The American Gold Cup @Old Salem

The main thing you need to know about the Gold Cup, a top drawer, multi-tiered equestrian event to be held September 11-15 at Old Salem Farm in North Salem, is that it is a spectacle worth watching even if you’re not particularly enamored of all things equestrian. Featuring 600 horses and 300 riders from Europe, South America, Canada and across the United States, the American Gold Cup is an important qualifying event for riders and their horses aspiring to compete in the 2014 World Cup Finals to take place next April in Lyon, France. The Gold Cup at Old Salem Farm has been designated as a CSI-4 qualifying competition by the world governing body of equestrian sport, the Federation Equestre Internationale, of FEI. Only a handful of such events can lay claim to that importance in the United States. The Grand Prix, the epic qualifying event of the five day extravaganza, will take place at Old Salem at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 15, with a $200,000 prize package for the winners. That event will be broadcast live on NBC Sports.

It’s tricky to describe the sheer star-quality glamour and sex appeal surrounding top ranked equestrians and their horses to Americans; in Europe, show jumpers enjoy the celebrity of rock stars. Even if you’re not savvy about ranking riders and qualifying competitions, if nothing else, the Gold Cup at Old Salem Farm can be viewed as a golden opportunity to ogle the athleticism and pizazz of some of the world’s most talented riders and their mounts.

A bit of history about the Gold Cup. Founded in 1970, the show is considered one of the most prestigious and iconic sporting events of International Show Jumping. The first Gold Cup took place in Cleveland, Ohio; since then, the show has enjoyed success in Tampa, Philadelphia, and, for more than 20 years, Devon. Last year, the Gold Cup moved to Old Salem Farm, where it set records for show entries, spectators, and prizes. It’s quite a feather in Old Salem Farm’s cap that for its 34^th year, the Gold Cup is returning to Old Salem.

Frank Madden, Old Salem Farm head trainer and American Gold Cup organizer, said the farm recently completed a $30 million renovation, which further established the property as a first-class show facility, highlighted by its pristine Grand Prix field. 
The five day event is estimated to garner more than $6 million dollars in revenues from attendance. Over five days, $465,000 will be awarded in prize money.

Judy Richter, esteemed equestrian, long time trainer and owner of Bedford’s Coker Farm, said she is “delighted” the Gold Cup is at Old Salem. “It’s a fabulous facility, a worthy venue for that prestigious competition,” Richter said. Heather Ward, head trainer and manager of Sunnyfield, said, “I am thrilled that such an event is being held locally. Our community is so involved in horses, it makes sense to hold a big Grand Prix here. We live in horse country and it’s exciting to have a top sport competition like this, especially since our area is home to so many equestrian Olympians, including McLain Ward , Leslie Howard, and Peter Leone.”

Kristen Kissel Carollo, owner of Courtyard Farm, said, “I think it’s great; we are such a major horse community, to have something so big in the equestrian world come to our area is not only huge for us, but an honor.” Carolla said the owners and managers of Old Salem Farm have done an amazing job making it a world-class facility. “These big competitions are so coveted; we’re incredibly lucky to have this in our back yard,” Carollo said. “Kudos to Old Salem Farm. I’m totally looking forward to having the Gold Cup here for a long time.” 

Lendon Gray, a two-time equestrian Olympian and trainer of Olympian and International Young Riders, as well as founder and president of Dressage4Kids, said, “To have one of the most respected established jumper competitions come to one of the most respected jumper show grounds is fabulous. And how lucky are we to have the opportunity to watch some of the best jumper riders in the world compete.”

“Last year it was an all-star cast,” said Michael Morrissey, president of Stadium Jumping and American Gold Cup organizer. “We wanted everybody to come here and have a good experience and go away thinking this was the climax of the season. We feel we really accomplished that. This year, we are particularly excited to share the American Gold Cup in this incredible venue with television viewers across the country.”

In 2012, the North American Riders Group voted both Old Salem Farm and the American Gold Cup as among the “Top 25” equestrian shows in North America.

