Four
Eventing Championships Awarded During the Hagyard's Mid-South Event at the Kentucky
Horse Park 
The
nation’s horse center at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington set the stage
for four different USEF eventing championships over the past weekend, October
19-22. The storms that plagued the region in the week leading up to the competitions
left portions of the steeplechase course under water. Officials deemed it necessary
to eliminate the steeplechase from the event. The national championships were
also run concurrent with the ever-popular Mid-South Team Challenge.
CCI* In
the one-star competition, Ruthie Harbison aboard Ringfort Tinkatoo (a nine-year-old
chestnut Irish Sport Horse owned by Robert Jordan) were named champions. She finished
the competition on her  dressage
score of 54.3, adding no penalties during the cross-country and show jumping phases.
The reserve champion was Cathy Wieschhoff aboard Pantera. The horse, a
nine-year-old chestnut Dutch Warmblood, is owned by Debbie Atkinson. Weischhoff
was in the lead on a dressage score of 51.5, but unfortunately for her, she accumulated
4.0 time faults on cross-country. This dropped her to second place. She finished
on a clear show jumping round. (Cathy and Pantera are pictured at the right
on the Cross Country at the Radnor Preliminary Horse Trial.)
Junior
Championship In the junior championship, it was Jordynn Sahagian,
of Barrington, IL, aboard Peron (a 10-year-old bay Hanoverian owned by Vicki
Sahagian). Sahagian put herself firmly in the lead based on her dressage
performance which netted her a score of 47.7. This allowed her to retain her lead,
even after succumbing to two rails in the show jumping phase. Reserve honors went
to Callie Judy, of Columbia, MO, aboard her Kilkenny Castle (a 12-year-old
dark bay Irish Sport Horse). Judy finished on her dressage score of 62.4. USEF
National Amateur Eventing Championship The third championship awarded
at the close of the weekend was the USEF National Amateur Eventing Championship,
taken by Katherine Coleman, of Athens, GA, aboard Trader Vic (a seven-year-old
dark bay Thoroughbred/Hanoverian cross). The pair put down a final score of 58.9,
leading the competition from the start. The reserve horse-rider combination was
Stephen Steinhoff and Kouros de Rouville (an eight-year-old bay Selle Francais).
The pair added four cross-country time penalties to a dressage score of 57.4 for
second place. USEF National 19-21 Year Old Eventing Championship Emery
Reagan and About Time II (an eight-year-old bay Thoroughbred) were the winners
of the 2006 USEF National 19-21 Year Old Eventing Championships on a score of
65.6. The Goshen, KY, rider finished ahead of another Kentuckian and hometown
rider, Keely Maginnis aboard Maplewood’s Primestar. Maginnis and her
10-year-old bay Hanoverian finished with 70.7 points to take the reserve title. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For
more information, please contact Maria Partlow, Senior Vice President of Marketing
and Communications, at (859) 225-6941, or via e-mail at mpartlow@usef.org.
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