Upper Marlboro, MD – October 16,200 - Randy Sherman, 16, of Pasadena, California, put down two equitation rounds that left 83 other competitors riding his wake and earned the title of Champion in the Monarch International/National Hunter Jumper Council Equitation Championship class. The class was held on the opening weekend of the Capital Challenge Horse Show held September 28 through October 6 at the Prince George’s Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro, MD.

Sherman flew in from California late Friday night and over the course of five rounds he jumped in two days, the young rider scored nothing under a 90. That alone is proof of his consistency aboard his mount, a big-bodied grey gelding named Editorial.

In the Monarch International Championship class Sherman scored an average of a 92.9 in the first round and a 93.7 in the second round from the panel of five judges. His final combined two-round score of 186.6 was nearly 7 points higher than the second-place finisher Courtney McKay of Ocala, Florida.

Sherman admitted the win hadn’t sunk in yet and probably wouldn’t until he got home. He said, “I fly back tonight. It’ll take a while for it to sink in. I’ll be home tomorrow and think, I had a good weekend, wait, I won!” Sherman is a junior at PolyTechnic – a small private high school in California.

The young rider trains with Susie Schroer and also received some training help from Editorial’s owner, Caitlin Venezia. Sherman and Editorial have been teamed up since the Lake Placid (NY) shows in July, and he is thrilled to be riding the grey gelding. Prior to the Capital Challenge the pair most recently won the ASPCA Maclay regionals in Connecticut.

“He’s one of the nicest horses I’ve ever ridden, for sure,” said Sherman.

The day before, on the opening day of the Capital Challenge Horse Show, fellow California rider Tedra Bates of Carmel, topped a field of 37 riders to win the Monarch International/NHJC Equitation Flat Championship. The Championship class is held in a dressage test format. Bates, 17, has a background of three-day eventing and was right at home in the dressage ring.

“Actually, I really love dressage,” said Bates. “It’s fun, especially when you get to the higher levels. It really helps me. It’s also something to do while I’m home with my horses.”

Bates began her riding career at the age of nine, working with local three-day event trainers. She now rides with well-known equitation trainer Karen Healy in Thousand Oaks, California.

“I came to Karen four years ago when my trainer said I had to be a well-rounded rider,” said Bates who chose Healy for her students’ record of success in the equitation ring. She added, “I went to the eq ring and I just got attached.”

This year, for the first time, the Capital Challenge Horse Show hosted the Monarch International/NHJC Adult Amateur Equitation Championship on Sunday, September 29. Valerie Germain, 38, of New York, NY, was surprised and thrilled with her win aboard Say What! She wasn’t even expecting to show this year at the Capital Challenge. Say What! became sick in the beginning of June and resume work until the beginning of August. She said, “I got the message that we qualified for the class and I really didn’t think we’d go.”

“Rexy” managed to get in shape and come back in time to win the championship honors in the Adult Amateur Equitation Championship.

“He’s a very special horse,” said Germain. “Rexy’s” first show back was the week prior to Capital Challenge and the horse and rider combination just got better and better over the two days of equitation competition at the Capital Challenge. On Saturday Germain picked up an eighth, a fifth and a third before topping the prestigious year-end championship class.

Germain shows in the equitation and the hunters on Rexy but surprisingly the Dutch Warmblood was imported as a jumper.

Germain said, “We were looking for a jumper and had been imported the week before.” Germain and her trainer Nancy Fletcher of Fletcher Farm on Long Island, NY, tried him in the hunters and he seemed to find his new job. Rexy will get a week off after showing at the Capital Challenge and the pair then go on to compete in the 3’6” hunters at the Zone II Hunter Finals in October at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, Pa.

