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Morris Keeps No. 1 Spot On Galway Downs Cross-Country Course

Temecula, Calif., Nov. 3 — Heather Morris admitted that today’s cross-country performance on Genial “wasn’t always pretty,” but it was more than good enough to retain the early lead she claimed yesterday at the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event. With 1.6 time faults, Morris, of Lewisville, Texas, stayed atop the CCI** riding Genial. (Heather and Genial are pictured at the right.)

A completely fault-free round elevated Leigh Mesher, of Redmond, Wash., and Mar De Amor from fourth place to second place, (Leigh and Mar de Amor are pictured at the left below. Amy McCool photo)).while Nicholas Cwick, of Saratoga, Calif., descended from second to fourth by recording 8.8 time faults on Asterix. (Nicholas and Asterix are pictured at the center at the end of this report.)

Morris has a lead of 6.5 penalties over Mesher, which means she can afford to lower just one rail in tomorrow’s show jumping phase to keep her lead. Cwick is another 1.9 penalties farther back.

Twice on course today, Morris took longer routes to jump less demanding option fences, decisions that caused her to finish 4 seconds slower than the optimum time of 8:00. Still, Morris thought that Ian Stark’s initial design of the Galway Downs course “rode great, exactly like I thought it was going to ride. And I especially liked that he was kind with the questions at the end of the course because Genial got tired out there.”

Some 17 of the 25 two-star starters finished with no jumping penalties, and seven of those completed the 4,430-meter course with no time penalties too. Two riders (David Adamo and Erin Kellerhouse) retired on course, and one rider (John Michael Durr) fell off and but remounted to finish.

Max McManamy also kept her overnight lead in the long-format CCI* by riding Beacon Hill to a completely fault-free day. “It was really fun—a blast” said McManamy, 15, of riding the three-minute steeplechase phase for the first time.

The long format includes two phases of roads and tracks, plus the steeplechase, before horses and riders reach the cross-country course. The long format is the traditional three-day format. McManamy said that Beacon Hill “felt a lot different than usual when we started on cross-country—more relaxed and paying attention to me; not silly, like he can be.”

McManamy, of Templeton, Calif., hopes to take the next step in competition, to the intermediate level, next spring, after she reaches the minimum age of 16 in January. (Max and Beacon Hill are pictured at the right below. Amy McCool Photo)

Kristi Nunnink, the leader of the short-format CCI*, also hopes to move R-Star up to intermediate next year, aiming for the 2008 Galway Downs CCI**. R-Star “was perfect” today, said Nunnink, of Auburn, Calif. But she leads the 42-horse division by just a whisker—Tiana Coudray is just .8 penalties behind on Ringwood Magister.

R-Star is a Holsteiner mare, 6, sired by the popular Maryland-based sire Riverman. Charlotte Rather, owner of Cottonwood Ranch near Santa Barbara, Calif., bred her. “She’s very special, and my goal is to jump her around the Rolex Kentucky four-star myself. She really is the best horse I’ve ever sat on,” said Nunnink, 46.

The Galway Downs competition concludes on Sunday with the climactic show jumping phase. The short-format CCI* begins at 10:30; the long-format CCI* begins at 12:40; and the CCI** begins at 1:45.

General admission is $10 per day at the door.

For more information on the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event, visit their website (www.galwaydowns.com) or call 951-303-0405. To learn more about eventing, visit the U.S. Eventing Association’s website (www.useventing.com).

(Complete results are available at www.galwaydowns.com. Photos are available upon request.)

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For Immediate Release
For More Information:

Contact Press Officers John Strassburger & Heather Bailey

707-217-5072

Morris Sets The Standard At Galway Downs

Temecula, Calif., Nov. 2 — Heather Morris, of Lewisville, Texas, has taken the early lead in the CCI** at the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event by scoring 46.3 penalties in today’s dressage phase on Genial. Morris leads Nicholas Cwik on Asterix by 0.9 penalties.

“He was great today, just so rideable,” said Morris of Genial, an 8-year-old Trakehner gelding. Morris purchased Genial in Virginia during the spring of 2006 from Olympic rider Mara Dean. “Once I figured out how to ride him, he’s been spectacular,” said Morris, who won the Galway Downs CCI* on Genial in 2006.

Since Morris grew up in near Temecula, and her parents still live in Southern California, last week’s fires didn’t concern her before she and her horse left Texas. “When you’re from here, fires don’t really bother you,” she said.

The trip from Texas takes 22 hours, a trip Morris made over two days.

Max McManamy, 15, is leading the long-format CCI* by 3.5 penalties after earning an excellent score of 47.9 on her horse Beacon Hill, a 9-year-old Thoroughbred gelding. Kristi Nunnink, of Auburn, Calif., produced a lovely test on R-Star, a Dutch-bred mare, to take the lead in the short-format CCI* by scoring 42.1 penalties.

McManamy, of Templeton, Calif., is competing for the first time in a long-format CCI (in which horses complete two phases of roads and tracks and a steeplechase phase prior to starting on the cross-country course). She has already placed in two short-format one-star events, including finishing fourth at the North American Junior/Young Rider Championships in Virginia in late July.

