I couldn’t have dreamed up a better ending to the Hagyard Midsouth Classic Long Format Training Level Three Day Event. Lela Wulf, one of three sisters riding at the Horse Park this weekend, steered her OTTB Gin Creek to victory, finishing on their dressage score of 36.3 which had left them tied for fifth at the end of the first day. Gin Creek can also claim family ties at the Horse Park, as he’s by Kentucky Derby winner Go For Gin, who is now living out his retirement here.
Kate Berta slipped from 1st to 8th with two rails down
Madison Penfound and Orion, 7th
Cherie Chauvin jumped clear to take 2nd place
Laura Markham benefited from some training with Becky Holder, and left all the rails up to move into third place. She borrowed her horse, Buzz Lightyear, from her mother who generally rides him at Novice level but is thinking about moving up to Training, and so asked Laura to prepare him. Nicely done, Laura! I spoke to her briefly after the prize-giving.
Sarah Dunkerton on Old Man Moel 9th
Annelise Aurillo on Your Lucky Day, 10th
Mia Dover-Terrettaz and Etoile, 5th
Lauren Snider and Route 66, 17th
Brad Hall rode Eva into 15th place
Karen Chendell and Stilt Walker, 6th
Ashley Keller on Manhattan, 16th
Madison Bonamarte and Chevelle, 18th
Julie Henk and Regal Dancer, 11th
Katie Lockhart and Loughnatousa Max, 21st
Lauren Romanelli and SPF’s Big Idea, 22nd
Emma James and Revolution 9, 19th
Carolyn Drover rode Highland Park into 20th place
Shauna Rust and Dash of Courage, 26th
Finally, a big shout-out to my new friend Dan Kreitl and his gorgeous Curly Horse/Holsteiner Spartagon. I was lucky enough to meet Dan, his mother and his sister this weekend, as well as Spartagon of course and they are all lovely. During his dressage test on friday, Spartagon irritated a very small wound in his mouth that he’d incurred out in the pasture, and that the event vets had already seen and cleared. However, when the judge saw blood, albeit a tiny amount, he had to be cleared by the judges and Ground Jury again before he could continue the next day. Dan and his family handled it all with complete class,and I was thrilled to see Spartagon tearing up the cross country on Saturday. Imagine my surprise on Sunday afternoon then, when he came in to show-jump very first of his division, “with permission from the Organiser”, because he’d been eliminated. I spoke to Dan and his family after his stadium round as they were packing up to go home, and Dan laughed and said he must have been destined to be eliminated at this event. He told me that after the whole saga with Spartagon’s mouth (he rode xc in a hackamore), he had then gone through the wrong gap in a hedge on roads and tracks, and therefore missed a flag by feet. Then he laughed again, and said that even if he hadn’t done that, in the warm-up for show-jumping he had accidentally jumped a practice jump the wrong way round, which carries the penalty of elimination, so he was doomed. Obviously the Judges must have agreed with me though, because they awarded Dan the FIve Star Tack Award for Best Sportsmanship, and he told me he won a beautiful halter. Dan’s sister, Kate was also kind enough to send me another picture of Spartagon’s daughter, Erste, (which means first apparently). She has Sparticus and Sandro bloodlines and you can almost see the perfect heart on her forehead.
It’s been a great weekend, the weather improved and the rain held off until late on sunday afternoon. There’ll still be some more coming from Midsouth, and again I’d like to thank EN John for such brilliant coverage of the Pan Am Games in Mexico. As soon as I got home I read the live blog and all the news before doing anything else, which perhaps explains why it’s taken me so long to finish this. Goodnight, Go for Gold USA, Go For GIn and Go Eventing!
