Tracy Fenney & MTM Timon (Shawn McMillen Photography)
After the proverbial dust had settled in the Irish Day Farm Main Jumper Ring at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center, it was Tracy Fenney’s night. She prevailed in the tiebreaker, taking first and second places with MTM Timon and MTM Centano, respectively.
Fenney, of MTM Farm in Flower Mound, Texas, traveled to Pin Oak this week after spending the winter on the HITS Ocala winter circuit in Florida, where she had a stellar season, winning six grand prix classes and placing second in several others.
She qualified MTM Timon for the Great American $1 Million Grand Prix, held on Monday March 24, but it didn’t go as well as she would have hoped, with Timon taking exception to competing in the new stadium under the lights.
Therefore, tonight’s victory in Katy, Texas, over a course designed by Bernardo Costa Cabral of Portugal, was sweet redemption.
“It was very exciting,” said Fenney. “We had a good run in Ocala, but it ended up not how I wanted in the million, but that happens, and so this was a good class to get my feet back on the ground again.
“It was a strong field, with 12 in the jump-off, and all super fast riders, so I knew I had to be fast,” she continued. “I watched Wilhelm go on his first horse [Bugatti], and he was plenty fast on that one, and then I heard Matt [Cyphert] had beat his time, so I knew it wasn’t going to be a slow class.”
Indeed, with Wilhelm Genn qualifying three of his four mounts and going last with his veteran Happy Z, Fenney wasn’t counting on a victory even after posting quick clear rounds on both of her horses.
“You know, Wilhelm has won a gazillion grand prix classes on that mare, so you know it’s never a given,” she said. “If someone asks you who’s going to win the class, you never know. You’re dealing with horses’ minds and your own mind, and it can always be anyone’s night.”
In the end, it was Fenney’s night. In the jump-off, Happy Z slipped on a rollback and misjudged the takeoff to the in-and-out. Genn chose to retire and save her for another day.
Fenney’s times on Timon and Centano were only .09 seconds apart, so it was just a whisper of a difference between the two tracks she rode on the flaxen maned 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood (Voltaire—Candy) and the 14-year-old bay Holsteiner (Cary—Haiba).
“I think Timon’s a hair more efficient than Centano,” she said. “Centano has such a huge stride. I don’t know. It was just fractions in the end.”
Although it’s been an exhausting but rewarding winter circuit, Fenney is pleased to return to Texas and land at Pin Oak for a couple of weeks with a smaller group of just 14 horses. “Pin Oak is awesome. It’s one of those old-fashioned horse shows and a charity event,” she said. “They don’t have horse shows like this anymore. We love it here.”