Hunter ponies and their riders returned to the Walnut Ring for the second-to-last day of hunter competition Friday at the 2019 USEF Pony Finals, presented by Collecting Gaits Farm. Two more champions were crowned following successful over fences performances, as Maddie Tosh and Baroness of Locheil hoisted the title in the Medium Green Pony Hunters and Tessa Downey and Sandcastle led the victory gallop as the best partnership in the Large Green Pony Hunters. Additionally, Tosh and Baroness of Locheil were awarded the Grand Green Pony Hunter title as the highest-scoring Green pair of all of the size groups.
Determined to add another trophy to her ever-growing collection after Thursday’s championship victory, Tosh entered the ring as the final entry in the irons aboard Dr. Betsee Parker’s Baroness of Locheil, a 6-year-old Welsh Pony Cross. The combination began divisional competition as the clear leaders due to two first-place finishes in the model and under saddle, which produced a total score of 539.33, putting them 17 points ahead of the next-best challengers. Taking to the ring as the last contenders, Tosh and Baroness of Locheil needed a total over fences score of 231.905 to eclipse Kierstin Antoniadis and Bill Schaub’s Shenandoah Coral Reef and ensure victory. Turning in a textbook trip, the pair delivered with scores of 87.55, 87.56 and 92 for cumulative over fences marks of 267.11 and a total tally of 1,073.50 to secure the top spot on the leaderboard.
Boasting the highest score of Green ponies in any of the three respective divisions, Baroness of Locheil was honored as the Grand Green Pony Hunter following her three impeccable showings with Tosh. The young pony topped the scorecard in all three classes to solidify herself as a force to be reckoned with during her first USEF Pony Finals appearance, finishing 36 points ahead of the Grand Reserve Pony Hunter, Noelle Wolf Stables LLC’s Sandcastle. Owned by Dr. Parker and ridden by Tosh, Baroness of Locheil has also accrued accolades at Upperville Colt and Horse Show, Aiken Chairty Horse Show and HITS Ocala, among others. Equally impressive is the fact that Tosh entered the Kentucky Horse Park with two ponies to show and will be leaving the horse show with two championship honors to her name, earned in both the Small Regular Pony Hunters and Medium Green Pony Hunters on consecutive days.
With 1,003.14 points, Antoniadis and Shenandoah Coral Reef finished in the reserve spot, while Just Whistle, ridden by Lizzy McCrady and owned by Work-A-While Farm, claimed third place overall with a score of 978.30. Rachel Nichols navigated MRN Equestrian, LLC ‘s Quicksilver Crescendo to fourth position with 973.11 points, and Gabrielle Sousa and her own Silver Point earned fifth place thanks to a score of 968.30.
In similar fashion to their medium counterparts, Downey and Sandcastle maintained their day one status to hang onto the lead in the division with a standout trip over fences in the Large Green Pony Hunters. The partnership concluded Thursday at the top of the standings thanks to their score of 519.39, comprised of 253.64 points and second place in the model and 265.75 points and first place in the hack. The under saddle class was the first time 14-year-old Downey had ever sat on the pony, but you could not tell watching the two work together seamlessly. Jumping last as the initial frontrunners, the duo had a small safety net, but still needed to earn three respectable scores from the judges panel to secure victory. Following an exemplary round and a tense few moments waiting for scores, Downey and Sandcastle were rewarded with individual marks of 84, 87 and 87.76, which catapulted them to the top of the rankings both over fences and overall. The team finished on a composite score of 1,036.91, twenty points ahead of the reserve champions, and nearly swept the division with a win in two of the three classes. With their score, Downey and Sandcastle were also honored as the Grand Reserve Green Pony Hunter recipients. Downey is no stranger to the winner’s circle at USEF Pony Finals, having won the 2018 Marshall & Sterling/USEF Pony Medal Finals aboard Hallelujah and the 2018 Medium Regular Pony Hunters with Anisette.
Jumping up from sixth position, Grace Debney and Anya Bereznicki’s Jimmy Choo finished in second overall with 1,016.86 points, followed by Lauren Reid and Chase Hollow Equestrian Partners, LLC’s Top Shelf, who moved up from eleventh place to third position with a total score of 1,004.02. In fourth place was Cecelia Jackson and Haley Kauffman’s Cottonwood with 976.08 points, trailed by Ashley Lamers and her own Sahara with 973.36 points in fifth place.
