With steadily consistent riding in all three phases, Kelly Prather, of Bodega, rode Ballinakill Glory to the blue ribbon in the Advanced division at the Woodside Horse Trials. Her score (48.4) put her 12 points ahead of second-placed Jolie Sexson, of Martinez, on Killian O’Connor and 12.4 penalities ahead of third-placed Dawn White, of Auburn, WA, on Vapor Trail.



The eventing competition was held May 25-27 at the Horse Park at Woodside.
Woodside’s Advanced division was also a “mandatory outing” for West Coast candidates for this summer’s Pan Am Games, and U.S. Equestrian Federation officials were there to watch them. Capt. Mark Phillips (the U.S. eventing team’s chef d’equipe), four members of the USEF Eventing Selection Committee, and two team veterinarians were at Woodside to evaluate the riders’ and horses’ performances and soundness.
The group was evaluating three horse-rider combinations who’d previously qualified for the Pan Am Games: Gina Miles on McKinlaigh, Sara Mittleider on El Primero, and Tiana Coudray on King Street. Miles and Mittleider were given permission to not run their horses in the cross-country phase as Miles had ridden McKinlaigh to a top-placing performance at the Badminton CCI**** (England) in early May and Mittleider had ridden El Primero to a top-placing performance at the Rolex Kentucky CCI**** in late April. Coudray withdrew King Street before show jumping, even though she’d moved to the top of the leader board after a quick cross-country round.
Phillips said he was pleased with the performances of McKinlaigh and El Primero, especially since they’d had a couple weeks of vacation following Rolex Kentucky and Badminton. “I don’t think either of them are peaking at the moment, but we don’t want them to do that for another month or so,” said Phillips, because the Pan Am Games don’t begin in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, until July 18. “This was a chance for the Selection Committee to evaluate their progress at this moment.”
The eight horse-rider combinations from which the four team members and three individual riders will be chosen is to be announced by June 11, following the second mandatory outing, run in conjunction with the Jersey Fresh CCI*** (N.J.) on June 1-4.
All told, seven riders completed the Advanced division, from 15 starters. Amy Tryon withdrew dressage winner Poggio II after a steady cross-country round to fly him across the country on Sunday morning to compete at the Jersey Fresh CCI, his first major competition since winning the individual bronze medal at the 2006 World Equestrian Games. Tryon said she was running him there to be sure he was fully qualified for the 2008 Olympics.
These withdrawals opened the door for Prather, 23, who added six cross-country time penalties and seven show jumping penalties to her fourth-placed dressage score. “We’re still in the process of building Ballinakill Glory into an Advanced horse,” said Prather of the 8-year-old, Irish Sport Horse mare owned by Andrea and James Pfeiffer. “She felt fantastic, and it meant a lot to me to be able to have Capt. Phillips and the selectors see me ride.”
Sexson, 25, rode the gray Killian O’Connor to third place in dressage and 10.4 time faults on cross-country before incurring 15 faults in show jumping. White, 51, rode the gray Vapor Trail to the day’s second-fastest cross-country round but then incurred 16 show jumping penalties over a testing course designed by Robert Ridland, an Olympic show jumper and international show jumping course designer.
Prather had high praise the cross-country course, created by international course designer Derek di Grazia of Carmel. “It was a great course!” said Prather. “You had to ride by feel because he made a lot of striding options. You really had to think on your feet.”
Phillips, also an international cross-country course designer, echoed her evaluation. “I think it was a marvelous course and that they do an amazing job here to make the footing excellent,” he said.
An estimated 2,000 people watched the Advanced division contest the cross-country phase on Saturday, and more than 1,000 watched the show jumping on Sunday.