In addition to hosting the NHJC championships the Capital Challenge Horse Show was also proud to include the Marshall & Sterling Children’s and Adult Jumper League Championships in their schedule of events.
he odds were against Korinne Epstein as she and her mare Lady Grey prepared to enter the arena for the Marshall & Sterling Children’s Jumper Finals. Out of a field of 33, 14 riders jumped clean in the first round. Eleven had already attempted the second course as Epstein trotted into the ring. But only two stopped the clock without dropping a rail and neither had done the inside turn that was clearly an option to the sixth fence. Epstein never questioned what her route would be. The horse and rider kept the rails in the cups, executed the inside turn, and sliced a full second off class leader, Daniel Bluman’s time.

Only two riders followed Epstein hoping to bounce her out of the lead. But neither could keep rails from hitting the dirt. Epstein and Lady Grey were the winners of the $10,000 Marshall & Sterling Children’s Jumper Final.

“I ride the course as fast as I can, and I’m usually criticized for going too fast,” said Epstein who’s speed paid off in the Show Place Arena. “I wanted to win and I knew the only way to win was to do the inside turn.”

The sixteen-year-old rider wasn’t able to watch her competition to know what she was up against, but when she heard there were only one or two clean she was optimistic. The only question left in her mind was if “Chloe” would make the rollback sharp enough.

“My horse is hard to turn left so over 13C with that hard left turn that was the one thing I was worried about. I turned and spurred my hardest and she went. She tries her hardest for me over every jump so she tried her hardest and it paid off.”

Epstein imported Chloe from Holland two and a half years ago. Although she had originally planned on showing the mare in the hunters and equitation, after a year she decided that Chloe would be happier in the jumpers.

The Livingston, NJ, resident trains with Jen Markee in Oldwick, NJ, and keeps Chloe on the Oldwick farm. The Marshall & Sterling class was Epstein’s grand finale for this year, but she is looking forward to moving up to the junior jumpers this winter at West Palm Beach.

The second class held on Tuesday evening was the $10,000 Marshall & Sterling Adult Jumper Finals. Chris Richards of Arlington, Tenn., rode Foxtrot Echo to the top honors. The pair bested a field of 29 entries with a double-clear go in 31.121 seconds. Only five riders jumped both courses without fault but Richards’ time held up until the end.

“I knew there would be several clean,” she said. “There were some tremendous horses here. I knew I had ridden as well as I could on the best horse that’s here. I just hoped for the best.”

This was Richards’ third year qualifying for the year-end finals and her best finish to date. Foxtrot Echo is a nine-year-old Dutch mare who also qualified for the Washington International as well as the North American League Adult Finals held at the Pennsylvania National in Harrisburg, Pa.

Richards is a corporate attorney who trains with her sister, Diane Masters, and she keeps her horses in her backyard. She wasn’t looking forward to rising at 4am to drive eight hundred miles home to go to work on Thursday. But Richards would agree that it was worth the trip.

In the professional hunter divisions Scott Stewart and Chopard dominated. Stewart and the green conformation hunter owned by Mimi Tashjian took home the grand hunter championship. In the regular conformation hunter division Hollywood picked up another championship. The win wasn’t anything new for owner Paula Polk Lillard of Lake Forest, Il. The big grey Thoroughbred-Trakehner cross has been champion in the regular conformation division at every horse show since she’s owned him except for one – and there he was reserve.

But just because it is a frequent event to stand in front of the camera for presentation pictures doesn’t mean it isn’t special to Lillard.

“It’s a real thrill to send a horse like that into the ring,” said Lillard, who quickly gives credit to Hollywood’s rider and trainer Tim Goguen. She said, “Tim has really brought that jump along. Everything matches now – the beautiful movement and the gorgeous looks and the jump.”

Lillard originally purchased Hollywood for her granddaughter who is now in college. She never intended to show Hollywood herself. But this summer at Lake Placid Lillard did the adult amateur division with him and enjoyed it tremendously.

She said, “After a whole lifetime of horses I just can’t imagine that this wonderful animal has come into my life. And he’s everything – he’s beautiful, he’s kind, I can ride him.

“Tim let me show him at Lake Placid this year and it was a thrill,” said Lillard. “He was so good to me.” Coming off the big four-foot division Lillard was worried Hollywood might not even see the three-foot jumps in her adult amateur classes but he “just settled down and did his thing.

