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November and December are slow times around the EN/HN compound. The chinchillas spend most of their time impersonating hibernating bears as the writers desperately search for something–anything–to write about for your reading pleasure. The FEI occasionally obliges us all with complete incompetence, but even that has been resolved. Time slows down and we have an opportunity to chase down tid-bits that were lost in the pandemonium of three-day season. Today I received a quick email confirmation of a story that we heard about last month. At the time, it was one of those things that wasn’t exactly secret but that no one wanted to talk about. When I got the email today, I thought the story was too old and perhaps a little too trivial for EN, so I sent out a quick tweet about it from my account. The story quickly picked up some momentum, so here we are.
A source confirmed that Doug Payne’s former ride Running Order has been sold to connections of William Fox-Pitt. That’s all I have! We also know that Doug spent over four years developing Running Order into an established international horse, that Doug sought to syndicate Running Order this summer with considerable success, and that the syndicate was unable to purchase Running Order due to “unforeseen circumstances.” Those unforeseen circumstances are clouded in mystery, but there are rumors of flip-flopping from former ownership and possible involvement by the former US coach. Doug is too classy to comment on any of it (I tried), and he’s focusing on moving forward with his program and his growing string of excellent horses. As an aside, Stone Hill Farm is still the registered owner, according to Running Order’s FEI page, but these things often take a while to update. If you know anything more about the situation, drop us a line at [email protected].
The good news for Running Order is that he will be of course in excellent hands in William’s program as he moves from one of the best riders in the US to one of the best riders in the world. We wish Running Order and all involved the very best moving forward. Go eventing.
