Billys, Flettner Fly at Galway

By John Strassburger November 5, 2012

With a fast cross-country round, Lauren Billys of Visalia, CA, grabbed the lead in the CCI2* on Ballingowan Ginger and held on in the show jumping, despite lowering one rail (54.8). Her score was enough to better Zachary Brandt on Cavallino Cocktail (57.5) and Bea di Grazia on Lad’s Night Out (60.5). Byllis won $2,000 for placing first.

Billys and Ginger finished the cross-country course four seconds slow and got 1.6 time penalties. “That was about as fast as she could have gone,” Billys said, noting the mare was “a little nervous” before starting. The duo’s last three-day outing, at the 2011 Pan Am Games, saw them fall three jumps from the finish.

“I wanted to redeem myself,” said Billys, who rides for Puerto Rico because her grandmother was born there.

Billys, 24, is a senior at Fresno State College, majoring in chemistry and wine making, but she plans to be a professional rider. She trains with di Grazia and her husband, Derek.

“This was really important for me, because it’s Puerto Rico’s first FEI eventing win that I know of. Being so close last year and being able to come here and win was so sweet.”  Billys’ new goals include riding in the 2015 Pan Am Games and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“I hope this shows that I’m a rider worth supporting to go there. I hope it means that we’re already moving in that direction,” Billys said.

Flettner Climaxes Great Year

Julie Flettner, of Petaluma, CA, emphatically climaxed a memorable year by winning the CCI1* on her mare Ping Pong (42.5). She topped Maya Black, of Clinton, WA., on Doesn’t Play Fair (43.1) and Frankie Thieriot, of Occidental, CA, on Uphoria (44.4). Uphoria was named the best-conditioned horse in the CCI1*.

In November 2011, Flettner and Ping Pong won the Training Level Three-Day Event at Galway Downs and then moved up to preliminary level. In May, they won the Preliminary Rider Challenge at the Woodside Horse Trials, and in October they won the CIC1* at the Woodside International Horse Trials.

“I still don’t believe this year,” the 37-year-old optometrist said. “I still think preliminary looks big, even after this weekend.  The training three-day was great, because it was bridge from training to preliminary, especially since it had been 20 years since I’d done preliminary.”

Flettner said that Ian Stark’s cross-country course “was great and galloping and asked all the questions. I was actually surprised that she looked at some of those jumps—she doesn’t usually. The stuff I worried about was fine, and the stuff I didn’t worry about I had to ride.”

Black, 24, began riding Doesn’t Play Fair in the spring of 2011 for owner/breeder Dawn Dofelmier. “I put him in training with the idea he’d be her novice horse, and now I’m going to keep riding him and see where he goes,” said Black of the 7-year-old Holsteiner gelding.

She agreed with Flettner’s evaluation of Stark’s cross-country course. “I thought it was a blast and the next step for him. It was a very educational round, and he’s better for it,” she said.

Madison Kauffman added nothing to the dressage score she earned on Sky Captain (31.8) to win the lion’s share of the prizes in the Training Level Three-Day Event, including a Voltaire jumping saddle. She just nipped Canadian Olympian Hawley Bennett-Awad’s score on the Arabian mare Sienna (32.2) and Tylia Schoenewald on Arame (32.9).

Kauffman, of Fountain Hills, Ariz., bred and trained Sky Captain. Kauffman, 26, owns a day-care center, and she started showing Sky Captain, 8, in the show hunter ring, but the results were disappointing. So she turned to eventing, “and now I love it,” she said.

Kauffman said that she wasn’t sure how the Oldenburg gelding would act when he started on cross-country after trotting through two roads and tracks phases and galloping around the steeplechase course. “He was mentally different after steeplechase, and he was amazing on cross-country,” she said.

“I’m super-ambitious, and this year I decided to take a step back and let my coach, Barb Crabo, guide me on what to do,” added Kauffman. “She did mention going preliminary on Sunday—that we’re ready, so I’ll probably do that next season. But I’ll take it one day at a time.”

Schoenewald, of Camarillo, Calif., and Arame, a 9-year-old Thoroughbred-cross, won the best-conditioned award for the Training Level Three-Day Event.

“This is a capstone event to do,” the 26-year-old Schoenewald said. “The training three-day is tougher than a normal horse trial, and it’s an opportunity to showcase the hard work you’ve done throughout the year.”

This year spectators could watch the cross-country action from four oases located all around the course at Galway. Each area offered different kinds of food and local wines and beers, plus water and soft drinks. During the breaks between the three international divisions, musicians performed at each oasis, a new addition that attracted a record 1,500 spectators on Saturday.

“The oases didn’t have any effect on my plans. I thought they were an excellent idea,” Stark said. “It gives a family members and supporters who aren’t that horsey something to do and makes it a family day out.”

Stark, has been designing the Galway Downs courses since 2007 and is always looking to add more terrain questions to the basically flat grounds. “I have new ideas for next year that I’m looking forward to,” he said with a grin.

Equine Insurance, Land Rover, Professional’s Choice and the Professional Riders Organization were the presenting sponsors of the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event. A portion of all tickets sales benefited Operation Homefront, PRO’s charitable partner.

 

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