All 27 Horses Accepted in Galway Downs CCI3* First Horse Inspection

Bella Mowbray and Star Vision. Photo by Sally Spickard.

I know all of you East Coast folks are going to be jealous but … it’s HOT here in Temecula! Seriously, it’s quite warm and is supposed to stay warm for the rest of the weekend — welcome to SoCal, right? I’ll take it any day over the spitting snow I witnessed in Pennsylvania last week!

It was a lovely afternoon for the first jogs here at Galway, and the CCI3* was pleasantly uneventful save for one moment in which Jacob Fletcher’s Fly Away Ferro decided to try to make a break for it while in the holding area. He was quickly caught, though, and later went on to pass upon re-inspection.

Fly Away Ferro was the only horse to be held in the CCI3*, meaning all 27 presented horses will move forward to dressage tomorrow. Jessica Phoenix’s Pavarotti was not presented — I’m fairly sure he did not travel here with the rest of the Phoenix team. Two other horses were also scratched: James Alliston’s Parker and Allison Sparks’ Mystic Mojo.

Most of the three-star horses were well-behaved on the strip but we still saw plenty of exuberance — RF Demeter positively power trotted as if the jog strip was a runway and Marilyn was just along for the ride. Mojito was also more keen to show off his canter down the strip rather than a nice, sensible trot for Maddy Mazzola.

I unfortunately missed the majority of the CCI2* jog but have been told that all horses presented were accepted, albeit with a handful of holds.

Galway is presenting a Best Dressed Award for the first horse inspection, and you can click here to vote. The winners will receive prizes from Equestrian Habits donated by Taren Atkinson.

We now look ahead to dressage — the Training Three-Day and Prelim divisions will ride dressage this afternoon and we kick off the FEI divisions at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow with the CCI* and CCI2* followed by the CCI3* at  p.m.

We’ll have much more coming your way from Galway as we get into the thick of things here. As always, thanks to Robert Kellerhouse for organizing such a lovely event and to the many dedicated officials and volunteers who have been hard at work this week ensuring things run smoothly. I may just end up staying right here in California if I’m not careful!