Julie Wolfert and SSH Playboy. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Julie Wolfert may have won her first 4*-L at Morven Park this weekend with Team Pivot’s SSH Playboy (Cit Cat – Stomeyford Black Pearl), but the pathway she’s taken to this point in her career has been far from a straightforward one. A few years ago, Julie was questioning her entire career as an upper-level rider.
Some may recognize Julie’s name, as she’s certainly been on the radar in the past. First it was with her off-track Thoroughbred, Buenos Aires, who’s success in the sport earned her a spot on the USEF Developing Rider list in 2014. Their journey was cut short, however, after “Aires” succumbed to a tragic bout of cellulitis later on that year. Next came Djabouti, a dressage-bred Dutch horse who became her next eventing partner. Julie wasn’t quite able to make the moves up that she had hoped with that horse and eventually sold him on to a non-eventing home. She enjoyed a brief partnership with another off-track Thoroughbred in Iowa Lot of Money, but he also wasn’t meant to be her top Advanced horse.
By the time COVID struck, Julie was feeling the weight of disappointment. She’s also a rider who doesn’t live in a hub of eventing, hailing from Bucyrus, KS, where she bases out of her own Chaps Equestrian Center and runs one of the largest eventing training programs in Area IV, coaching students from those just starting out to those competing at the upper FEI levels. Maintaining her own career — with only one horse going at upper levels at a time, to boot — meant logging hundreds of hours in her truck each season, traversing the country to get to the events she needed.
Julie Wolfert and SSH Playboy. Photo by Sally Spickard.
It takes much grit to have a career in this sport, and I dare say even more if you A) don’t have a string of horses and B) live far from most upper level events.
So when Renee Senter and Sheri Gurske, both parents of students of Julie’s, saw her struggling, they intervened.
“If you were to say Julie were a trainer or a friend first, I would definitely say a friend first,” Sheri said to me a couple of years ago. “She has become a part of our family. If I had to choose a relationship, if I could only choose one, I would choose that family friend relationship. We just love her. It was so hard to see her struggling and Renee and I and our husbands were in a position to say, ‘you know what? We can do this.’ And we don’t need anything back other than going to all these places. We wanted to launch her.”
Thus, Team Pivot was formed, and the women first looked at a few horses stateside before traveling to Ireland and subsequently trialing some 40 horses before finding SSH Playboy, a nearly black Irish gelding who’d been taken to the 3* level by Irish rider Camilla Speirs.
Despite his obvious talent for the sport, though, “Jaego” has certainly had his own share of growing pains as he’s come up the levels. He can be quite hot, bucking Julie off several times and injuring her enough to make her miss the rest of a season. In 2023, he bucked her off in show jumping warm-up at Carolina, relegating her to stall rest for the remainder of a year that was intended to be their breakout year at the 4* level.
Julie Wolfert and SSH Playboy. Photo by Sally Spickard.
She watched Morven Park on the live stream from her couch last fall, shedding tears and wondering if she would ever get her own shot to compete here.
“Every day,” Julie said when we asked her if there was a point in time when she thought about throwing in the towel or questioned her career. “I would say, ‘Why am I doing this?’ It is a struggle. And just like everybody else for sure has their struggles and ups and downs with horses, but I just feel like a little bit in the Midwest we have our own set of obstacles.”
So the victory comes with much sentimental attachment and a huge personal victory for Julie, who’s primarily goal for the weekend was simply to have a confidence-boosting run after experiencing some difficulties over the summer at her competitions with SSH Playboy.
A win was certainly not on her radar, but getting in a solid preparation as she eyes her 5* debut, potentially at Kentucky next year, was.
“I needed this weekend because I had done two four-longs, but the last one was sketchy for me,” she said. “We had a stop [at Rebecca Farm in July]. And I’m thinking, ‘just because you’re qualified [for a five-star] doesn’t mean you’re ready to go. So after this week, and I was like, my horse is a baller, he’s ready.”
“It’s just partnership I have this horse now,” Julie reflected. “The other horses, I might have had one or two seasons barely. Then you have to go back to Beginner Novice for some reason. So the fact that I’ve been at this level now for almost two years, it’s like, I’m back at it again. It is so hard if you do not have multiple horses at this level. If you only have one, it is so hard to stay sharp because I get one chance — a lot of others have multiple, or even horses going at two-star or three-star. I literally just have this one horse.”
