United States Eventing Association

Full Results | Video |

Temecula, Calif., Nov. 6, 2010 — Jennie Brannigan has called the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event “a homecoming.” The Southern California native has been living in Pennsylvania while working for Olympian Phillip Dutton, but she made the trip west with Nina Gardner’s Cambalda to compete their first CCI3* in front of her friends and family. On cross-country day the pair put in a clean and confident round to take the lead in the CCI3*.

“I thought it was a smooth ride, although there were a few things I would have liked to have been better,” said Brannigan. “The time turned out to be pretty easy to make, much easier than we thought it would be. I took my foot of the gas about half way around, and he jumped better.”

Overnight leaders Alison Springer and Arthur had a run-out at fence 14, The Orca, to drop to eighth, moving Brannigan into the lead with 46.0 penalties.

Tamra Smith, on Kristi Nunnik’s Corner Street, jumped to a double-clear round to move up to second place (46.6). The bay Irish Sport horse is a catch ride for Smith, who is riding him because Nunnik is still recuperating from ankle surgery. Smith has only been riding him about 10 days. Nunnik did ride her other advanced horse, R-Star, and is currently in sixth place, but she didn’t feel fit enough to ride both horses.

“Since I’d never run him cross-country before, I expected everything to be hard,” joked Smith. “But I was very pleased with him. I’m very grateful the Kristi picked me to ride him.”

Standing third with 49.2 is Alexandra Slusher on her own Last Call, who added just 0.8 time penalties to her score.

Slusher is leading in the CCI2* aboard Matt Slusher’s Juicy Couture. The chestnut mare blazed faultlessly around the cross-country course, keeping their dressage score of 49.2 intact.

“It was easier than I expected [to ride both mares],” said Slusher, who survived a spooky moment with Last Call at fence 13.

“It was the best round I’ve ever had on [Juicy Couture],” she continued. “I always ride better here than anywhere else, and this is the boldest she’s ever been.”

Shannon Thompson and KS Priceless, who placed second in the CCI2* dressage, parted company at fence 18, moving Amber Levine and Nantucket Red in to second (54.2) and Jolie Wentworth and GoodKnight in to third (58.1).

“The fences looked a bit bigger today than yesterday,” admitted Levine, a former grand prix show jumping competitor. “But, I couldn’t have asked him to be any better.”

Wentworth has only been paired with her mount since July, and she was held about halfway through the course because of Thompson’s fall. “He’s very different than my other advanced horse,” said Wentworth. “He’s very strong, and when I was held today, I was glad to have a breather.”

Three faultless cross-country rounds kept the CCI1* dressage standings unchanged, with Lindsay Connors and Ballingowan Pizazz maintaining their lead (45.6), with Maxance McManamy and Project Runway in second (47.5) and Smith in third with C.S.I. (49.1).

Connors and McManamy share more than the top of the leaderboard. Both are doing their first FEI-sanctioned competitions since suffering falls. Connors’ accident was in 2009 at Rebecca Farms (Mont.), and McManamy’s was in 2010 at the same event. Connors was not badly injured, but her work as an equine veterinary technician, and the application process to veterinary school, have taken up her time, causing her to need the CCI1* to qualify her for a CCI2*.

“Today he was wild in the warm-up,” said Connors. “And he just ate up the course. He came across the finish and felt like he could keep going.”

Earlier this year, the Irish Sport Horse spun in the galloping lane here at Galway Downs and dropped Connors, so she was especially pleased with his focus and straightness on course. “Staying on was goal No. 1 today,” she joked.

McManamy fractured three vertebrae in her spine in her fall from advanced horse Beacon Hill, but she and Project Runway, 6, looked confident as they cruised to a double-clear round. “Usually I’m just kicking him around, but today he came out a felt like a true event horse. At the finish he felt like could go another three minutes,” she said.

Slusher kept McManamy’s horses fit while she recovered from her injuries.

Groesbeck Stays On Top of Classic-Format CCI1*
So far, so good for Katherine Groesbeck from Wilton, Calif., at the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event. She is currently keeping control of the top two places in the classic-format CCI1* aboard her homebred Anglo-Arabs.

