Aaron Vale continued his winning streak at the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival on Friday winning the $25,000 CWD Welcome Stake aboard Bonzini S. (Taylor Renner/Phelps Media Group)

Traverse City, Mich. - The Great Lakes Equestrian Festival (GLEF) capped off on Friday with the $25,000 CWD Welcome Stake, which saw 34 horses and riders battle it out for the coveted prize money. Wednesday's 1.40m Jumpers winner, Aaron Vale, and Thinkslikeahorse's Bonzini S came out on top to secure Vale's second win of the week at the Flintfields Horse Park.

"Bonzini S is a 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding," said Vale. "He's under mileage; he's more like an 8-year-old because he's still kind of developing and he hasn't shown a whole lot. He's got a big jump to him, but he's still kind of learning the ropes - how to turn and shorten. He's coming along though. He's won some nice classes and got another feather in his cap today!"

Course designer Thomas Hern Jr. built a large first round track of 13 obstacles with a tight time allowed of 80 seconds. Only eight of the original starting field produced faultless efforts in the first round to advance on to the short course. The jump-off round was even more of a challenge with multiple tight rollbacks that caused faults for many exhibitors in a time allowed of 50 seconds.

Belgium's Filip De Wandel of Five Way Farm and his own Gentley were the early clear pathfinders in the jump-off as third in the order-of-go. They stopped the clock in 49.390 seconds. Four horse and rider combinations followed and attempted to jump clear and catch Wandel's time but none were able to successfully pull the difficult feat off. Augusta Pines Farm's Zerro Leone with Martien Van Der Hoeven in the irons were seventh to go and finished with all of the jumps up but with a single time fault in 50.821 seconds, which put him into second place.

It was all left up to the last contender of Friday evening's $25,000 CWD Welcome Stake: Vale and Bonzini S. The pair entered the Grand Prix Ring and stole the show with a fast and faultless performance in 46.095 seconds - surpassing Wandel's time by three seconds to take the lead and knock Wandel into second and Van Der Hoeven into third.

"I loved the first round!" said Vale. "You had kind of a nice tour; it took you all the way around the ring with a couple of changes of direction. I thought the fences were evenly spread out. The time allowed was a little bit short, but he gave you different ways to make the time allowed, which I think is fair - each person can ride their own horse. So I thought that was wonderful.

"The jump-off track was a little bit twisty turn-y," continued Vale. "Especially when you have multiple clean, it doesn't lend itself to a fast jump-off where the anticipation builds because you're turning and rails are falling down. If you make a mistake in these tight turns, you have a pole or a stop, and we had a couple of those going down. It was kind of a 'hold your breath' jump-off rather than a 'yeah go get it and let your adrenaline flow and have fun' kind of jump-off. I was lucky to go last and kind of know what I had to beat. I watched most of them, and I saw Filip's clear round. He wasn't super fast but he rode a smart round. I had a rub so he was close to winning it! It wasn't too hard to get inside his time, but again, with those tight turns and severe angles, it's a bit of a risk on a track like that to go for time."

Wandel's father, Antoine de Wandel, bred Gentley, a now 10-year-old Belgium Warmblood gelding, in Belgium and the two have had great success thus far including winning the $30,000 Nutrena Grand Prix earlier this year at the Winter Equestrian Festival.

"Throughout the last year [Gentley's] been very good and I was very pleased with him again today," said Wandel. "I've had him since he was born and I broke him myself at the age of 3 so we have a really great partnership together."

Of Friday's competition, Wandel said, "I thought it was a good course. There were definitely a few questions, like the liver pool and the combination at the end - those definitely got a few people. You had to rush around for the time, I think. For me, the course rode fine. It wasn't the easiest, but it was not too high. It was a good course.

"The jump-off was quite interesting," continued Wandel. "Normally there are one or two rollbacks, but I think there were almost four today. It was definitely hard to get a good rhythm. We kept having to turn back, pick it up again and then turn. One rollback I didn't really make it though. I just went around and that's probably where I lost it but for sure I wanted to stay clear, that was important to me today. I had Aaron Vale behind me and I knew he was going to be very fast. I didn't really try to chase him or think too much about him coming behind me because that's when I make mistakes."

With Friday's top placings under their belt, Vale and Wandel are looking forward to riding both Bonzini S and Gentley in Sunday's $50,000 Grand Prix of Michigan at GLEF.

"Last week was the first week I was here," said Wandel. "I like it. I think it's a nice show. I like the temperature here. It is a lot less humid, and I like that a lot. It's a very nice show to be at. I think it's a very horse friendly set up; I really like it. I enjoy being here. I for sure will come back."

Feature jumper events for Week Two in the Grand Prix Ring include the $7,500 NAL Low Junior/Amateur Jumper Classic on Saturday, July 16, and the highlight event of the week on Sunday, July 17: the $50,000 Grand Prix of Michigan, presented by Peninsula Capital Management and Craig Rosenberg.

It is no secret that weeks, and even years, of preparation can go into a junior rider's winning equitation round. The situation was a little different for Summer Hill, however, as she and her catch ride, C'est Blue, had only been working together for a few weeks. Nonetheless, Hill proved her skills in the ring, ultimately earning the win in the USEF Platinum Performance Show Jumping Talent Search at the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival.

