Oaks Equestrian-Social Event Looms as a Classic

Ninety riders from across the nation gathered in San Juan Capistrano for the Oaks Classic equestrian competition, which featured a $50,000 purse to the winner of the grand prix show-jumping event.

The weekend of competition for both amateurs and professional riders marked the second consecutive year that heiress Joan Irvine Smith and her mother Athalie Clarke have staged the equestrian event that Smith hopes will someday make the Oaks the show-jumping capital of the world.

After the show-jumping format used in Olympics equestrian competition, the riders and horses are judged on their “ability to jump fences cleanly and smoothly,” said Martin Cohen, manager of the event.

“After the first round (of a competition), any (horse and rider who have) gone over the fences without error come back for a timed jump-off over a shortened course,” Cohen said. “This is where the element of speed and excitement comes in.”

Errors in jumping competitions include knocking down a pole and stopping or refusing a jump, he said.

Getting a horse to jump over obstacles on command is not an easy matter. Historically, such training evolved because it was necessary that horses be able to jump in battle. Horse jumping was elevated to a new level of sophistication with the popularity among the English of the fox hunt.

But it has been Americans, Cohen said, who “have refined it to a level that has made the sport the best in the world.”

Annual events where those refinements are displayed, Cohen said, include the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the Washington International in Washington, and the American Invitational in Tampa, Fla.

Smith, who has combined her passions for horse jumping and party-giving on a grand scale, is aiming to put the Oaks Classic at her 20-acre stable complex in San Juan Capistrano on the national--if not international--map of equestrian events.

On Sunday, guests--who had paid up to $150 each to attend a full weekend schedule of activities--watched riders float over jumps festooned with shrubbery and flowers as they sat beneath white canopies, sipping something cool and dining on lavish luncheon fare catered by Rococo of Van Nuys.

The premiere event of the late spring social calendar, the Oaks featured early coffee and croissants, a “tailgate” picnic at midday, and a sumptuous barbecue at dusk on Saturday. Those who viewed Sunday’s main event also enjoyed a victory party that featured hearty champagne toasts and reluctant farewells “until next year.”