from nj.com (dated 02apr11)

The list of entries for this month's Rolex Kentucky, the Western Hemisphere's only 4-star eventing competition, is a real who's who of the sport's stars, with a good sized contingent coming from abroad. That includes two-time Olympic gold medalist Mark Todd of New Zealand and the defending champion, Great Britain's much-decorated William Fox-Pitt, as well as 2007 Rolex winner Clayton Fredericks of Australia.

It's quite heady company for Heather Gillette of Pottersville, whose name is on the roster for the first time. Gillette, 42, finally is on the brink of realizing a dream she has been actively pursuing since the mid-1990s.

First, it was with Pickle Road, who "was going to be my big time horse to go to Rolex on," she recalled. Injuries derailed that dream. A few years ago, she had another nice horse, the New Zealand-bred Charlton Scribe, but he died suddenly after suffering a digestive tract problem in 2009.

"It's discouraging. The goal was always to find the right horse again," said Gillette, who never gave up on going to Rolex.

"It feels like it's been a very, very long road. I'm just trying to keep my eye on the prize and working hard to get there," she said, adding she realizes that reaching the goal means not only great effort on her part and that of her team, but also "a whole lot of luck that goes with it.''

Her current mount, Our Questionnaire, came to her two years ago. She saw a video of him and had to move fast before the opportunity slipped away. Since he was in New Zealand, Gillette didn't have time to fly there and try him. Bringing him to the U.S. called for practically a split-second decision, but her longtime employer and sponsor, Kathleen McDermott, came to her aid and bought him.

"She's been a marvelous supporter. It was a huge leap of faith," said Gillette, noting the first time she saw the horse "in person" was "on the airport tarmac at Newark."

Her initial impression?

"He's not a super model," she said good-naturedly. However, he had a nice resume. Questie was a short-listed candidate for New Zealand's 2008 Olympic team with rider Bryce Newman, but dandelion poisoning kept him at home. Although he has never done a 4-star, Gillette has faith in him. Questie knows his job.

The first time they set up a jumping grid for him, she felt the thoroughbred took it in, knew what the job was "and it was all calculated and done.''

"We jokingly called him `The Professor,''' said Gillette.

"He's extremely athletic but he's also very, very smart. He's probably the smartest animal I've ever sat on. He takes a good look at all the (cross-country jumping) complexes, it doesn't matter how tough they are, and you can feel him go, `Okay, I've got the question' and off he goes. He absolutely loves it."

Asked if she is tense about the prospect of competing at such a landmark fixture as Rolex, Gillette admitted, "You have nerves every time you leave the start box. I'm trying to think of it as any old event. Clearly, it's not, but I'm trying to be as prepared as possible, hopefully that takes the edge off."

She expects a contingent of her students and supporters to show up in Lexington, Ky., for the big occasion, and that's a responsibility too.

"It's a lot of pressure being in charge of everybody's vacation time," she explained.
Her husband, Eric Nichols, who works in information technology with a shipping company, will play a role in insuring his wife is calm for the biggest moment in her competitive career.

"Eric's good at keeping me grounded; he's a stabilizing influence,'' Gillette said.

She usually is trained by Stephen Bradley, but recently she has taken lessons from Karen O'Connor (who won the Rolex 4-star in 1999 and is also competing this year). Gillette focuses on the dressage phase with Betsy Steiner.

Tenth last year at Jersey Fresh, Questie had time off afterwards when it was discovered that he had a bone chip and a suspensory injury, but now he's back on track.

Gillette was buoyed by a 33.8-penalty dressage mark at Poplar Place in Georgia last weekend, an amazing score considering she was penalized for going blank and skipping a movement that she had to repeat. She hopes his dressage ability shines again in Kentucky.

"Hopefully, when we get in front of the big grandstand at Rolex, he'll stay with me and be good and we'll go from there,'" she said.

The Rolex event runs April 28-May 1 at the Kentucky Horse Park. For information, go to www.rk3de.org.