Earlier in the day, 160 entries in the Medium Regular Pony Hunters began their trek towards the championship tricolor, beginning with the model and under saddle classes. Leading the standings as they head into the second day of competition is Alexa Lignelli and the Lignelli family’s AMC Entourage thanks to back-to-back high-scoring efforts. The duo set the bar high with a score of 266.80 in the model class to earn first place, then continued to pull in impresive scores from the judges with 265.53 points in the under saddle portion of competition to conclude on a cumulative day one score of 532.33. Lignelli and EMC Entourage will try to hold off the current second-place pair, Ann Frances Truluck and Jessie Spade’s All Yours, who have a total 524.80 points after the first two phases.
The 2019 USEF Pony Finals, presented by Collecting Gaits Farm, will continue through Sunday, Aug. 11. The nation’s best young pony riders will be tested in Small, Medium and Large classes of both Regular Hunter and Green Hunter divisions in the Walnut Ring, and the Alltech Arena will play host to Pony Jumper competition through Saturday. Sunday’s feature will be the Pony Medal Finals, one of the week’s highlight events.
FROM THE WINNER’S CIRCLE
Maddie Tosh – Grand Green Pony Hunter and Medium Green Pony Hunter champion
On her reaction to winning:
“It’s so exciting. I can’t even believe it. I’m so proud of ‘Twinkle.’ [Dr. Betsee Parker] owns her and I’m so lucky to get to rider her for her. She is absolutely amazing and I am really proud of her for her first time here. I’ve been riding her for about a year. She is so fun and she doesn’t act green at all. You can always trust her to try her hardest.”
On her feelings going into the ring:
“I was probably not quite as nervous today just because she is green and pretty much anything could have happened. I just wanted to go and give her a nice, confident ride, but she was so good and I’m so proud of her.”
On her superstitions:
“[My dog] is definitely my good luck charm. She comes to the ring every time I show. We always put her in the camper a while before so she can cool down, and then she comes back out for me to show. She also has to wear a lucky collar. I’m very superstitious. She has had the same collar for the past two years and she has worn it every time I have won anything big, so now she always wears that. She pulled it out for Pony Finals. I always go in the same way I come out when I walk the course. I climb the fence in then I climb out the same spot when I go out.”
On her growing number of wins:
“We have a trophy room in our house and it was basically all my dad on the wall, and now we joke that he is going to be off the wall soon because my mom keeps taking him down and putting me up.”
Tessa Downey – Grand Reserve Green Pony Hunter and Large Green Pony Hunter champion
On Sandcastle:
“The first time I saw him was two days ago actually. I got a call that I was supposed to do a Large Green at Pony Finals. Peter Pletcher said I need to ride him. The first time I got on him was for the under saddle class and he was absolutely striking. He was perfect. I had never seen him move so I didn’t know how good of a mover he was. I came out of the ring and my mom took a video and I watched and saw how good he was. At first the pressure kind of got to me when I heard he was leading, but I knew he would be perfect. He was perfect over the jumps. I’ve never actually shown a Large before and he was just perfect.”
On her thought process going in:
“Jeff Lowers gave me a pep talk and said there was no pressure and that I should just have fun. He is a very straight-forward pony. The first time I looked at him I didn’t believe he was really a Green because he has the best mind I’ve ever seen.”
On winning the champion award:
“Last year I won the Medium Pony Hunters and I saw Grace Debney win this class last year on Lafayette Park, so I decided I wanted to do that next year. Sandcastle came here and did it.”