Oz Proof of Purchase, owned by her mother, Teresa, is first with 46.2 penalties, and Oz The Tin Man is right behind with 47.2 penalties. Olympic silver medalist Gina Miles is third on Katherine Sulzbach’s Wallenda (50.4), having added only 1.6 time penalties on the steeplechase phase to their score.

Groesbeck’s two horses are full brothers, and Oz The Tin Man is a veteran of the classic format, having competed in the training three-day event at Galway Downs last year. Teresa bred the two geldings, and Katherine’s father, Jim, started them under saddle. Both horses have competed in endurance races up to 50 miles, have worked cattle on their ranch, and have competed in pure dressage, with Oz The Tin Man competing to the Prix St. Georges level.

“The sibling rivalry can get intense,” joked Groesbeck, 21. “But I guess you could say they’ve done a bit of everything.

“They are really bred for the endurance of the classic format, and I wanted to do it as a personal goal,” said Groesbeck of her decision to start both horses in the classic-format CCI1*. “It’s a unique experience.”

The brothers lived up to her expectations on course. “They both just really clocked around,” she said with a smile.

In the training three-day event, division A leaders Erin Spohr, of Auburn, Calif., and Bravo kept their lead with a clean speed and endurance performance to stand on 26.3 penalties. Chris Misita’s chestnut Oldenburg stallion put in a confident performance to stay ahead of second-placed Erin Kellerhouse on Cheryl Reynolds’ Roxabelle (26.8). Tory Smith and Bantry Bay V stand third (29.0).

“It was one of the best things I could have ever done with him,” said Spohr of her classic-format experience. “After doing steeplechase, he went out on cross- country like he was a different horse—he was fabulous.

“I think the training three-day is one of the best things you can do with a young horse,” she added.

In division B, the standings also remained unchanged, with Sierra Mathias and Regal Exit adding no additional points to their dressage score of 30.4, to stay ahead of equally clean Tristen Hooks and Learning To Fly (30.7) and Zoe Winokur and Maletto V (32.3).

Mathias, 16, from Castro Valley, Calif., is competing in her first classic-format event, and she’s sold on the experience. “Ever since they created it, I wanted to do it. It has always been my goal with this horse,” she said. “And now my goal for next year is the [classic-format CCI1*].

“The course was super fun. Awesome!” she enthused.

Competition concludes tomorrow (Sunday) with the show jumping phase, beginning with the training three-day event at 9:00 a.m. The modern-format and classic-format CCI1* divisions are scheduled to run from 11:00 to 1:00, followed by the CCI2* and then the CC3*, finishing at approximately 3:00 p.m.

Both the Training and Preliminary long-format divisions are part of the SmartPak USEA Classic Series, which offers the traditional long-format competition for Training and Preliminary levels. The SmartPak Equine/USEA Classic Series is made possible through the support of its many sponsors: Title Sponsor: SmartPak Equine; Presenting Sponsor: Stackhouse Saddles; Silver Level Sponsor: Fleeceworks; Legacy Sponsors: Five Star Tack and VitalWear; Elite Sponsors: FITS and Nunn Finer


The Galway Downs CCI3* offers $21,000 in prize money, substantially more than the prize money offered at any of the other three CCI3* events in North America. All told, the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event will offer $33,000 in prize money and more than $50,000 in total prizes.

The generous presenting sponsorship of Professional’s Choice equine products, Point Two Air Jackets USA, and the Professional Riders Organization help make these prizes possible.

Additional sponsors provide prize money, prizes and other support to the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event. Those sponsors include: Auburn Laboratories Inc., Big Horse Feed, CWD Saddlery, Doug Hannum Equine Therapy, Equine Insurance of California, Revere Saddlery, Riding’s Publications Inc., SmartPak Equine, and Sonoma Saddle Shop.

General admission for the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event is $8 per day in advance, $10 at the gate. VIP tickets—which include seating in the ringside tent, lunch and a full selection of beverages—are also available for $55 per day in advance. For advance reservations, go to www.galwaydowns.com.

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