With a smile Lillard added, “I’m looking forward to doing him in more. He’s gentle and kind enough, and he’s ready now.”

In the Added Future Hunter World Championship a total purse of $27,350 was divided into ten placings. Leading the group of hunters in the victory gallop was Gary Duffy’s Glory Days. Duffy took home a purse of $8,205.00 thanks to rider Rob Bielefeld who piloted the eight-year-old mare to victory.

Duffy, of Ithica, NY, purchased Glory Days this past summer. Despite the fact that the mare was “practicing” to be a jumper, Duffy’s 12-year-old daughter Kelsey picked up a champion on her in the low hunter division their first time out. Since then, Bielefeld has been showing the mare in the pre-green and Kelsey has been doing her in the children’s hunter division.

Duffy is thrilled with the win at Capital Challenge and loves the opportunity the Future Hunter division and championship class gives to the younger horses on the circuit.

“It really encourages people to go out and buy pre-green horses,” said Duffy.

Another owner who was excited about their win at Capital Challenge was Jennifer House of Park City, Utah. House watched with white knuckles as Patrick Spanton rode her eight-year-old Oldenburg, Grand Marnier, in the Hollywood Challenge Cup/Senior World Champion Hunter Under Saddle and beat out some of the best movers in the country to take the blue.

“It’s pretty damn cool,” said Spanton after winning the class. House was equally as excited, as was her trainer Mary Gatti. Grand Marnier, also known as Mario, was found in West Palm Beach three years ago. He had just been shipped in from Europe as a “dressage reject” said House. Clearly he wasn’t a reject in House’s eyes and with a little time spent with Gatti at her farm in Azusa, Cal., Mario made the transition to show hunter.

The World Champion Hunter Under Saddle is one of many special classes held at the Capital Challenge. Two other special classes are the Ariat Adult Medal Finals and the Stateline Tack Children’s Medal Finals. Shelby Wakeman, 11, of Westlake Village, Ca., scored an 88 and an 88.6 riding Carlo Cartani, and finished with a seven-point margin of victory to win the Stateline Tack Children’s Medal Finals.

The smooth rides Wakeman executed over the Michael Rheinheimer-designed course left the five-judge panel no choice but to pin her on top. The first course, a combination of roll-backs, broken lines and a single combination narrowed the field of 30 competitors. The top ten riders were asked to come back in reverse order to ride over a shortened course. The test - a trot jump at fence four – proved to be a good divider of abilities. Wakeman admitted she has spent some time practicing her trot jump and it clearly paid off. Wakeman’s second trip was not only accurate, but showcased her equitation skills aboard Carlo Cartani.

The young rider trains with Jim Hagman and Dan Silverstone of Elvenstar Farm in Moorpark, Ca., She has been with Elvenstar since she was six. Hagman is thrilled to see his rider reach this milestone in her riding career. Hagman also recently trained another of his students, Katie Gardner, to the win at the Region 7 ASPCA Maclay regional finals. He feels that seeing these riders work their way up the ladder is extremely rewarding.

“I really love raising them,” said Hagman. “They came out of our riding school so this is very emotional for me.”

In the Ariat Adult National Medal Finals Oliva Martin of Farmington, Ct., topped a field of 30 competitors to win the prestigious class. Martin rode Remington; a mount loaned to her by Missy Clark of North Run, and posted scores of 88.2 and 87 in the two-round class.

Earlier that same day, adult amateur rider Dina Mazzola of Middletown, Ct., rode a borrowed horse named Leonardo and topped the World Champion Hunter Rider Adult Amateur Finals. This was only Mazzola’s second horse show with the chestnut gelding. The pair qualified for the finals class by earning the adult amateur 18-35 championship the previous day.

Originally Mazzola was hoping to qualify for the Ariat Medal finals but was unable to do so because she couldn’t borrow horses consistently enough. The 34-year-old rider is an adult working student at Heritage Acres in Katonah, NY, and trains with Patricia Griffith. She started with Heritage a year and a half ago after moving into the area from Canada.

