HORSIN AROUND: from in and around the Keswick environs

By Keswick Life

The Roanoke Shenandoah Valley Horse Show returned to the Virginia Horse Center on Wednesday, June 21, for the second year in a row. Exhibitors took to the Coliseum ring to compete for top honors, with championship pinning taking place throughout the weekend.During this year’s competition, Ceil Wheeler and her own Callaway’s Brioni took home the tricolor in the ASB Ladies Five Gaited Championship. The reserve champion was presented to Phyllis Brookshire aboard Man on the Move for the class. Suzanne Wright and Fort Chiswell’s Wild Kiss earned the ASB Five Gaited Show Pleasure Adult championship, with the reserve championship going to Jennie Garlington riding Kalarama’s New Moon.

The horse show welcomed exhibitors and spectators to this year’s event with “A Grand Celebration,” an inaugural evening filled with cocktails and delectable hors d’oeuvres. Guests had the opportunity to mingle with community business leaders and influential government officials on the concourse of the Waldron arena. Held during the second night of the show, guests enjoyed an open bar while watching USEF Saddlebred, Roadster, and Hackney action. They also had the chance to hone their skills in the judge’s box with “Be the Judge,” a special opportunity to rate competitors and present historic trophies to the winners at center ring. The night concluded with great music at the lively after party.

Emma Jolly of Keswick, VA, and Mischief Managed rode to victory in the $10,000 USHJA Pony Hunter Derby, the highlight of the first annual USHJA Foundation Pony Spectacular at Tryon International Equestrian Center (TIEC). Jolly and Mischief Managed secured a two round score of 335 to capture the win. Leigh Ashby of Lincolnton, NC, and Onyxford’s Blue Magic finished in second place with a two round score of 326, while Erica Felder of Lenoir, NC, and Elegance secured third place with a final score of 320.Jolly and Mischief Managed, owned by Rhiana Hughes, performed brilliantly together throughout the two rounds, earning a 167 in the first round, before taking the win with a 168 in the handy. Emma is fifteen-years-old and trains with Brooke Kemper of Culpepper, VA, “This was such a fun experience. I think it really got the ponies and the riders ready for the finals later this summer. The big ring let you get them out in front of you, but then bring them back in,” said Jolly. “It was a great atmosphere to relax and just have a blast.”

Making just her fourth start and first attempt at the stakes level, Unchained Melody the daughter of Smart Strike was in control at every point of call in the $250,000 Mother Goose Stakes (G2), as she turned back six challengers in gate-to-wire fashion at Belmont Park July 1.Bred by Hare Forest Farm, which owns her in partnership with Hidden Brook Farm, Unchained Melody came into the Mother Goose off  a two-length win a 1 1/16-mile allowance test at Belmont June 1.  She broke her maiden first time out at Gulfstream Park March 19 and came in second going six furlongs at Keeneland in April.”The (grade 1) Alabama (Aug. 19) would be the next step, I think,” Lynch said. “We’ll give her some time and set her for that. I think she’s certainly stamped her card in that direction today.”

Hunt Tosh of Milton, Georgia, and Flamingo-K, owned by Ceil Wheeler, finished as the winning pair in the $50,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby at the Tryon International Equestrian Center .The duo were tied for second place after the first round with a combined score of 177 and turned in another strong performance in the handy round, earning a score of 200, for a total score of 377. “He is very new to us,” Tosh explained. “The Wheeler’s bought him for me at Devon this year because they have been looking for that special derby horse. I showed him in one other derby before this, so I am really just getting to know him.”Flamingo-K only started competing in the hunter discipline this year, originally coming from the jumpers, and his transition to the hunter derby ring has been flawless.

The $50,000 Grand Prix of Michigan CSI2* highlighted Week Two of competition at the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival (GLEF) on Sunday. Twenty-four international athletes went head-to-head in the Grand Prix Ring, but it was Sloane Coles who took home the first win for the United States during the first week of FEI competition at GLEF with Esprit, owned by The Springledge Group. Course designer Manuel Esparza of Mexico challenged horses and riders over a 13-fence serpentine in the first round, but only seven were invited back to jump-off after going clear. Twenty-one-year-old Kaely Tomeu (USA) and Gentille, owned by Siboney Ranch, produced the first double-clear round of the jump-off, stopping the timers in 40.930 seconds as second to go in the order.It looked as though Tomeu would take the win as the only exhibitor to go clear in the tie-breaking round, as faults were collected throughout the next four rounds, until Coles and the 13-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding entered the ring as the final combination to jump-off. The pair galloped around the shortened track, adding no faults to their name, and crossed the finish line in 40.450 seconds to clinch the blue ribbon.In addition to her winning title and prize money, Coles took home a bottle of wine, courtesy of Black Star Farms, and a gift certificate for a free custom portrait from Kristi’s Canvas. Coles was also presented with one of Bloomfield Open Hunts’ historic trophies, the Wayne State University Grand Prix Trophy from the historic Motor City Horse Show, by Dean and Wendly Groulx

In winnning the Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar on July 30th,  Stellar Wind now has 10 wins from 15 starts and more than $2.3 million in earnings. The Virginia bred, out of the Malibu Moon mare Evening Star, was bred and raised in Keswick at Peggy Augustus’ Keswick Stables.