Even with cooler temperatures and the drizzle of rain, Hill and her mount, C'est Blue, remained unfazed and tactful throughout their course. Hill only began riding C'est Blue at the Devon Horse Show, but their partnership is proving to be a winning match.

"I ride him for Ken and Emily Smith and he's kind of a new ride for me," Hill explained. "He's a different ride, but he's really nice and everything kind of shows up really nicely on him. He's a really good boy!"

Hill entered the ring with confidence as she piloted C'est Blue through a nice round, skillfully answering the questions that course designer, Nick Granat, had set for the competitors.

Riders started off the course with a bending line, followed by a two-stride line out of the corner that led to a skinny vertical. Riders then turned the corner to tackle an oxer that led into another two stride, and continued on to jump a water jump. Riders were then met with another bending line to a two-stride, finishing over a widespread water jump down the centerline.

"It was a nice course," Hill commented. "I liked that the water was at the end because I've never done an open water on him so I wasn't sure how he would be."

Hill laughed, "At least I got to get the rest of the course done before I jumped it so that was nice! Everything rode well and came up really nicely out of the corners."

Following the courses, the top six riders were called back to work-off on the flat. The judge diligently tested riders as they were asked to demonstrate skills such as sitting trot, counter canter and lengthening of stride. It was Hill that stood out the most, earning the blue ribbon to best the field of riders.

"C'est Blue likes to get a little high headed so I just kind of focused on keeping him low," Hill said of her flat phase. "He was really good; he held the counter canter the whole time, which I was a little bit worried about so I'm really happy with him!"

Second place finisher, Addison Piper, also had both a strong over fences and flat round. Piper was aboard her mount Even Keel, owned by Wolfstone Stables and Sales, Inc. Piper has been competing in the equitation divisions for three years, but this is only her mount's first summer tackling the divisions.

"He's only 7, this is his first summer doing the USET so it's kind of like a new experience for him," Piper said of Even Keel. "I've kind of had a little bit of a second place streak in the USET, but I'll take it! He's been awesome."

Piper had the chance to compete in the W.I.H.S. Equitation Jumper Phase just before the Talent Search, and was able to ride the similar tracks and fences to prepare for the class.

"I thought it was good," Piper said of Granat's course. "It was pretty similar to the Washington Jumper Phase. A lot of the lines were the same. I thought it was fair. I liked that they finished on the water. Overall it was pretty good!"

Piper has been traveling to Traverse City, Michigan, to compete for three years, and really enjoys coming to the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival.

Piper said, "This is my third year coming here, and I love it! It's just a good atmosphere and there are lots of things to do here. I love the jumper ring and my horses love the footing. It's just a fun horse show, everyone is so nice around here."

Rounding out the top three in the USEF Platinum Performance Show Jumping Talent Search was Paige Matthies riding Whacumean, owned by Don Stewart and Lynn Pederson.

In the Taylor Harris Insurance Services (T.H.I.S) Children's Medal, Sophie Gochman aboard VIP Z took home the blue. Gochman piloted her mount VIP Z, owned by Scott Stewart, to a score of 85 and a winning work-off round to earn the win. Second place in the division went to Morgan Colby on Sportsfield Finnegan, with Mia Wayne and Gentle R, owned by Kim Carey, rounding out the top three.

Competition at the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival will continue Saturday, July 16, beginning at 8 a.m. This week is World Championship Hunter Rider week, and will feature the Glory Days Farm, LLC $2,500 USHJA National Hunter Derby that will take place on Sunday, July 17.

Horses are not the only form of entertainment lined up for this year's Great Lakes Equestrian Festival. The festival has teamed up with top musicians and entertainers from around the country to offer fun-filled evenings for this year's concert and dinner series.

To kick-off Summer Evenings at Flintfields, Porterhouse Presents hosted the Dirty Bourbon River Show's unique New Orleans Funk, Jazz and Americana sounds on Friday evening. The event was sponsored by East West Equine Sports Medicine, and featured North Peak Brewing Company and Black Star Farms products. The night kicked off at 6 p.m. with unique and entertaining music as well as New Orleans and Cajun food that was enjoyed by all.

Week Two of the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival runs through July 17 at the Flintfields Horse Park and will continue to welcome riders and thrill spectators over the next three weeks throughout the first series of competition, which runs July 6-31.

The second week of the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival has completely sold out of stabling space with limited spots remaining for Week Three, July 20-24. Act now to reserve stabling spots for August, and do not miss out on the chance to compete during the all-new FEI Great Lakes Equestrian Festival series in August.

Series Two kicks off on August 10 and runs through August 28 featuring three weeks of hunter and jumper competition with a FEI CSI2* rating Week Five and Six and a FEI CSI3* rating during Week Seven culminating in the $100,000 Grand Traverse Grand Prix on Sunday, August 28.

The Great Lakes Equestrian Festival is set on 88 beautiful acres and showcases five world-class competition rings in addition to spacious schooling rings. The property features don't stop there as the park offers convenient on-site campgrounds and weekly nights of entertainment for a truly unique attendee experience.

For more information, please visit www.greatlakesequestrianfestival.com.