Mazzola was very thankful to have the ride on Leonardo, and took the time out to thank not only her trainer, but also thanked owner Katie Pollack who gave her the ride and Jennifer Jones who loaned her a shadbelly to wear in the special class.

In the Marshall & Sterling hunter finals Melissa Feller of Mendham, NJ, topped the Children’s Hunter Championship riding Imported.

“There is no one that deserves this win more,” said Feller’s trainer Robert Beck.

Her first round score of 84.2 was good enough to come back in the second-place position. Second was a comfortable place to be for Feller - the pressure was off and as Beck said “everything else was icing on the cake.” Feller returned and posted an 85.8. Her two-round total of 170 put her in the lead by 1.45 points.

Feller, 18, is in her last year as a junior rider. She is a freshman at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, NJ, but took the week off to groom for Beck at the Capital Challenge. Feller has been a working student for Beck for four years. The Marshall & Sterling class at the Capital Challenge was one of her last classes this year and she appears to be going out with a bang. Not only did Feller win the Marshall & Sterling finals, she also collected the World Champion Hunter Rider High-Point Regional Award for Children’s hunters and leads Zone II in points. Gerry will have off until the Zone II Finals held at the Pennsylvania National in Harrisburg, Pa.

In the amateur-owner division, Storyteller and owner Robin Swinderman dominated. The younger amateur took home the champion and grand amateur championship ribbons. Swinderman is from South Salem, NY, and has owned the eight-year-old stallion for two and a half years. “Markus” is a recently approved Trakehner stallion who was originally a breeding stallion in Canada. His oldest foals are four years old and Swinderman owns five of his babies.

Markus was purchased from an eventer with the intentions of being her show horse. He worked out perfectly and the bonus is the fact that he is also a breeding stallion.

“The first time I saw him I just loved him,” said Swinderman. Since that time Markus has become a very consistent contender in the amateur classes. This year alone the pair was circuit champion in Florida, champion in Vermont and Fairfield, and grand champion at the Hampton Classic to name just a few. Swinderman was thrilled with her win at Capital Challenge.

Reserve champion in the younger amateurs went to Kara Hofstetter on Well Chosen. Hofstetter was also named the World Champion Hunter Rider Amateur Champion. It was a close battle for the title that came down to who won ribbons at The Capital Challenge.

Coming into the show wearing the “leading rider” armband was Caroline Moran. But after a mediocre performance in the division the armband was passed to Hofstetter. “The armband is the kiss of death,” joked Moran.

Swinderman moved into second with her high point totals in the division and had a slight chance of moving into the lead if her performance in the World Champion Hunter Rider Amateur Owner Challenge was stellar. But it was Moran who, after loosing the armband, topped the challenge class riding Saint Nick and pulled herself into the reserve champion position for the WCHR year-end awards.

Moran had a busy week riding at the show and getting married (to rider Eric Hasbrouck) the prior weekend. One of the main reasons she chose to show this week was to be in the ring Wednesday night for the Heard a Rumor award. The American Hunter Jumper Foundation presentation was presented to Moran’s horse, Prince Charming. The 16-year-old Dutch Warmblood by Zion is being retired and will live a life of leisure with stablemate, Ultimate.

In the pony hunter division Samantha Schaefer, 8, collected a pile of ribbons – both solid and tricolor. For the second consecutive year she walked out of the Show Place Arena with the grand pony hunter championship ribbon hanging from her pony’s bridle.

This year the young rider accomplished the feat riding Northwinds Onyx. The pony, “Sally,” is only five years old but has the attitude of an old campaigner. Last year Schaefer collected the grand championship riding Halcyon Hawthorn – her favorite of all her ponies. This year, in addition to the medium and grand championship finish aboard Sally, Schaefer also took home the small pony championship on Peek A Boo and the medium reserve ribbon with Prince Valiant. Rounding out her winnings Schaefer went on to collect the Best Child Rider on a pony award and then topped the World Champion Hunter Rider Pony Challenge on Halcyon Hawthorn.

