressage lines have. And sheer talent and suitability only goes so far, at the top levels. If you can, you want a high percentage of Thoroughbred blood, but the horse should also have at least a degree of talent and trainability to compete in the dressage and also maintain enough stamina and power to jump clear on a Sunday. And sometimes, you can tick all of those boxes, you can breed the perfect specimen, and the desire just isn’t there when the intensity heightens.

You can also take what’s in front of you – a quality horse, to be sure, but perhaps not one put onto this great big planet to gallop around cross country courses – form a relationship based on trust with him, and see where life takes you.

“Some of them, it’s just kind of what they’re made up of on the inside,” Will Coleman said, an hour or so after he crossed the finish line at Morven Park clear inside the optimum time with the 17-year-old Off the Record. By the time the division ended, he was, for the second year running, atop the standings in the $200,000 US Equestrian Open of Eventing Final CCI4*-L.

“He’s just a testament to that,” Will continued. “It’s a really cool experience to have a horse this long still doing it, and it’s very symbiotic.”

Will’s said all week that he was here to enjoy this partnership with “Timmy”, who’s entering the golden days of his lengthy and storied career. But that doesn’t mean he came here to simply exist. The Irish gelding had been kept fit as an alternate for the World Championships team (at which Will would ride his Kentucky champion, Diabolo, and finish fourth individually and in bronze with Team USA), and he’d kept his strong form coming into the fall season. The US Open, it seemed, would be the perfect thing to aim at – its proximity to the Colemans’ home base in Charlottesville, VA also a perk.

I wrote a bit about Will’s enhanced fitness program in my cross country report last year, which I had to reference before I commenced writing this year’s to avoid repeating myself! A couple of seasons on with a more data-driven fitness approach helmed by Cris Navas at New Bolton Center in Pennsylvania, Will says one thing he’s used the information for is to avoid over-training.

Especially on a horse that wasn’t created to do this very difficult job.

“The biggest mistake I could probably do at this stage is to overdo it,” Will said. “I’ve been guilty of that in the past, and Timmy is, I think, giving me confidence that I don’t need to do that to be ready.”

And for a human who’s generally drawn to a curious approach to his training, using more data scratched an itch. “Once I started getting into it, I really nerded out on it, and I started just kind became obsessed with it.”

The result is a horse that’s fitter at 17 than he ever was at 14, and proof that doing one’s best to allow a horse to be who he is can pay big dividends.

“You’re trying to turn them into a marathon runner, you know, a triathlete,” Will said. “And so it’s a little bit of a different game if you want to try to make them five-star horses, and not all of them can be it, but I do think the right conditioning and a patient approach [works]. Timmy is a good example: he’s no [Thoroughbred] blood. His heart rate today after about four minutes was, I think, down around 100.”

For as reliable as Off the Record has been on cross country, show jumping has a different consistency: he’s a bit of a one-pole horse at Long formats, most recently the one that lost him the US Open crown this time last year. That won’t so much be on Will’s mind tomorrow. It’s not that the win wouldn’t be sweet – especially for the members of the Off the Record Syndicate who’ve stood behind the Colemans and this horse for so many years – or a cool form of “revenge” on last year’s result, a real exclamation point on a season that has been full of highs for this crew. It’s more that any big wins after a career like the one Timmy has had is icing on the cake.

“I trust in my preparation, and I trust this horse, and he delivered today,” Will said. “He just really loves it. I definitely don’t want to try to do one too many events with him as we get kind of near the end here, but certainly today he felt great.”

So how did that door worth five places of moving up open for Will?

Typical cross country dramatics, in short. It started with Boyd Martin, fifth coming into the start box with Luke 140 on his comeback tour after undergoing colic surgery in the off-season. (Earlier in the day, third-placed Alyssa Phillips and Rockett 19 withdrew; Alyssa posted an update on social media that it appeared that Rocket may have knocked his leg overnight and she’d made the decision to save him for another day.) Luke’s an enthusiastic guy who puts his full energy into everything he does, and sometimes that’s his undoing. It came at the D element of the Morven Park Leaf Pit, which was a question that asked riders to maintain control after picking up so much momentum off the down bank. They were then tasked with a right-hand turn to an angled brush, followed by another angled brush at D. The momentum was a bit too much to harness, and Boyd found himself swiveling around for the alternate D after driving right past the direct line.