Sponsored by Suncast, Ariat, Roberto Coin, Purina, Hermes, Danbury Porsche & Audi, Der Dau, Jeffrey Terreson Fine Art, and others, the Gold Cup will take place from September 11^th through the 15^th. During the week, admission is free and open to the public; Saturday & Sunday it’s $15 for adults; $10 per child 4-12 years; seniors 65+ and children 3 & under are free. Gates open at 8:00 a.m. weekdays; Saturday and Sunday, 12:00 noon.

For more information about the Gold Cup at Old Salem Farm, log on to www.theamericangoldcup.com. Eve Marx.

First day of school/Empty nesters

As I write this, it’s the first day of school for many kids. In some cases, it really is the first day, that is if you’ve got a kindergartener.

All morning my Facebook news feed has been filled with happy pictures of kids, the elementary school aged ones dressed in their “first day” clothes, proudly hoisting their backpacks. Every child’s proud, shining face filled with expectation is a poignant sight to me, as it seems only yesterday when my own son, now a man, first stepped on the school bus and drove away. I still remember ducking my head to hide my tears as he eagerly climbed aboard without so much as a look back, so eager was he to begin his new adventure. Little did I know or understand at the time it was the first of many big departures: his going away at ten for three weeks of sleep-a-way camp; his four years as an undergrad in Oregon; his six months of study in Oslo, Norway; his moving into his first solo-living apartment as an grad student in D.C. Each and every one of these leave takings has felt like a rip or a tear in the fabric of our family, and no matter how many departures there have been, I never, ever really get used to them.

In the past few weeks I haven’t been terribly surprised to see on Facebook a number of plaintive posts from saddened moms who had just packed their first (or last) child off to college. The first kid to leave the nest is, of course, the hardest; it’s even more tear-jerking when that child is your one and only. A few moms posting asked how bad would it be if they just happened to drop in on their college student, “just to say hello.” Pretty bad was the most common answer.

While other moms posted in commiseration about the difficulties of learning to grocery shop minus one, or how many nights they forgot and set a place for the missing child at the dinner table, I was thinking about my sort of step sister, Mary. A couple of weeks ago Mary’s son Will became a college freshman. She and her husband were driving Will to his college campus, 23 minutes away, a distance Mary knows by heart because she has timed it. This son is her first and only child to move out of the house to go away to college. Mary herself did not go, and her husband attended college part time while living at home with his parents. This is a proud moment for Mary, but strange territory, or so she claimed.

I disputed the fact she had no experience packing anyone off to college.

“Don’t you remember how I left?” I asked on the phone, trying to jog her memory. Mary and I are very close, although we have not seen each other for years. The last time we physically got together was nearly a decade ago when we spent an afternoon at the summer home of a sort of sibling we mutually share through our unique familial arrangement.

 “Eddie drove you and I rode shotgun,” Mary said. At the time I was 17, car-less, and desperate to get out of my mother’s house. Eddie was a friend of Mary’s half- brother, Chip, who had a license and a car and was willing to chauffeur. I told him to bring Mary along to help move my stuff, and also to keep him company on the long ride back to south Jersey. To our minds, we were strict south Jersey people and north Jersey was another planet, a planet constructed of concrete, and with twice as much traffic.

“Remember how I told you guys just to leave after we went somewhere for lunch?” I said. “You’re going to do the same thing with Will. You will not unpack his bags. You will not make his bed. You will hug him and kiss him goodbye and then you and Dave will scram. At home you will practice making small romantic dinners. You will hang out and watch TV. You will start to get used to being a pair and not a trio, because this isn’t just the start of your son’s life of independence, but your future with your husband as a child-free couple.”

“You don’t say,” Mary said. She was still adjusting to the concept of becoming an empty nester. I didn’t tell her it takes years for that notion to sink in, especially when the average college student who lives less than an hour from home drops in once a week to do his laundry.

Mr. Sax and I have officially been empty nesters now for about 7 years. Our son’s old room is making the slow transformation into a second den. Most of his personal belongings are gone and we no longer keep his favorite cereal in the house because he’s so rarely around to eat it. We baby our cats and dogs because they really have become our children. The only thing that never changes is the pang I still experience on the first day of school when I see the neighborhood kids proudly climbing on the school bus. I know just how their parents feel seeing them pull away. They feel sad because they know it’s just the beginning.