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Articles: Press Release
Morris Claims Wire-To-Wire Galway Downs Victory in CCI**; Area VI Young
Riders take United States Equestrian Federation's Western JR/YR One Star
Team Championship
Contact:
United States Equestrian Federation, Inc.
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Lexington, KY 40511-8483
Tel: (859) 258-2472
Fax (859) 231-6662
Web site: www.usef.org
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 5, 2007
By Heather Bailey and John Strassburger
Temecula, CA - Heather Morris won the Galway Downs CCI** the hard way-by
holding first place on all three days of the ninth annual Galway Downs
International Three-Day Event. Her faultless show jumping round today on
Genial guaranteed the victory.
But Morris just grimaced when asked how hard it is to be the rider
everyone else is aiming for. "When you're in the warm-up ring, all you
can think is, 'Why am I doing this to myself?' But it's so great when
it's over!" she said.
Morris' competitors didn't make her task any easier. Third-placed
Nicholas Cwick, of Saratoga, CA on Asterix, and second-placed Leigh
Mesher, of Redmond, WA on Mar De Amor, also finished show jumping with
no penalties. Morris did have some breathing room, though. She could
have afforded to lower one rail since her dressage score was almost 8
penalties better than Mesher's and Cwick recorded 8.8 time penalties on
cross-country.
Morris and Genial had previously won the short-format CCI* at Galway
Downs in 2006. This is her first victory in a CCI** ever. "And coming
back here to do it in front of all my friends made it extra special,"
said Morris, who now lives in Lewisville, TX but grew up just a few
miles away from the Southern California Equestrian Center.
Tory Smith, of Camarillo, CA finished fourth and received this year's
new memorial award. Smith earned the Mia Ericksson Memorial Award, given
for the first time to the top-placing young rider (age 16 to 21) in the
CCI**. Eriksson was a beloved young rider from California who died after
a fall at the 2006 Galway Downs CCI**. The award will be given annually
in her memory.
Two teams of junior/young riders contested the new USEF Western JR/YR
One Star Team Championship this year, run in the long format CCI*. The
Area VI team (Max McManamy/Beacon Hill, Fiona Graham/Good Barter and
Allegra Aiuto/Harley) ended up with a score of 1,232.0 points to win the
title. The Areas VI/VII/X team (Kelsey Kristosik/Smoke Alarm, Erin
McElhone/Parkiki Star and John Michael Durr/Phoenix Secret) finished
second, scoring 1,296.8.
Tiana Coudray, 20, of Carmel Valley, CA vaulted to first place in the
short-format CCI* with a faultless round when overnight leader Kristi
Nunnink and R-Star lowered two rails. Coudray's mount, Ringwood
Magister, is a 6-year-old, Irish-bred gelding by Master Imp, the sire of
King Street, on whom she finished second in the 2005 Galway Downs CCI**
and then won the Galway Downs CIC*** in March 2007.
"I love this event, and I've been lucky to have had some tremendous
success here," said Coudray, who is also a young rider.
Therese Washtock drove 40 hours from Summerland, British Columbia, and
it paid off with a victory on Chesterland in the long-format CCI*. Her
perfect round moved her into the top spot when overnight leader Max
McManamy lowered one rail and had one time penalty on Beacon Hill.
McManamy won the award as the division's top junior/young rider, and
Beacon Hill won the award as the fittest horse in the long-format CCI*.
Galway Downs was the second long-format CCI* Washtock, 43, has contested
on Chesterland this year. "He's mostly young and mostly green, and he
had an absolutely fabulous cross-country round in the one-star I did at
Rebecca Farm in Montana in July. And it's been hard to replicate ever
since, so I thought I would try it again," said Washtock. "And this was
the best steeplechase ride I ever had."
Washtock bred Chesterland, 8, and she also bred his sire, Another Wild
Night. She explained that she'd hoped to develop her own breeding
program by standing Another Wild Night at stud, but in the year after
Chesterland was born, none of her six broodmares conceived and the
stallion developed fertility problems. So she gelded Another Wild Night.
"I call Chesterland 'the immaculate conception,'" she said with a laugh.
Washtock, a former Olympic rider for Canada, said that Galway Downs is a
tremendously important competition for her and other Canadian riders. "I
have to come to events like Galway Downs to keep my skills sharp enough
to be competitive, and by the influence of Ian Stark's cross-country
design, we get a taste of what we'd find if we were competing in
Europe."
ENDS
For more information on the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event,
visit their website www.galwaydowns.com or call 951-303-0405.\
The vision of the United States Equestrian Federation(r) is to provide
leadership for
equestrian sport in the United States of America by promoting the
pursuit of
excellence from the grassroots to the Olympic Games. This is based on a
foundation of fair, safe competition and the welfare of horses.
Embracing
this vision, the USEF strives to be the best national equestrian
federation in the world.
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