“I wanted to get the experience of doing the long format,” said McManamy.

But she said that Beacon Hill’s status as a starter became uncertain a few weeks ago, when he developed hives and then some undiagnosed complications. She said you can still see scabs from the hives on his left side, but they didn’t bother him in today’s test. “He was amazing,” said McManamy with a broad smile.

Morris and McManamy are each similarly ecstatic about the cross-country course designed for the first time by Ian Stark of Great Britain.

“I love it,” enthused Morris. “I think Ian has done a great job, and I especially love the end, where he’s lightened the questions up a little bit to get the horses home.”

McManamy sees “a lot of challenges. I like that there are a lot of harder questions that make you ride and pay attention every moment. I like the way he’s changed it all around.”

The Galway Downs International Three-Day Event continues tomorrow with a day of exciting cross-country action, starting at 8:30 a.m. with the short-format CCI*. The long-format CCI* goes next, concluding at 11:35. The CCI** begins at 12:10, running until 1:22.

General admission to the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event is $8 per day in advance, $10 per day at the door. Patron tickets—which include parking, a program and a catered lunch with beer, wine or soft drinks—are also available.

To order patron or general admission tickets, or for more information on the Galway Downs Three-Day Event, visit their website (www.galwaydowns.com) or call 951-303-0405. To learn more about eventing, visit the U.S. Eventing Association’s website (www.useventing.com).

(Complete results are available at www.galwaydowns.com. Photos are available upon request.)

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For Immediate Release
For More Information:

Contact Press Officers John Strassburger & Heather Bailey

707-473-0991/phoenixfarm@hughes.net

Ian Stark Puts His Stamp On

Galway Downs Cross-Country Course

Temecula, Calif., Nov. 1 — A total of 92 horses passed today’s first veterinary inspection at the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event. Some 27 will start the CCI** with dressage on Friday afternoon, another 50 will contest the short-format CCI* all day on Friday, and 15 will start the long-format CCI* in the morning.

These riders—from the western United Sates, Canada, Mexico, Germany and South Africa—will start over a cross-country course designed for the first time by Ian Stark, a three-time Olympic silver medalist from Ashkirk, Scotland. Stark has increased the size of the jumps at the first water complex and added an island there. He’s also built a new Normandy bank complex, and he’s altered or rebuilt many other jumps.

“I want to stamp my own feel on the course without overdoing it this first time, and we’ll grow from here,” says Stark, 53, who has succeeded Olympic course designer Michael Etherington-Smith, who’d designed the Galway Downs course ever since the event began in 1999.

Says Galway Downs Organizer Robert Kellerhouse, “The course needed a facelift in some aspects, and Ian brings some fresh ideas.”

Galway Downs is the first CCI (international three-day event) course Stark has designed on his own, since retiring from competition this spring and earning his international course designer’s license from the Federation Equestre Internationale. But he’s designed many advanced horse trials in England and has ridden in more than 100 CCIs at the two-star level and above. “I have a feel for what I think will ride well,” he says modestly.

Stark predicts his course “is going to, I hope, take bold and positive riding. An attacking mentality should do well on it.”

He adds, “I think the sport has gone a bit too much toward the technical and even trappy. I want to get back to the good, old-fashioned cross-country riding, where people have a good feeling and a good feel for their jumps.”

Stark has accomplished more changes than he and Kellerhouse had expected they’d be able to make for this event, partly because Kellerhouse has hired six highly experienced course builders to implement Stark’s plans. “I kept saying, ‘This is what I want to do here,’ and Robert hasn’t stopped me yet,” says Stark.

The two-star course will have approximately 34 jumping efforts over 4,800 meters (2.6 miles). The one-star course will have approximately 30 jumping efforts over 3,900 meters (2.1 miles).

Kellerhouse predicts, “The riders at the Galway Downs events are going to get to ride around a track built by a man who’ll be one of the future superstars of cross-country course design.”

He adds, “It’s always been my goal to give our California riders chances to see what they’d see across the continent or across the Atlantic Ocean. The riders will be the beneficiaries of our having Ian Stark here to design this course, this year and in the future.”

Among the many prizes for which the riders who negotiate Stark’s two-star course will be vying is a new memorial trophy. The Mia Eriksson Memorial Trophy is being given in honor of the young rider who died after a fall on the Galway Downs course in 2006. A trophy will be awarded to the top-placing young rider in the CCI**.

Galway Downs will also be hosting, for the first time, the Western North American Young Riders Team Championships, contested by teams from any USEA area. Young riders are between the ages of 14 and 21.

Friday’s dressage phase will begin at 8:15 a.m., with the two one-star divisions running concurrently. The two-star dressage will run from 12:45 to 4:50 p.m.

General admission to the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event is $8 per day in advance, $10 per day at the door. Patron tickets—which include parking, a program and a catered lunch with beer, wine or soft drinks—are also available.

To order patron or general admission tickets, or for more information on the Galway Downs Three-Day Event, visit their website (www.galwaydowns.com) or call 951-303-0405. To learn more about eventing, visit the U.S. Eventing Association’s website (www.useventing.com).