Katy, Texas – March 30, 2019 – Week II of the 2019 Pin Oak Charity Horse Show is flying by as the week wraps up with big wins before the weekend.
The jumper ring shined during the first part of the week with the $10,000 1.45M Welcome Stake on Wednesday evening and the $25,000 Walter Oil & Gas Corp. Grand Prix and Bedoya Ringside Reception Thursday afternoon.
Jordan, ridden by Jill Gafney and owned by Freestyling Farms, LLC, took home the top honors in Wednesday’s 1.45M Welcome Stake.
BKS Horse Farms, LLC’s Dante with Faces of Pin Oak rider Briley Koerner finished 5th in the Welcome Stake, as well as winning the 1.45M Under 25 for the Welcome Stake.
NKH Caruso owned by NKH LLC and ridden by Mathis Schwentker were victorious in Thursday afternoon’s $25,000 Walter Oil & Gas Corp. Grand Prix while Vigo Du Levant, owned by L.O.O. LLC and ridden by Jaelynn Downing, rode to the top honors in the 1.45M Under 25 Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, ‘Derby Day’ at Pin Oak 2019 Week II featured the Baggett Family $10,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby Friday morning and the Walsh and Albert $30,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby Friday afternoon accompanied by the Bluebonnet Feeds Margaritaville party.
Amidst light springtime showers on Friday morning, Kelley Buringa rode Bottom Line Equestrian, LLC’s Valentine to the win in the Baggett Family $10,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby.
Valentine and Kelley led the class following the classic round with a score of 91. The pair remained consistent, scoring a 94 in their stellar handy round.
“This was our first derby together. And we just had our very first class together last Thursday,” Kelley explained. “He was just spot on today. There was, of course, some pressure coming back on top, and I knew I had to make the inside turn to the trot fence since everyone else had done it. But he was right there with me every step of the way. It was a great feeling and a really fun class,” she continued.
Hoopla, ridden by Peter Pletcher and owned by Hollis Grace, took home the red ribbon in Friday morning’s National Derby while Jennifer Alfano and All Ferraris, LLC’s Enzo W took third. Brooke Brombach was the highest placing junior rider finishing in fifth place with scores of 88 in both the classic round and the handy round aboard Erica Moe’s Classico.
Friday afternoon’s $30,000 Walsh & Albert USHJA International Derby was run in the ‘Hunt and Go Format,’ newly offered at Pin Oak 2019. The Hunt and Go format is similar to a power and speed class in the jumper ring; all riders continue directly on to the handy round following their classic round without stopping or exiting the arena. This format is great news to riders of younger horses or those new to riding in derbies since all competitors proceed to the handy round rather than only the top 12 horses being called back. Friday’s Hunt and Go derby included a total of 14 fences, eight fences in the classic round and six in the handy. Riders were to pass through two standards following the end of the classic round to mark the beginning of the handy portion of the course.
While spectators and exhibitors enjoyed the Bluebonnet Feeds Margaritaville party, amateur and junior competitors topped the field of 25 horses. Symbolic, owned and shown by junior rider Bella Kay, won the class scoring 348 points overall, following an impressive second place finish in the USHJA International Derby the week prior. MTM Do Right took second place with owner and amateur rider Didi Mackenzie while Miramar, ridden by amateur Isabella Littlejohn and owned by Nancy Littlejohn, took third.
When asked about her experience with the Hunt and Go format, Bella Kay joked, “I did a Hunt and Go derby once in Florida. I didn’t ride as well in that one, so the format wasn’t my favorite, but now I love it!”
“Actually, it’s nice because you don’t have time between rounds to overthink, but it can be hard to go so long. It helped that my horse gets excited and perks up when we start doing the handy turns, so it wasn’t as hard to keep going,” she continued.
“For me, today was really just about going around, being smooth, and doing our best. I was so happy when we were second in the International Derby last week, and I wasn’t expecting to be better than that, especially with how many professionals are here and how many incredible horses were in the class,” she said when asked about her win in the International Derby.
“[Symbolic] loves the derbies. They’re his favorite class. Well, no matter what class it is, he always goes wanting to win. He is definitely my once-in-a-lifetime horse. He always gives me 100%. No, actually it’s more like 200%.”
Bella purchased Symbolic three years ago to be a fun, confidence building mount. “This Thursday I will have had him three years. We got him to be a fun horse for me because the green pony I had at the time was not so fun. He has definitely taught me a lot and helped me build confidence. The win will be a great way to mark our anniversary,” she said.
For Symbolic and Bella Kay, this marks another milestone as it is Symbolic’s first International Derby win as well as Bella’s. The pair started doing International Derbies in the fall of 2017. They won a USHJA National Derby in Saugerties in 2017 but have never bested International Derby competition. “He came in second a few times with Kelly Farmer before I owned him but had never won. He was definitely a derby pro, but he had never had a derby win, so I’m very excited we could achieve this together,” Bella explained. Bella is also looking forward to riding Symbolic at the USHJA International Derby Finals in Kentucky later this year.
As Week II of Pin Oak 2019 enters the weekend, junior riders are looking forward to another fun weekend of showing while jumper riders and spectators are excited for Saturday’s big event – the Hildebrand Fund $30,000 Grand Prix and Avalon Advisors Ringside Gala.
Junior Rider Bella Kay Wins $30,000 USHJA International Derby at Pin Oak II
The MTM Farm team traveled home to Texas from Florida just in time for the Pin Oak Charity Horse Show III. They immediately made their presence known, with MTM iCarly capturing the $10,000 Welcome Stake on April 4 with Dorrie Douglas in the irons.
