Five-star stalwart to retire at Maryland 5 Star: ‘He’s my best friend and I’ll miss him’

Five-star stalwart Harbour Pilot will retire after this weekend’s Maryland 5 Star, aged 19, his rider Hannah Sue Hollberg (née Burnett) announced yesterday (14 Oct0ber).

“This will be his last event so I’ll try not to cry all day,” said Hannah Sue. “He’s so special to me and I just love him. He’s my best friend so it’ll be really hard not to have him.”

Owned by Jacqueline Mars, this is the son of Cruising’s 12th five-star start with US rider Hannah Sue and they have contested every northern hemisphere event at the level. Their best results include eighth at Luhmühlen Horse Trials in 2017 and four top-15 finishes at Kentucky Three-Day Event, plus they were individual silver and team gold medallists at the 2011 Pan American Games.

“I never really thought about it ending until now, but I’m so happy to make this decision ahead of time rather than something horrible happening,” said Hannah Sue after her dressage yesterday, which left her in equal eighth. “It’s special to be able to take care of him his whole career and do the right thing for him. I’ll miss him for sure.”

The rider said she hasn’t made any changes to the horse’s riding or management because of his age and he still feels great.

She said: “I’ve always put him first so if the footing wasn’t great or whatever, I wouldn’t run him. I love him so I always took care of him and if something didn’t feel just right, I wouldn’t push him.”

Hannah Sue said Harbour Pilot is the “best friend and field mate” of another of her rides, Capitol HIM, who currently leads the CCI3*-L at Maryland, and the old campaigner will stay at her yard for the time being.

“He can go retire at Mrs Mars’ beautiful farm in Virginia [at some point], but I’m not ready for that yet. He’s going to hang out with me a little while longer,” she said.

“As he’s got older he’s become happier to be out a lot, so I think he’ll transition well, but he does love working. He’s mostly thoroughbred, so he really does like to have a job. So we’ll play around with that a little bit.

“I have a groom-working student called Katherine Maroko, who’s just turned 18 and is grooming for me here. She rides him sometimes and she gets along with him really well, so maybe she’ll practise on him.”

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