“I wouldn’t have this horse if I didn’t have Team Pivot behind me, Renee and Sheri,” Julie said emotionally. “Because they saw me struggle and they were like, ‘Hey, you’re a great rider, and we want to help you out.’ I would still be doing, literally, Beginner Novice with an off-track Thoroughbred right now.”
Julie Wolfert and SSH Playboy. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Julie’s double clear show jumping today around Chris Barnard’s 4*-L track in the big Grand Prix arena at Morven Park officially puts her back on the map, and despite her expressing to us yesterday that she felt embarrassed to ask for any help from her fellow pros because she feared no one knew who she was, I don’t think she’ll need to worry about that anymore. She also got some help this weekend from Jan Byyny, and she previously worked for and rode with Emily Mastervich Beshear when she was younger.
Has she ever considered relocating? Julie says no.
“I stay in Kansas because I love my family and I grew up there, but also, there is a very big need for event trainers in the Midwest, in Kansas, and I feel like if I leave, then there’s nobody. I help run a recognized horse trial that is very much in need of help, and we’re all volunteers in a nonprofit. And I just love my students, and I want them to understand that if they want to come out here and do this, they can. I’ll go to places with them, and I’ll drive across the country with them. That just because we live in the Midwest doesn’t mean we can’t do it.”
Lucienne Bellissimo and Dyri. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Lucienne Bellisimo and Horse Scout Eventing’s Dyri (Diarado – La Calera, by King Milford xx) also amassed a banner weekend, adding no penalties today and cementing second place but even more significantly making a big step up in the 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding’s career. Now, Lucienne says, she feels the horse is getting closer to being ready to step up to the 5* level, most likely also at Kentucky in 2025.
As I wrote yesterday, the production of any event horse is an exercise in patience and a sense of humor, and this is certainly the case with Dyri, who’s campaigned at Advanced and 4* for two years and has taken some time to get to the point where he can go fast on cross country and maintain his confidence.
“He’s so sensitive. He deserves the patience,” Lucienne expressed. “But I think he’s ready now, because he helped me as well yesterday [on cross country] a couple of times. He knows his job, and we’re just going to go slow around his first five-star and we’ll see what he wants to do.”
Allison Springer and No May Moon. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Allison Springer got a nice bonus surprise today in addition to finishing on the podium with Nancy Winter’s Bromont 4*-L winner No May Moon (Catherston Dazzler – Ebony Moon, by Mystic Replica). With this placing, Allison and “Maizie” took home the top prize for the new MARS Equestrian American Bred Talent Trophy, presented to the top-scoring pairs across the 4*-L and 4*-S that featured a U.S.-bred horse, with $10,000 awarded to the winner and $5,000 awarded to the runner-up, in this case 4*-S winners Emily Beshear and Rio de Janeiro.
“Nancy Winter has a huge equestrian history in this country. Her family helped start the US Equestrian Team, and she’s just an amazing woman,” Allison said. “This award was not on my radar, so that was a really nice surprise. And it was super fun today, because Maizey’s full brother, Crystal Crescent Moon won the Preliminary. Obviously, I buy horses from Europe too, but we can make them here. [The breeding is] not as generational in our country, but there are some good horses. So I’m thrilled for Nancy. It’s just, I know this is a huge dream come true for her, seeing her horses. She’s always been supportive of me and other horses, but it brings her so much joy to see her own go through the levels.”
Allison Springer and No May Moon. Photo by Sally Spickard.
No May Moon is another horse that could see a 5* move up soon, but Allison says she’ll make that call later on and after consulting with Phillip Dutton, who’s been helping her with her horses. For her, it’s more about ensuring her horses have the full confidence to step up without feeling impressed. Two full seasons at the 3* level did this for this mare moving up to Advanced, and so another full or half season at this level could yet be in the cards.
“When I moved her up to Advanced, she actually didn’t feel green. She felt like she knew the job. So I think that’s really important when I asked her for that next step up. Making sure you’re picking the right place and right time. But I mean, she gave me such a good feel yesterday, and she recovered so well. I don’t know what the best next best move is, but she definitely has a five-star in her. It’s just the timing and when it’s right, so she has a very well-deserved vacation here and then we’ll regroup.”
Arden Wildasin and Sunday Times. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Other notables from the 4*-L include a fourth-place finish for Arden Wildasin and Sunday Times, who moved up from 15th thanks to one of the few double clears on cross country and another double clear in show jumping today. Arden has also gone the route of Bromont and Morven Park in anticipation of a 5* debut at Kentucky in the spring, and this result cements her preparation is paying off. She said she’ll work on her dressage over the off-season and aim for the big Kentucky in the new season.