Then it was total heartbreak for Lucienne Bellissimo and Dyri, who were third coming in and hoping for a personal best finish this week after spending the entire last year rebuilding to this goal. It wasn’t to be, as they encountered trouble at the Taylor Harris Mansion View Water, the feature water question at fence 13. After Dyri put on the brakes at both the A and C elements, Lucienne opted to retire and endure the long walk back up the hill.

And then there was Tamie Smith and Danito, who came in with a berth of time on hand to use as a cushion over Sharon White and Claus 63, who were still out on course as Tamie left the box with the overnight lead. Things were going fine, until they weren’t. In fact, it would be the same fence – the D element of the Leaf Pit – that would be Tamie and Danito’s undoing, too. A drive-by there, and never really reestablishing a rhythm thereafter prompted Tamie to later decide to pull up, shortly after the final water. Danito looked happy and sound as she trotted him out, so while it’ll be a truncated ending to Tamie’s Open season here, she’ll be taking a healthy horse back home to California (and that check for $25k for winning the Series, which is a nice consolation) and her final event of the season at Galway Downs later this month.

So there was room for someone else to have had the round needed to move up. It very nearly was Sharon White, second after dressage and now third overnight with Claus 63. Frankly, had it not been for an unseating and a great save at the final water that wasted precious seconds while Sharon got herself righted, she may have been sitting at least in that second position she relinquished. More on Sharon in just a moment.

‘Let’s freaking go for it’

No one was perhaps more surprised to find herself in a podium position today than Isabelle Bosley, who along with Will was one of two to make the optimum time of 10:09 with Karen Martin’s Conner. It’s a result that’s very much been there for this pair on paper, but the step up from three stars to four is one that not every horse or rider finds simple.

After winning the Maryland 3 Star this time last year, this season has been all about reinforcing the basics that are tested in even more depth at the Advanced level. So it hasn’t always been perfect, but Isabelle’s a practical pro who also knows what she doesn’t know.

“To be clear, he’s the second horse I’ve had at the level,” she told me. “So he’s putting up with some of my greenness too. At the same time, I’m just trying to do my best to produce him and like do a good job with it while I’m still trying to figure it out.” Phillip Dutton has been an instrument in helping with this, and she’s spent the summer trying to work on the tools she’d need for this fall to be a success, without overwhelming the 9-year-old gelding with pressure.

“I came into the event this weekend with the mindset of, obviously, do the best test we can, but I was more focused on [having] a good clear round. I think sometimes I’ve gone out of the box a bit too locked on to making time, and then maybe not made the smartest decisions. Even if it wasn’t a 20, sometimes I would go through a combination and be like, ‘I should have taken an extra second to set up for that.’ Like, that wasn’t confidence building, maybe or, getting them on my side. But once I got out there and looked at my clock and I was on my minutes at minute three, and he was with me, I thought, ‘okay, let’s freaking go for it.’”

And they did, moving right on up from ninth in the standings to sit on their dressage score of 28.9 (also a substantial PB at this level) and in second place.

‘We’ll do it for Kate’

Half an hour or so before Sharon White left the start box on Claus 63, she found herself in a bit of a mental struggle. It hasn’t been the best of years for her. She’d had to spend most of the summer strengthening her knee after having to abbreviate what could have been a winning weekend at Bromont. She was back at a venue that, truth be told, hadn’t been the kindest to her and Claus over time. Last year, a podium finish slipped through her fingers as she encountered trouble at the coffin complex.

And this job is just really, freaking hard sometimes.

“Sometimes it’s hard in this sport,” she said. “I love my horse, and I’m asking him to do a really hard job. And you wonder why sometimes. For your own gain? That doesn’t work for me, because that’s not why I do it at all. So then I was like, ‘you know what? We’ll do it for Kate.’”

That would be Kate Servais, Sharon’s head groom for the past four years or so.

“She loves that horse,” Sharon said. It’s true: Kate does much of Claus’ conditioning and hacking work at home, and they’ve traveled the world together at this point. Like every groom worth her salt, she knows every inch of that horse, every expression that crosses his face. “She works her ass off. And if I win some prize money, she gets money. That really worked for me today.”

Sharon and Claus put any residual Morven Park demons to rest today, coming home with 4.8 time penalties but a good enough two-phase score for third overnight (30.8) and less than a pole from a big win. Finding that reason to lock in – something outside of the end result – put Sharon into the mindset she needed to have.

