Kaitlin Campbell and Rocky W won the $35,000 Welcome Speed CSI3* on the opening day of the 2016 Kentucky Spring Horse Show. (Taylor Renner/Phelps Media Group)
"[Rocky W's] like my solid citizen," said Campbell. "He loves Kentucky; he always jumps amazing in this ring especially at the beginning of the year when it's fresh to him."
Campbell has owned Rocky W, an 18-year-old Dutch Warmblood, for nine years and secured the first place prize with a fault-free round in 69.56 seconds.
Bernardo Costa Cabral posted a fast-paced, 13-jump track to challenge the 38 exhibitors in the one round speed class. Out of the 35, 17 were able to produce clear rounds.
Coming in to this class, Campbell decided to try something new with Rocky W that she has never tried before, which may have been the secret to their success.
"I had a frustrating week last week, so after that I just changed everything and let him go today and do his thing," said Campbell. "I've had him for nine years and I've never changed anything tack-wise with him whatsoever. I just decided, because I keep wanting to pull on him, I was going to put no bit on him today so he could just ignore me and do his thing. When I started pulling, he just pulled right through me and did it himself and it seemed to work!
Kaitlin Campbell and Rocky W (Taylor Renner/Phelps Media Group)
David Beisel (USA) and Harlow Investment's Call Me Hannes followed Campbell to clinch second place in 71.10 seconds.
"[Call Me Hannes] had a nice flow everywhere," said Beisel. "It was nice to have a speed class for him to start out with and just get out there and gallop and go forward. It all kept coming up and away we went! He's 10 now so he's getting more experienced and he went great all of Florida. He loves Kentucky so I think he was really happy to be out here.
"I'm super thankful to have the FEI back here and get some world points and increased prize money, and I love having Bernardo Cabral designing," continued Beisel.
With Beisel going 14 in the order-of-go, and entered on two separate mounts, Campbell was able to catch his time at the end by an impressive two full seconds as the 35 horse and rider combination to enter the ring.
"It was pretty fast out there to win," said Campbell. "David's horse beat me in a summer grand prix last year and it was the same type of course, really galloping all over, so this was our payback for him beating us last summer!"
Based in Lexington, Campbell was happy to return to Kentucky after competing in Florida all season as well as win her first-ever FEI class, which she's been aiming for with Rocky W.
David Beisel and Call Me Hannes (Taylor Renner/Phelps Media Group)
"Because he's 18 now, I really try to aim for classes that I think he can be successful in. I'm not trying to over face him at this point. This is actually the first time I've won an international class so that was really kind of my final goal with him - to win a FEI class - so I'm pretty excited about that!
"I pretty much live in Kentucky," continued Campbell. "This is my home base. I love everything about Kentucky. I'm so happy to leave Florida and come back here. I love everything about the Kentucky Horse Park. They've done a ton of renovations that have made it a lot more horse and exhibitor friendly. It's just a really good atmosphere."
Rounding out the top three of the class was Aaron Vale (USA) and Quidam's Good Luck, owned by Troy Glaus, in 71.20 seconds.
The 2016 Kentucky Spring Horse Show will run from May 11-15 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. The week will feature a FEI CSI3* rating with the highlights being the $35,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic on Thursday, kicking off the seven part Hagyard Challenge series, and the $130,000 Hollow Creek Farm Grand Prix on Saturday.
Kelley Farmer and It's Me (Sarah Harper/Phelps Media Group)
After torrential rains on Tuesday, blue skies prevailed to welcome riders for the first day of the Kentucky Spring Horse Show at the Kentucky Horse Park. Kelley Farmer of Lane Change Farm had a strong start to kick-off the hunters in the Stonelea Ring with winning rides in both the Green Conformation Hunter and the Regular Conformation Hunter divisions.
Farmer won both classes of the Green Conformation Hunters aboard the 8-year-old Warmblood stallion It's Me with scores of 89 and 87. Trainer Larry Glefke had nothing but praise for the young stallion. "He goes in the ring and he's one of those few stallions who never tries to screw up," Glefke said. "Most of the time stallions always have an opinion. He's just a really good guy. He was meant to be a hunter, he's got that mentality. He has perfect style and its very simple for him and he's great."
Before becoming a hunter with Farmer and Glefke, It's Me was a breeding stallion in Europe, having produced multiple babies. While they have no plans to breed him at the moment, It's Me will remain a stallion for the foreseeable future thanks to his gentle demeanor.
"He's a First Year horse and he's really straightforward, he never looks," explained Glefke. "He has a tremendous amount of ability, nothing is hard for him. He just keeps that nice canter and jumps well every time. He wins the models too so he's just a beautiful horse."
It's Me has certainly been on top of his game this winter. He is currently at the top of the points standings for Green Conformation Hunters. He had an outstanding winter season with a win in the $15,000 USHJA International Derby at the Emerald Coast Classic as well as multiple Green Conformation Hunter championships. Erica Quinn and Speak Your Mind took third place in the first class and second place in the second class with scores of 82 and 81, respectively.
Kelley Farmer and Mindful (Sarah Harper/Phelps Media Group)
The day continued in the Stonelea Ring with the Regular Conformation Hunters and Farmer once again found herself at the head of the class. She piloted Point Being to a win in the first class on a score of 87 and took second place with Mindful on a score of 82. She won the second class aboard Mindful, a 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding on a score of 90. Second place went to Scott Stewart and First Light with a score of 87.
Glefke expressed appreciation for the Kentucky Horse Park and the Kentucky Spring Horse Shows. "These are beautiful horse shows and I live right down the road here too," Glefke said. "The jumps are nice, the show is well run and they do a good job."
These shows were a nice entry back into showing for his horses who have had a bit of time off and are headed to the Devon Horse Show next. "All of the horses have been off for five or six weeks, this is their first week back," Glefke said. "Mindful is just taking an easy week and getting ready for Devon, he'll go to Tryon next week." Mindful is coming off of a successful winter season with a win in the $100,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby at the 2016 Ocala Masters as well as a High Performance Working Hunter Championship at WEF.
The professional hunter divisions will continue Thursday in the Stonelea Ring at the Kentucky Spring Horse Show. Sunday is "Derby Day" with the $15,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby and the $5,000 Hallway Feeds USHJA National Hunter Derby taking place.
For more information on Kentucky Horse Shows LLC and the Kentucky Spring Horse Shows series, please visit www.kentuckyhorseshows.com.
Results: $35,000 Welcome Speed CSI3*
1 816 ROCKY W KAITLIN CAMPBELL USA 69.56
2 1054 CALL ME HANNES DAVID BEISEL USA 71.10
3 511 QUIDAM'S GOOD LUCK AARON VALE USA 71.20
4 941 CYKLON 1083 SHANE SWEETNAM IRL 71.54
5 968 BULL RUN'S ETERNAL KRISTEN VANDERVEEN USA 72.05
6 742 BIALDA RAMIRO QUINTANA ARG 72.73
7 410 ALSVID RICHIE MOLONEY IRL 72.76
8 1296 FAMOSO D IVE Z SHARN WORDLEY NZL 72.94