On Wednesday April 5, it was an MTM sweep during the $25,000 Pin Oak Charity Grand Prix. MTM Vivre Le Reve and teenager Brian Moggre took the blue, with Igor Van De Heibos and Tracy Fenney taking second and MTM Full House and Natalee Haggan placing third. Haggan also rode MTM Cravitz to fifth.
Horses with the MTM prefix also donned tricolor ribbons on the Hunters, with MTM One Time and Douglas winning the 3’6″ Green Hunter championship, and MTM Outbid and Tracy Fenney earning the 3’9″ Green Hunter reserve championship.
“MTM One Time was awesome—he won a class both days,” said Douglas. “The idea is to get him ready for the USHJA International Hunter Derby on Friday. He’s a horse we got last September, and I did him in the Pre-Greens, and he just keeps getting better and stepping up. He’s scopey, easy and has a huge stride. It seems to me the bigger the jumps get, the better he jumps, and as a 7-year-old, he’s really good.”
Douglas described iCarly, her 10-year-old winner in the Welcome Stake, as a perfect little speed horse.
“We’ve had her just under a year now, and I’ve been doing her in some grand prix classes,” said Douglas of the 10-year-old warmblood mare. “She’s super quick. But then she’s also cool because you can leave strides out–I left one out in the jump-off. It’s great that you can have that range and be quick in the jump-off but also leave out strides. She’s great and ready for a kid to go do some Junior/Amateur classes and some grand prix classes.”
Douglas, of Flower Mound, Texas, thanked MTM Farm’s Mike McCormick and Tracy Fenney for their generosity in allowing her to ride the horses. “It’s great to be back at Pin Oak and a great start to the week,” she added.
The Green Hunters of SBS Farms raked in the money on April 5 when winning the USHJA Green Hunter Incentive and the Texas Super Stake classes during the Pin Oak Charity Horse Show III.
Kindred, owned by Kathy Chiaf of Edmond, Oklahoma, jumped to a score of 84 and 88 with Alfano and captured the Texas Super Stake 3’ and 3’3” and $1,290, as well as the USHJA Green Hunter Incentive and another $690. Kindred also claimed the 3’3″ Green Hunter tricolor for a ribbon-filled week.
Trainer Susie Schoellkopf, of Buffalo, New York, described Kindred as a talented, classic hunter type and one that caught their eye immediately a year ago when they purchased him in Florida as a 5-year-old.
“Trainer Linda Hough named him. She happened to see him when we tried him in Ocala. She thought he was a special horse as did we,” said Schoellkopf. “When Jen and I looked at him, we couldn’t even look at each other as the people were riding him. And then as we drove out we said, ‘OK, we’re buying him.’”
Although Kindred traveled to Pin Oak for the three-week show series, he only competed Week III because he arrived in Texas from Florida slightly dehydrated.
“We sent him to the clinic for a day, which turned out to be nothing,” said Schoellkopf. “And, this week he was fresh and jumped beautifully. He’s a really special horse and worth taking our time with. I think he has a beautiful look and a beautiful way of going, and his jump is spectacular.”
Sharon O’Neill’s Talladega, another elegant bay hunter ridden by Jennifer Alfano, topped the card in the Texas Super Stake 3’6” and 3’9” and earned $525.
Talladega also earned the 3’6″ Green Hunter reserve championship behind MTM Farm’s MTM One Time, ridden by Dorrie Douglas.
Alfano also guided her own Candid to the High Performance Conformation Hunter championship over reserve champion Gabli, owned by Carolyn M. Elsey and ridden by Daniel Bedoya.
Amateur rider Didi Mackenzie wasn’t intimidated by the professionals as she rode MTM Do Right to the 3’9″ Green Hunter Championship. Her consistently beautiful rounds received ample applause from her many supporters, including husband and co-owner Kenny Mackenzie, Colleen McQuay, Mike McCormick and Tracy Fenney, who earned the reserve championship aboard MTM Outbid.
Rachelle Goebel’s Will Emblazon captured the 2-year-old class and Best Young Horse title on April 3 at the Pin Oak Charity Horse Show III under judge Betty Oare.
The impressive bay Oldenburg (Willemoes–Anastazia) was bred by His Cat Farm and handled by Goebel, of Montgomery, Texas.
Will Emblazon comes from a line of successful Hunter Breeding horses, and his dam, Anastazia, was crowned Best Young Horse at the Devon Horse Show in 2004 and ’05. Will Emblazon placed third at Devon as a yearling and finished fifth in the United States Equestrian Federation Horse of the Year standings and won the Zone 7 championship as well as the Texas Super Series grand championship.
Goebel purchased Will Emblazon as a 5-month-old, and she and her sister, Felicia Carroll, have shown him together.
“This year we just started him back here at Pin Oak,” said Goebel. “We’re just starting to do some other things with him—he’s too smart for his own good! So, we want to challenge him, and we’re starting to put a saddle on him now and playing with him that way.
While Goebel showed Will Emblazon, Felicia stood ringside offering support and taking photos and videos. “I work a lot and couldn’t do this without Felicia,” said Goebel. “She showed him most of last year.”
Winning the Best Young Horse title meant a lot to Goebel as she’d earned a reserve championship previously but never captured the top prize.
“We were talking about that, and now we have the dinner collection (with the china given by Pin Oak),” she said with a laugh. “We have used them for holidays, and it’s actually fun to have all the plates and now the bowl.”
Robert Moyar showed Barbara Bailey’s West End Girl (Westporte–Sands Of Time) to the Best Young Horse reserve championship. By virtue of her two previous BYH titles and this week’s reserve, the elegant bay 3-year-old won the Jane Queener Best Young Horse Trophy for the series.
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