Weekend competition at the Flintfields Horse Park during the premiere week of the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival (GLEF), presented by B&D Builders, kicked off on Friday with a victory for USA’s Daisy Farish and Quala vd Rollebeek in the $32,000 CSI2* Welcome. The pair scored their second international victory in as many weeks in the Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel International Ring as summer competition is hotting up at Traverse City Horse Shows.
Twenty-three pairings performed their best over the first round of Ana Catalina Cruz’s (MEX) track. She set a steep challenge that saw only eight combinations produce a fault-free finish to advance to the tie-breaking jump-off. At the class’s completion, the victory gallop featured an all-American lineup with Farish leading the way aboard Lanes End Showjumping’s Quala vd Rollebeek.
“Having this mare win the last two welcome ranking classes we did here is very impressive to me,” Farish admitted after also pocketing a two-star win during the third week of the Traverse City Spring Series in June. “These were her first two two-star weeks ever and she couldn’t have performed better.”
One of the younger athletes in the field at 23, Farish guided the eight-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare (Bamako de Muze x Vigo D’arsouilles) to a two-second lead over second-place finisher Lacey Gilbertson. Her winning time was 37.83 seconds.
“My plan today was honestly to give it my all,” she explained. “I risked it a bit and sent her for it fully in the jump-off, but she seems to jump better that way. I think stepping her up a level has actually improved her performance; the bigger the jumps are and the faster I go, she gets more game and seems to jump even better.
“I am going to take it easy on her for the rest of this year because I already know she has all of the scope in the world,” she continued. “I have no doubt she is going to jump some big grand prix in the future.”
Gilbertson, a Chicago native, rode to the red-ribbon honors with Seabrooks LLC’s Karlin van’t Vennehof after producing a double-clear effort in 39.21 seconds on the 14-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare (Fantomas de Muze x Quasimodo van de Molendreef). No stranger to a top-three finish, Samantha Schaefer (USA) and Bonne Chance LLC’s 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Douglas x Cash), James Bond HX, rounded out the lap of honor after finishing fractions off of the pace with their time of 39.47 seconds.
Competition across all arenas at Flintfields Horse Part will resume Saturday, July 6, as anticipation builds for Sunday’s $75,000 CSI2* Meijer Grand Prix.
For complete results, click here.
JJ Torano and Favorite Edition Z Top WIHS Equitation Jumper Phase
Junior Equitation riders entered the NetJets arena on Friday afternoon for the WIHS Equitation Jumper Phase. Riders competing across all WIHS classes accumulate points towards the WIHS Equitation Finals at the Washington International Horse Show held in October. With 37 horse-and-rider combinations, the class was scored in the California Split format, dividing the placings into sections A and B. Out of nearly four dozen, it was JJ Torano, of Wellington, FL, and Favorite Edition Z, owned by The Lucky For You Group, who came out on top for section A
The 12-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding wasn’t always on track for the equitation ring but quickly made an impression on Torano and his team. “He’s a horse Nick Dello Joio brought over from Europe and showed to my trainer, Missy Clark,” said Torano. “I showed him a couple times in Florida during WEF and then the horse went to the WEC Equitation Cup with Eleanor Rudnicki and after the first round she went into the lead and ended up winning the whole thing. After the first round Missy Clark called my mom and said ‘you need to buy this horse’.”Torano’s pairing with Favorite Edition Z was a sure one, as the pair has already qualified for the WIHS finals and several others throughout the fall. “We’re here for four more weeks so we’ll continue to bring him out in some of these classes to keep practicing, keep the groove going, and try to rack up some more points.”
The pair set up their season in Traverse City for success after earning a callback-worthy score of 87.5 in the first round of last week’s USHJA Gladstone Equitation Classic.
Following Torano on the section A scorecard was McKayla Brombach of Wimberley, TX, and Actionable, owned by LG Sporthorses LLC. Sydney Raidy, of New York, NY, and Bigtalu G Z, owned by Missy Clark, took third.
Torano will continue to compete at Flintfields Horse Park throughout the GLEF series, culminating his time with the North American Youth Championships during GLEF V, July 30 through August 4.
The WIHS Equitation Hunter Phase also took place on Friday afternoon, with 42 riders going for gold. Held in the California Split format, rider placings were finalized over section A and section B. Topping section A was Reese Merna, of Mendham, NJ, and Independence M, owned by Dachis Sporthorses LLC, with an even score of 90. Following Merna was Lily Epstein of Coral Gables, FL, and her own Greyson PH on a score of 88, while McKayle Brombach and Actionable earned their second podium finish of the day, taking third with an 87.5.
For daily results, click here.
