DEVON, Pa.--Sara Kozumplik on Rubens D’Ysieux won the $50,000 Arena Eventing Sunday evening at the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair.
Sara Kozumplik on Rubens DYsieux (Photo by Allyson Lagiovane for Phelps Sports)Kozumplik of Berryville, Va., also won the Arena Eventing in its inaugural event in 2017.
The class combines two of the three elements of eventing: cross-country and show jumping, and it drew a huge crown Sunday evening.
The course built by Captain Mark Phillips included many of the traditional cross-country elements as well some show jumping oxers and verticals.
Following round one, the top 12 competitors returned for a jump-off, with riders who had time and/or jumping faults carrying those faults forward into the jump-off.
The class became confusing, as apparently Phillip Dutton went out of order, going first on the horse that he was supposed to ride second, which eventually resulted in his elimination on the horse on which he had gone clean in the first round.
In the jump-off, riders went in reverse order of faults, but with having two horses go clean in the first round, Boyd Martin asked for and received permission to go out of order on Fedearman B.
SO MARTIN, an Olympian and the reigning Devon Arena Eventing champion, was second in the jump-off on Fedarman B, and was clean again in a time of 77.382 seconds.
Boyd Martin on Fedarman B (Photo by Allyson Lagiovane for Phelps Sports)Martin of Cochranville, Pa., held the lead through a number of rides until Kozumplik, who has shown in a number of jumper competitions on Rubens D’Ysieux, started off fast and continued fast to finish in 73.223 seconds to rocket straight to the lead.
Martin on his second mount, Fernhill Prezley, was last in the jump-off, and returned with no faults,
But Fernhill Prezley is a less experienced horse, so Martin opted for a careful, clean round rather that going all out for the win, going clean but in a slower time of 84.171, which gave Martin on Fernhill Presley third behind his other mount, Ferdarman B, who was second, and Kozumplik, the winner.
“When I first came here with Rubens D’Ysieux when he won the inaugural Arena Eventing in 2017, our partnership was actually quite new," said Kozumplik." I felt like I made a couple of mistakes that time but he’s such an unbelievable horse, he’s so careful. He was fast enough to do it that time, but it’s really fun for me to come back. He was actually second place the next year but I had broken my knee in between, and I wasn’t in great shape, and I didn’t feel like I did a great job. It’s really fun for me to be back here because I adore this, it’s really cool they let us be here. The Dixon Oval is so iconic and the crowd is just as good as Kentucky – very different, but it’s that great feeling. We don’t get that opportunity very often so it’s very kind of Devon to let us be here. Today I felt like I did him justice. He’s obviously amazing but I felt like I actually rode him well in the jump-off. When I ride him well he is bloody fast, and there’s not too many horses that you can gallop to a jump like that. I had that advantage, but what great company. Boyd Martin has had an amazing season with Annie Goodwin’s Fedarman B, and I thought his round was beautiful. It’s nice to beat him! It’s not something I expect to happen all the time, and I thought it was impressive he was second and third.”
"I really enjoy watching Boyd go because he’s such a beautiful rider, especially cross country," she said. "I was curious what he was going to do on some of the lines ,and it didn’t really impact me because I know my horse. I think he made some very good decisions out there that were appropriate for what was happening for him. But I actually just thought, ‘If I get a nice shot to do three strides to the corner, I’ll do it.’ A few horses didn’t quite come off the turn like that, so you’ve got to do four strides. I got the shot so I was really happy."
“Honestly I just galloped to the last fence, but there aren’t too many horses that do that," said Kozumplik of the last fence that had cause many faults in both the first round and the jump-off. "I trust my horse, and I just softened the reins and galloped to it. At that point, you’ve got everything to gain and nothing to lose.”
“The atmosphere at Devon is incredible, and I have the exact right horse for this sort of thing," she said. "To be fair, the horse is actually good at everything. He’s good at dressage, he’s good at cross country, he’s kind of a freak that way. It does feel amazing to be back here. When I broke my back and my neck in 2018, that obviously slowed me down for a little bit. I had to have surgery and I wasn’t allowed to do anything really for six months. It’s nice to have come back from all of that and feel back on top form. Devon does that full circle. I was here when I first got Rubens D’Ysieux, I was here after one knee injury, I was commentating when I had broken my back and neck, and now I’m back again which is fun that it has come full circle. I always said to myself, after the accident, I always wanted to do something with horses, but if I wasn’t the same I’d stop, but I felt totally fine.”
"Rubens D’Ysieux is going to Bromont," she said. "I adore Bromont, it’s a great event. I’m not doing the long there because he’s done quite a few longs in his life, so I was going to bring him up there and do the short. I thought it would be great practice. He did a super job in Kentucky in the four-short. He’s 17 years old so I’m very careful about what I do with him. I do get to do a bit of show jumping and he’s taught me a lot because he’s so good. I can jump some of the small grand prix classes which I’m nowhere near good enough to do but I get to ride him and so I get better. Then I am hoping to do the CCI5* at Fairhill in the fall.”
“Arena eventing is great for so many things," said Kozumplik. "For us, we are getting in front of a new crowd, people get to see what we do a little bit. It’s definitely not the same as eventing. I think it’s great for younger riders that haven’t had the opportunity to get in front of the crowd because really, in this country in eventing, you only really get in front of big crowds in Kentucky. It’s really good practice under pressure. I think it’s great for older horses like mine – we are not going to be running them at everything but it’s a great opportunity and he has a blast and he’s very good at it. I think it’s really good for the sport for people to see what we do. Most of them think we are a bit crazy, but we can get them on our side a little bit! Rubens D’Ysieuz loves the crowds but he’s very chill at home. This sort of thing turns him into a circus pony and he thinks it’s great. I can barely get on him, which is fun at 17 years old, he’s got lots of life left. He owes me nothing and I’m just enjoying what every month brings.”