RESULTS
Place / Horse / Rider / Owner / Score
Medium Green Pony Hunter Overall
1. Baroness Of Locheil / Maddie Tosh / Dr. Betsee Parker / 1073.55
2. Shenandoah Coral Reef / Kierstin Antoniadis / Bill Schaub / 1003.14
3. Just Whistle / Lizzy McCrady / Work-A-While Farm / 978.30
4. Quicksilver Crescendo / Rachel Nichols / MRN Equestrian, LLC / 973.11
5. Silver Point / Gabrielle Sousa / Gabrielle Sousa / 968.30
6. Little Mermaid / Brionna Mae Chevrette / Brionna Mae Chevrette / 955.33
7. Waltzing Matilda / Mckayla Brombach / James Waldman / 951.46
8. Crown Ridge Magic Show / Shiloh Roseboom / Born Free Farm LLC / 950.53
9. Enough Said / Hayley Hewitt / Basset Equine (NY) LLC / 948.70
10. Swan Song / Lauren Gee / Carolina Equine Investments, LLC / 945.94
Medium Green Pony Hunter Over Fences
1. Baroness Of Locheil / Maddie Tosh / Dr. Betsee Parker / 267.11
2. Shenandoah Coral Reef / Kierstin Antoniadis / Bill Schaub / 247.19
3. Crown Ridge Magic Show / Shiloh Roseboom / Born Free Farm LLC / 246.88
4. Silver Point / Gabrielle Sousa / Gabrielle Sousa / 246.45
5. Just Whistle / Lizzy McCrady / Work-A-While Farm / 244.810
6. Little Mermaid / Brionna Mae Chevrette / Brionna Mae Chevrette / 242.880
7. April Showers / Mia Bagnato / Gardnertown Farm / 237.53
8. Quicksilver Crescendo / Rachel Nichols / MRN Equestrian, LLC / 235.78
9. Waltzing Matilda / Mckayla Brombach / James Waldman / 235.67
10. Enough Said / Hayley Hewitt / Basset Equine (NY) LLC / 231.36
Large Green Pony Hunter Overall
1. Sandcastle / Tessa Downey / Noelle Wolf Stables, LLC / 1036.91
2. Jimmy Choo / Grace Debney / Anya Bereznicki / 1016.86
3. Top Shelf / Lauren Reid / Chase Hollow Equestrian Partners, Llc / 1004.02
4. Cottonwood / Cecelia Jackson / Haley Kauffman / 976.08
5. Sahara / Ashley Lamers / Ashley Lamers / 973.36
6. Aristocrat / Caroline Olsen / Lynne Dow / 962.44
7. Score / Brynn Kuhnell / Twin Horse LLC / 961.98
8. Orchard Hills Firefly / Camryn Ortelli / Camryn Ortelli / 958.58
9. Neverland / Josephine Rose / Joey Rose LLC / 954.40
10. All In / Ava Berman / Molly Rinedollar / 951.29
Large Green Pony Hunter Over Fences
1. Sandcastle / Tessa Downey / Noelle Wolf Stables, LLC / 258.76
2. Top Shelf / Lauren Reid / Chase Hollow Equestrian Partners, Llc / 255.76
3. Jimmy Choo / Grace Debney / Anya Bereznicki / 255.66
4. Neverland / Josephine Rose / Joey Rose LLC / 251.47
5. Score / Brynn Kuhnell / Twin Horse LLC / 247.17
6. All In / Ava Berman / Molly Rinedollar / 242.21
7. Applebutter’s Captain Hook / Audrey Kretschman / Audrey Kretschman / 239.33
8. Aristocrat / Caroline Olsen / Lynne Dow / 238.74
9. Sahara / Ashley Lamers / Ashley Lamers / 238.40
10. Cottonwood / Cecelia Jackson / Haley Kauffman / 234.01
Medium Regular Pony Hunter Model
1. EMC Entourage / Alexa Lignelli / The Lignelli Family / 266.80
2. V.H. Paris Fox / Gianna Siegler / Gianna Siegler / 265.74
3. Small Suggestion / Sasha Deringer / Sophia Tabasso / 259.17
4. C.E. Remarkable / Parker Peacock / Parker Peacock / 258.79
5. Diesel Does It / Paige Wolfe / Paige Wolfe / 257.29
6. Foot Steps / Addy Wingate / Addy Wingate / 257.25
7. Wish Me Luck / Chloe Shea / Chloe Shea / 256.59
8. Paris / Mimi Maddock / Maddock Horses LLC / 255.50
9. All Yours / Ann Frances Truluck / Jessie Spade / 255.50
10. IC Blue Royal / Avery Franke / Avery Franke / 254.69
Medium Regular Pony Hunter Under Saddle
1. All Yours / Ann Frances Truluck / Jessie Spade / 269.25
2. Newhaven’s Magnum / Addison Stoughton / Addison Stoughton / 266.15
3. EMC Entourage / Alexa Lignelli / The Lignelli Family / 265.53
4. Goldhills As You Like It / Vivian Golden / Vivian Golden / 265.19
5. Finesse RF / JJ Torano / Kat Fuqua / 263.77
6. Show Me Love / Raffaella Agnelli / Clear Ride LLC / 262.94
7. Magical Diamond / Lillian Stoughton / Addison Stoughton / 262.47
8. Smallwood Mystic / Carolyn Colter / Ticket To Ride LLC / 262.16
9. Shining Star / Aedan Mooney / Aedan Mooney / 261.34
10. Top Notch Shorty / Katelyn Jasky / Katelyn Jasky / 260.64