Matt Brown and Alderwood. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Matt Brown also piloted Shelley Onderdonk’s Alderwood to a move-up fifth place finish after starting the weekend in 12th and also going double clear on cross country. One rail in show jumping dropped them to fourth, but what a strong finish for Matt, who we’re so pleased to see competing at this level once again.
Emily Beshear Wins First US Equestrian Open Leg in CCI4*-S
Emily Beshear and Rio de Janeiro take home second place for the MARS Equestrian American Bred Talent Trophy. Photo by Sally Spickard.
The lead of the first US Equestrian Open leg in the CCI4*-S changed hands after each phase this weekend. After overnight leaders Hannah Sue Hollberg and Business Ben withdrew due to some soreness after cross country, the win was up for grabs and Ema Klugman with RF Redfern was in first place.
One rail lowered for Ema meant that Emily Mastervich Beshear, who had come into today in second and breathing down Ema’s neck, and Rio de Janeiro‘s (River Dancer – Vanilla Ice) clear round would elevate them to the victory spot by a razor-thin margin of just .1 penalty points.
“Rio” is a horse that’s come to the upper levels later in life at age 15, but he’s showed much agreeability for the upper levels after starting out with one of Emily’s students and later coming to her and her son, Nicholas, to campaign.
“The goal all year was to just take it one event at a time and see if he liked playing the game at this level,” Emily said. “And he loved the cross country yesterday. I think he started off a little bit surprised by some of the efforts, but he finished like a rock star. So, you know, this [win] is just icing on the cake.”
“To me, he’s an American fairy tale,” Emily continued. “As far as event horses go. The family that bred him is in Michigan, and they run some of the only horse trials up there now. Their daughter produced him and rode him in the Young Rider ranks and I coached her there. When she went off to college and decided to stop riding, I was able to purchase him, and they still follow him.”
Emily’s not completely sure of what she’ll do next year with the Holsteiner/Thoroughbred gelding, noting that because of his age she’s not sure a 5* is in the cards (though we think she hasn’t *quite* ruled it out!) and she may instead focus on Short-format events.
Emily now collects 40 points for her win in the US Equestrian Open qualifier and has also earned a berth to the Championship Final in the 4*-L at Morven Park next fall. A points bonus of $50k is also on the line for the riders who secure the most points in the next 12 months.
“I think it’s great for the sport,” Emily said of the US Equestrian Open, which will distribute upwards of $250k in prize money and point bonuses in eventing. “I mean, it gives us another avenue to go down, as far as the excitement of something to build towards and bringing a little more public awareness to the sport. It just great because it does get easy for us to just focus on doing, you know, one competition as our goal for the season, our goal for the year. And so having this cumulative ask is really cool.”
Here’s some information on how the qualifications and points work for the US Equestrian Open:
FEI Winner Round-up
Sara Kozumplik and Rock Phantom. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Looking to the remaining FEI divisions that concluded today, Sara Kozumplik and Edy Rameika’s Rock Phantom (Spirit Hous xx – Ballycroy Rose, by Clonakilty Hero) ticked another box on their comeback tour after the Irish gelding underwent surgery on his neck earlier this year, winning the 3*-S with a healthy berth on a score of 29.2.
Monica Spencer and Marvel. Photo by Sally Spickard.
In the Young Horse 3*-S, Monica Spencer and Marvel (Cassiano 3 – Aberfino, by Corofino II) were the last pair standing, and they did lower two rails but finished the 7-year-old homebred of Sandra Ray’s first 3* in style with the victory.
Allie Knowles and Starburst. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Finally, Allie Knowles completed a wire-to-wire win in the Young Horse CCI2*-S with Katherine O’Brien’s spirited mare, Starburst, finishing the weekend on their dressage score of 24.8.
It’s been another great weekend of eventing here at Morven Park, and we’re already counting down the days to 2025, which will feature the championship final for the US Equestrian Open. Mark your calendars now, and meet us in Leesburg this time next year!
I’ll now take this crazy train on the road up to the MARS Maryland 5 Star next week, so we’ll see you soon for the penultimate 5* of the year.
Go Eventing.
Morven Park Fall International & H.T. (VA): [Website] [YouTube Channel] [USEF Network] [Scores]