“I do think it all comes down to a mental game, for me and him, because he knows me so well. We’re such a partnership – he reads my mind. And if I put too much pressure on, he’s not a big fan of intensity because he’s already so intense himself. Some horses love that pressure, and he puts so much pressure on himself that that’s not useful for him.”

She laughs when I ask about her save at the final water. “He was like, ‘Would you please get back in the saddle? We have things to do.’ The good thing is, I’d been working the whole way around on keeping his head up, and so when I almost fell off, he put his head up! I was like, ‘Good job, buddy!’”

Bessie’s back, baby

Not that she ever left, but there was a bit of a redemption arc in play for Mary Bess Davis coming into her fall goal with Imperio Magic. Mostly, it was a disliking that Imperio Magic had taken to down banks starting at Kentucky CCI5* last year. After it happened for the second time this past April at Kentucky, Mary Bess questioned herself. It didn’t help that she also fell later on cross country at Kentucky, and was sidelined for several weeks while her leg healed from a fracture and a nasty puncture wound. She briefly wondered if she wanted to continue at all.

But one pep talk from her husband later, and Mary Bess remembered who she was. She got back on the literal horse, pulled in longtime coach Karen O’Connor to be as present as possible at every show, and went on to a fire-hot streak this summer that includes a podium finish at the American Eventing Championships and a win at Stable View Oktoberfest. At AEC, in Kentucky, she even jumped down the big bad down bank.

Truthfully though, Mary Bess went to bed last night feeling glum. She’d been working hard on “McColl’s” flatwork and had high hopes for a peak performance yesterday. She’s not against climbing up the standings during the jumping phases, but it’d be nice if she had a little less room to make up. A 39.5 wasn’t the mark she’d worked for.

“Then this morning, I thought, ‘you know what, this is stupid,’” Mary Bess said. “I’m on the best jumping horse, and he’s fast. Let’s go out there and give it our all, and he’s just so fast. He’s gotten where he doesn’t jump and hang up too high over the jumps anymore, so the time is doable now. And of course at the end, I was like, ‘I could have shaved here, and I could have shaved there,’ And I was like, ‘oh, Mary Bess, stop it!’”

And the Leaf Pit? Cake.

“I was just so relieved because I want to go on and do other things in the world, and we have to be able to jump down something like the Leaf Pit,” Mary Bess said. “So it was such a relief and a weight lifted to know that he was so game about it, and he was really just game everywhere. It just…what a great day.”

About that climb: Mary Bess was 32nd after dressage, and she’ll be fourth overnight on a score of 39.5.

It was championship-caliber action on cross country today, and our newly-installed top 10 is a sampling of experience, grit and also a look to the future: Lovedance, in her first 4*-L with Laine Ashker, jumped a clear that got better as it went and amassed 12.8 time penalties to hold on to fifth overnight on a score of 39.7. Cooley Baltic Sea showed his growth from his 4*-L debut at Tryon to move into the top 10, and Allie Knowles continued her hot streak with a string of wildly talented horses, bringing Leo Santos home and into the top 10 and improving on her performance at Bramham earlier this year.

Here’s a look at your overnight top 10. The full standings for this division can be found here.

Sunday is a new day, and our second US Equestrian Open champion will be crowned in the afternoon. EquiRatings’ Prediction Center has Will and Off the Record in for a 69% chance at the win, but it will be anyone’s game and of course there is the gauntlet of the morning’s horse inspection to pass through first.

We’ll know the answers to our burning questions tomorrow. The action begins at 9:00 am ET with the Final Horse Inspection (if this is live streamed, it will be on the Morven Park YouTube channel here — the first jog was not streamed), followed by CCI4*-S show jumping at 12:00 pm ET (last year’s US Open champion Boyd Martin leads this division with Commando 3). Then, the US Open finale show jumps starting at 1:30 pm ET in reverse order of standing.

The live streams are carried on two platforms this week. For the 4*-S and 4*-L divisions, you’ll need to watch on USEF Network on ClipMyHorse.Tv. If your USEF account is linked, you’ll be able to watch the ClipMyHorse.TV stream free as well (more information on that here).

All other divisions still running today will stream free on the Morven Park YouTube channel here.

Morven Park Fall International + US Equestrian Open of Eventing Final (VA): [Website] [US Equestrian Open] [Start Lists & Scores] [Full Live Scores] [Free General Admission + Hospitality] [EquiRatings Prediction Center] [Eventing Manager – Code PCTD to join EN’s league!] [ClipMyHorse.TV Live Stream] [EN’s Coverage] [Volunteer]