Sara Kozumplik Murphy returned to Rolex this year for the first time since she last competed with Manolo Blahnik in 2012. She has also competed at Rolex with As You Like It and Somerset, and she was thrilled to make her return to Kentucky with Debbie Foote's OTTB Fly Me Courageous. They finished 19th overall. Sara wrote a blog about how it felt to return to Kentucky. Many thanks to Sara for writing, and thank you for reading.
Sara Kozumplik-Murphy and Fly Me Courageous. Photo by Rare Air Photography.
“So if I do the one star at Essex in May and Radnor two-star in October, can I go to Rolex next year?”
To his everlasting credit, Jimmy didn’t burst out laughing, merely looked over his glasses at me with a typical Wofford weighing glance, before calmly putting together a plan for this lunatic child that wanted to do her first three-star on her trusted Pony Club mount. Never mind that I had only been eventing at the Preliminary level.
When I was asked to write a small piece about what it feels like to return to Rolex, that was the first memory that popped into my head. The man who was like a second father to me, and without whom I would never have been able to get started. Not only did I get to that Rolex (1999) with As You Like It, but we won the Developing Rider Grant that Jacqueline Mars generously donates every year.
So a teenager on her off the track seeing eye dog, purchased from Jeffery Curtis, went on to complete Blenheim that same year, Burghley twice, Blenheim and Bramham again, Rolex four more times, and the World Cup at Pau, before deciding to retire him after a lifetime dream of competing at Badminton. He cruised around the last long format there in 2005, an event that has special importance for me as my Mum grew up hunting over the same ground with the Beaufort.
Sara Kozumplik-Murphy and Fly Me Courageous. Photo by Jenni Autry.
When you have a horse of a lifetime so early, it’s a blessing and a curse. A blessing for obvious reasons, as this horse took me places I was in no way really ready to go, and a curse because you don’t realize that a four-star is as hard as it is — as I found out very soon.
I think I fell off more than any U.S. rider for a few years in my early 20s. After a particularly horrible crash at Blenheim on Somerset, I made a vow as I was trudging up the hill from the second water, looking like something out of a low budget horror film.
What was the vow? To NEVER rush a horse up the levels again. I still wear that number bib, with Blenheim dirt embedded into it, as a reminder of this vow.
What I think most people don’t understand is how long it takes to get a horse to this level. I’m a coward when not on my own horses, so even if I could buy good upper-level horses, I would still buy young ones. It works better for me to develop a partnership through the levels.
My husband, Brian Murphy, has been wonderful helping me find super young horses. Thank God for my sainted owner/best friend/enabler, Edy Hunter Rameika. She has been in my life since I was a young rider and is just as much of an eventing addict as me. Nine years ago, Edy and I started the PRO As You Like It Award for owners to honor our first amazing horse and the incredible contributions to the sport by its owners.
Edy’s arm and mine with our matching bracelets made from Somerset’s tail. It’s a good luck thing we do for big horse shows since he was a special horse to us.
My show jumping husband thinks all eventers should be hauled off to the looney bin stat. “So let me get this straight,” says long suffering husband his first time at an event. “You get up at 4 a.m., go to bed at 10 p.m., spend a fortune, all to win a body brush, if you’re lucky?”
“Yes!” says addict wife, trembling with excitement. “You knew what you were getting into when we met! By the way, can you set up something to make Fluffy go clear in show jumping no matter what ride I give him?” I probably shouldn’t write his response to that here …
Walking Rolex this year made me so proud of our beautiful American four-star. Many of the overseas riders said that Derek di Grazia’s course was a “proper” track — praise indeed — and they were right. I think Rolex goes from strength to strength, and everything from the beautiful park to Richard Jeffery’s stunning show jumping course was at the very highest standard that can be reached in our sport.
What does it feel like to return to Rolex? Walking a four-star cross country course is where I feel most alive in the world; it’s like an extension of who I am. All the hard work, setbacks and heartache melt away, and a feeling of pure joy floods my body from top to toe. The prospect of returning to Rolex is what drives me to become a better rider and horseman. It’s my daily inspiration.
