Kilmartin wins prestigious West Coast Young Jumper Championshihp
riding on Sinaloa
GILROY – Constance Kilmartin came to Gilroy five years ago – moving into a 15-acre ranch off Redwood Retreat Road in hopes of training the finest show jumping horses in the area.
Her Orchard Hill Farm started in Fratola Valley and moved to the garlic capital so Kilmartin could spend more time with her family, especially her two young sons.
“I wanted to be able to spend time with (my kids) and work more quality time with the horses and get them to be better athletes by not having to ride a lot,” said Kilmartin, who downsized from her 45-horse stable. “I wanted to create a smaller business with better quality horses. Since I’ve been in Gilroy, I’ve been very successful every year. I have many horses that compete in the California Championships up and down the coast.”
The 22-year professional show jumper’s most recent success came while riding a five-year old Irish Sport Horse called Sinaloa – which was named after the Mexican restaurant that burned down in Morgan Hill by Kilmartin’s business partners, Ross and Priscilla Campbell.
“After it burned down and the horse arrived to the U.S., they thought it would be a fun thing to name it in remembrance of our great restaurant,” said Kilmartin, who is awaiting the reopening of Sinaloa scheduled for the end of October.
Kilmartin – who trains with six to 10 horses six days a week at about 8-10 hours per session at her private barn – rode Sinaloa to victory in the prestigious West Coast Young Jumper Championship on Aug. 30.
“Sinaloa, it was his first big win in the U.S. He competed in the Irish National Championships as a four-year old and took sixth,” said Kilmartin, who competes on the West Coast show jumping tour that is for young, upcoming horses looking to compete in the Olympics. “I’m the rider and the trainer. We go to Europe a lot. We found this one in Ireland.”
From their first sight of the handsome bay gelding, ‘Sinaloa’ was the only appropriate name. Kilmartin worked with Sinaloa from February to August – campaigning the young horse with the goal of accumulating enough points to qualify for the five-year old Young Jumper Competition held each year in Del Mar. Kilmartin competed against other talented equine hopefuls and Olympic-caliber riders. Following four challenging rounds, Sinaloa was the only horse to jump clearly culminating in the championship won in August.
At the show jumping competition, Kilmartin rode Sinaloa for three days – completing one round per day. After taking sixth on the first day, Sinaloa won the second and third days to claim victory.
“He’s kind of a spooky horse. He gets distracted by things. So when he took sixth the first day, I thought that was a pretty good omen,” Kilmartin said. “I was just hoping for him to go around and get exposure at that level. It was real remarkable (because) the horse jumped clean and rose to occasion and beat out some world class horses and riders.”
The top three horses following round two move on to a speed round in the championship over a shortened course with slightly taller jumps. The horses have to go as fast as they can through the course without knocking any rails down.
“We were able to be very consistent and beat out them,” Kilmartin said. “Sinaloa was the only one to keep all rails up and she ran the second fastest time but the fastest had rails down. So he was fast and clean.”
Kilmartin rode her first horse when she was three-years old. She started competing four years later. She took off from show jumping during college – but eventually returned to the sport she grew up on.
“I enjoy it. I really like working with animals and people, and this is a great combination of both,” Kilmartin said. “I want to just get better quality horses and achieve bigger goals.”
After purchasing a young horse – some of which were ridden before and other that were not – Kilmartin teaches them basic gate jumps and develops their muscles just like professional athletes in training. She then develops the horse’s skills and timing throughout the course.
“As they get better, the move on to bigger shows,” said Kilmartin, who was last year’s Monterey County Jumper Rider of the Year.
There are eight horse shows in a series. She’s leading at the moment in defense of her status. Kilmartin competes in two events each month with up to 12 horses and travels predominantly in California as well as Oregon and Arizona. But she always returns home to Gilroy to start up again.
“We’re over on west side. It’s rural. It’s very peaceful. The horses are very happy,” Kilmartin said. “I really like it. It’s much better than being up in Bay Area.”
