Bond All Spruced Up

By Paula Parisi June 11, 2013

It was a spectacular Spruce Meadows National tournament for Ashlee Bond and Little Valley Farms, landing in the money seven times in the International Arena over five days of competition, June 4-9.

The strong performance also earned the Los Angeles-based rider and her mare Wistful the National’s Canadian Championship and a $15,000 bonus for their consistent performance throughout the week. It’s the second time she’s been so honored. Bond began attending the Spruce Meadows summer circuit in 2009, and won the Canadian Championship with Cadett 7 in 2010.

At the 2013 National, she and Cadett 7 won the $60,000 Trans Canada Parcours de Chasse FEI 1.45m speed class on June 8, earning $19,800 with a zippy 100.059 performance that put the pair more than three seconds ahead of John Perez (COL) and Utopia.

That same day, it was Kent Farrington of Wellington, FL, and Uceko who took the top prize in the $400,000 CN Reliability World Cup Qualifier FEI 1.60m for a whopping $132,000. In a class where only the top three went double clear, Bond and her mare Wistful pocketed $10,000 for their seventh place, one-rail performance.

“It’s been really good. I’m here for the whole circuit. I’ll be home in mid-July,” said Bond, who embarks on the Spruce Meadows Continental tournament next week.

Bond got off to a strong start, placing second with Cadett in the $33,000 Enbridge Cup 1.45m on opening day in the International Arena, which hosted only FEI classes. McLain Ward won with Super Trooper de Ness, an 11-year-old Belgian Warmblood stallion. Cadett is a 16-year-old Holsteiner (Cor de la Bryere) gelding. That same day, she and Wistful, a 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood, were eighth in the $33,000 ATB Financial 1.50m with a one-point time-fault.

The momentum continued on Thursday, when she and Wistful were No. 2 in the $35,000 SpectraEnergy Cup FEI 1.60m in a double-clear ride that was less than a second off Darrah Kerrins’ (IRE) winning time of 40.17 in the jump-off.

Bond gave her horses a day off on Friday, and reaped the benefits at the big classes on Saturday and had top placings on Sunday as well, nabbing third with Wistful in the $175,000 NextGen Cup Derby FEI 1.60m (good for $19,000) and fourth in the same class with Cadett (another $11,000).

Asked if it felt like there were more FEI classes at Spruce this year, Bond said it did. “I think some of the 1.45m and 1.50m classes that had 60 or 70 entries they split into two. There were at least two $33,000 classes every day, which was great.”

Bond explained how riders must apply to compete at Spruce in the International Arena. “You enter and they decide if they want to accept you for their national or FEI divisions. I’ve always been able to compete in all the FEI divisions I selected, luckily, but everybody doesn’t get that chance.”

Little Valley Farms also brought some youngster up to compete in the national division: the 6-year-olds Klaus and Ace of Hearts, a bay gelding bred and owned by Richard Spooner out of his winning mare Ezrah by Abigail Weese’s Hosteiner stallion Ace. “I got a first and second with them,” she noted. Bond is also tuning up Atmosphere for a client that’s coming up to compete later in the season.

“Atmosphere was clear in every class he did, and 11^th in the first 1.35 and sixth in his next one, so I’m very pleased. He’s young and doesn’t have a ton of experience. I’ve only had him for four shows.”

Additional U.S. riders to score FEI wins at the National Tournament: Christine McCrea (East Windsor, CT), Ramontovich Take One, $33,000 Bantrel 1.45m; Laren Tisbo (Barrington, IL), Roundthorn Madios, $33,000 Prarie Mines & Royal Cup FEI 1.50m; McLain Ward (Brewster, NY), Zander, $33,000 ATCO 1.45m (a class with 65 entries); Beezie Madden (Cazenovia, NY), Amadora, $35,000 RBC Capital Markets Winning Round 1.50m; Beezie Madden, Wrigley, $35,000 ATCO Energy Solutions Cup 1.45m; Leslie Howard (Darien, CT)Lennox Lewis, $175,000 NEXEN Cup Derby 1.60m.

Although she didn’t ride off with any blue ribbons, 18-year-old Reed Kessler of Lexington, KY, continued to burnish her already stellar reputation. Kessler was the youngest U.S. rider ever to compete in the Olympics (in London last year, barely a month after hitting the qualifying age).

At the Spruce National, she and her Olympic mount Cylana were second to Farrington in the $400,000 CN, and she was also second with the mare in the $33,000 Friends of the Meadow Cup 1.60.   Riding the 10-year-old Warmblood gelding Wolf S she notched third in the $33,000 Bantrel 1.45m, and on Mika she was seventh in the $53,000 Spectra Energy Cup and ninth in the $33,000 ATB Financial.

She had two clear rides, good for fifth and 10^th place, in the $60,000 Trans Canada Parcours de Chasse (on Wolf S and Soraya de Lobstination, respectively). With Ligist, she scored 11^th in the the $35,000 RBC Capital Markets Winning Round 1.50m. In all, Kessler earned eight FEI placings against some very tough competition.

France’s Eric Navet, who has been spending time in California training Karl Cook, also popped up on the hit list, riding the Cook family’s Quanto Fino 2 to fourth in the $400,000 CN and 11^th in a field of 73 contenders in the $33,000 Prarie Mines & Royal Cup FEI 1.50m.

Alec Lawler of Atherton, CA, eeked into the money in the $33,000 Enbridge, scoring 12^th on Agamemnon, a horse he’s had a little over a year.

The courses in the International Arena were designed primarily by Germany’s Werner Deeg, with the exception of Friday’s ATCO and RBC classes, designed by Leopoldo Palacios of Venezuela.

FYI: Just to keep us all on our toes, in Canada the winning horse gets a red ribbon,  second-place is blue.

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