Greengard and That's Me Z Kickstart The Event at Rebecca Farm
Kalispell, Mt.—July 18— Tommy Greengard and That's Me Z sit atop the CCI3*-S, the first of The Event at Rebecca Farm's five FEI divisions to conclude the dressage phase. The second half of the 34-horse CCI2*-L field will be staged Friday, along with dressage for CCI4*-L and CCI4*-S, and the CCI3*-L.
That's Me Z is co-owned by Greengard and Chocolate Horse Farm's Andrea Pfeiffer. The 7-year-old Zangershiede (Take a Chance on Me Z x Veneita) jumped into the national spotlight as the USEA's Young Event Horse 5-Year-Old National Champion in 2022 and has ticked all the advancing boxes since then.
This is "Z's" second year at Rebecca Farm, following last year's Preliminary outing. "If anything, I think he grew a little bit in this atmosphere," Greengard reported of their 25.2 effort from judges Valerie Pride, Sara Miller Leary, and Christel Carlson. "When he was younger, he'd get quite shy in the bigger rings. It's exciting to have him take ahold of the bridle and show off his great gaits in the ring.
"He's been doing exactly what we ask in his training at this point," Greengard continued. "He showed that in the ring."
Greengard and Z have a big fall planned. They'll head to England next week to spend three months riding with New Zealand Olympic eventers Tim and Jonelle Price. Doing well here was part of the plan for a hopeful appearance with Z at the FEI WBFSH Eventing World Championships in France later this year and yesterday's performance was a great waypoint on that journey.
The young Northern California professional is excited about the CCI3*-S cross-country on Saturday. "It looks very good and I always love Ian Stark's courses. It's a great test for Z and where he's at right now."
Having ridden Rebecca Farm's routes several times, Greengard especially appreciates the efforts to differentiate between the questions asked of Intermediate, CCI3*-L, and CCI3*-S contenders. "That's very special to Rebecca Farm. Not every venue is able to do as great a job at that as they do."
Tamie Smith had been on a likely path to the Paris Olympics until a minor mishap with her top horse, Mai Baum, prevented them from being in peak form for the U.S. Team's mandatory outing. The upside for fans is that she re-routed to Rebecca Farm and the California-based 2023 Land Rover Kentucky CCI5* champion is making the most of it.
She and Molly Duda's 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding, Carlingfords Hes A Clover (Polanski x Fourleaf Clover), earned a 26.2 to sit second after CCI3*-S dressage. Smith is in third, too, with Julianne Guariglia's Sumas Tina Turner, an 8-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare (Quantino x Sumas Fanny Brice), who earned a 27.9.
Smith is "ecstatic and over the moon" with both new rides. Riding Carlingfords for his injured young rider, Smith said his flatwork has been a challenging and rewarding focus. "He can be quite cheeky and I was thrilled with him today."
"Tina Turner is a bit of a work in progress," she explained. "We've been working hard to gel with her and to let her be the powerful horse that she is. She's a chestnut mare and she's named Tina Turner!"
Saturday's cross-country presents plenty to do, and looks "up to the standard and fair," Smith said. It starts with the challenge of galloping away from the barns out of the start box, an issue for some of the lower level pairs today.
The cross-country footing is the best Smith has ever seen it in many years coming to Rebecca Farm. "When you imagine the many miles of tracks they have to tend, it's no small feat. They have really stepped it up and figured out how to make the ground the best it can be."
CCI2*-L dressage gets the schedule underway on Friday morning with the highlight event, the CCI4*-L, kicking off at 3:30 p.m. this afternoon.
The two USEA Classic Series divisions taking place at Rebecca Farm got underway on Thursday with all competitors completing their dressage tests. They will move on to the endurance and cross-country phases starting at 9:25 a.m. this morning.
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