68 Years Later, She Returns To Scene Of Triumph
By LIBBY CUDMORE • The Freeman’s Journal
Edition of Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014
COOPERSTOWN
In 1946, 16-year-old Elaine Moore and her trainer’s horse, Power Plant, stood in the center of the ring at Madison Square Garden to receive the Maclay Trophy at the National Horse Show.
And on Sunday, Nov. 2, 68 years later, she had the honor of presenting that same award to 17-year-old Tori Colvin as honorary chair of that same National Horseshow, now held in Lexington, Ky. “I remembered seeing all the socialites at that show, the women in their evening gowns, the men in white tie handing out the trophies,” she said. “And that’s the kind of thing I got to do this time!”
Now Elaine Moffat, who owned and operated Cooperstown Stables on Beaver Meadow Road with her husband, John, into the late 1990s, says her selection as honorary chair was a surprise. “Jane Clark invited me to dinner with Mason Phelps, (former Olympic equestrian and past president of the ASPCA National Horse Show.) It was delightful to see him, but I didn’t know they were checking me out.” she said. “After dinner, he invited me to be the chair.”
Moffat, 84, began riding in 1940 at the Boulder Brook Club in Scarsdale. “My mother thought I was a hopeless nerd,” she said. “I was skinny and near-sighted, and she had to do something!”
When word got out that a new stable, Secor Farms, opened, she transferred there. “The War was on, so I had to take a bus to the train, then another bus to get to the farm,” she said.
The stable was owned by Gordon Wright, who became one of the most influential trainers in history. “He put me on some creepy old saddle horse and sent me out into the ring,” she said. “I rode this stupid thing for 10 minutes and went back up to him and said, ‘I’ve had enough.’ He made me go back, and every time I complained, he added half an hour.His theory was that you had to ride every weird school horse he had, but by 1946, when the war was over, we got some better horses.”
Wright was married to Moffat’s mother, briefly, and among her equestrian classmates was Nancy McGinnis, now the wife of former secretary of state Henry Kissinger. “Her brother Bristol took me to my first dance,” she said. “She was a very friendly, delightful person.”
In 1941, at age 11, Moffat took sixth place in the Maclay finals at the National Horse Show. To participate in the competition, she had to qualify and win the Maclay at a local show, and won it every year at Lawrence Horse Farms in 1943-46. “There was no National Horse Show with the war on, so when I won the trophy, they were trying to do three years of shows in one.”
But when the show started back up in 1946, it was her last chance to win the trophy at the National Horse Show – at the time, only riders under age 16 were eligible.
She had to ride Power Plant around the ring once, then down through the middle, with fences on each line – but the fences were 3’6”, considerably taller than the fences she had practiced on. “Those 6 inches make a big difference to the horse!”
But Power Plant handled the fences beautifully, and she took home the coveted trophy. “I was nervous, but we knew what we were doing,” she said.
Though her mother did not want her to ride professionally, she trained for the 1952 Olympics at a time when female riders were not allowed to jump fences, but didn’t qualify for the team. She also authored the book “Winning Your Spurs,” published by Little Brown & Company in 1954. “I’ve had people asking me to publish another edition,” she said.
In 1959, she and her husband John Moffat opened Cooperstown Stables, giving lessons and breeding horses. “I remember Jane Clark riding in our horse show, with her beautiful braids and bows,” she said.
And though she had stopped showing professionally, Moffat began riding again in 1992 at age 64, taking second place in the Classic at a competition in Wellington, Fla. “People were astounded,” she said. “But I told Mason that I wanted to ride again, and he got me all set up.”
And though she has since sold all of her horses, she savored her chance to get back in the ring in Kentucky. “It was like coming home,” she said. “It was a fabulous show.”