Schaefer, a resident of Westminster, MD, trains with Kim Stewart and is a fourth grader at Winfield Elementary.

Champion in the large pony hunter division went to Devon Yacka, 15, of West Chester, Pa., who rode Remember The Laughter to the honors. Yacka started leasing the seasoned pony from Scott Stewart last year. According to her trainer Louise Serio, Yacka has learned a lot from the veteran pony hunter.

In the junior jumper division Nancy Amling of Fallston, Md., collected the tricolor aboard Castania. Amling. She described the big mare as very forgiving.

“She gives with her whole heart,” she said.

The 11-year-old grey Holsteiner has been with Amling for the past two and a half years. Originally from Europe, “Cassie” was once on the junior Olympic team before she was imported and ended up with Amling.

The pair train with Tommy Serio and are competing in the high junior jumpers. For Amling her success at Capital Challenge was the high point of a rough year. At Devon this past May the horse and rider combination fell at a jump and Amling was taken away with a fractured pelvis.

After weeks of healing, Amling and Cassie quickly got back on track and haven’t felt any repercussions of the accident.

Two of the most exciting classes at the horse show were held on Friday and Saturday evenings. The first was the World Champion Hunter Rider Professional Finals, sponsored by Carol & Gordon Stillwell, Stillwell Hansen, Inc., and Jack Schock and First Savings Mortgage Corporation, and presented by the American Hunter Jumper Foundation (AHJF).

In this class held only once a year the top four professional riders (calculated by year-end points) pilot four horses they have never ridden before over a 3’6” hunter course. Each rider is scored by a panel of five judges using the open numerical scoring system.

The four riders who qualified for the final competition were Sandy Ferrell of Churchville, MD; Scott Stewart of Flemington, NJ; Emily Williams of Wellington, FL and Pletcher of Magnolia, TX. For Pletcher it was his third try and when the final scores were tallied Pletcher won with the highest total of 358.70. Stewart was second with a 351. Williams was third with 337.40 and Ferrell was fourth with a 317.

“It was really fun this time,” said Pletcher. “I’ve wanted to win this class ever since they started it. It’s a very special class for me to win.”

The climax of the horse show was during Saturday’s final evening session where the $30,000 Ariat Congressional Cup Grand Prix, presented by Stillwell-Hansen, Inc., was won by Leslie Howard. The United States Equestrian Team veteran made certain that catching her clear round would be next to impossible as she piloted Clover Leaf in true Howard style through two inside options and over the seven-fence jump off in a blistering 33.664 seconds.

“I knew for Clover that it was a jump off built for him,” said Howard. “You can turn back to anything with him. The sharper the turn usually the better he is.

“Those three jumps were made to order for him. He’s very powerful, very catty,” she added. “If you have a straight approach to a jump he’s very hard because he just starts running.”

Out of a field of 36 horses that attempted the first round of the course designed by Anthony Di Ambrosio, fifteen were able to keep the rails in the cups and return for the jumpoff. Howard and Clover Leaf were fourth to come back and the pair set a pace no one was close to catching – except for McLain Ward. Ward returned with three in the jump off and attempted the quick inside turns that made Howard’s ride so fast. Unfortunately for Ward, he couldn’t keep the back rail up on a big oxer boasting a five-foot spread. Each time he attempted the fence the back rail hit the dirt.

Howard also waited through rides by such notable riders as Alison Firestone, Margie Engle, Molly Ashe, Joe Fargis, Kimberly Frey and Jimmy Torano. Howard knew Engle wouldn’t attempt the inside turns because she was on a green horse. Her only worry was Ward. She said, “I knew McLain could catch my time on the last one he did but I sort of felt that that was a young horse, a green horse. It took an older horse to do what Clover did.”

Clover is a 15-year-old Irish-bred gelding she has been teamed up with for four years. Howard also qualified Paloma for the jump off but the young mare misread Howard’s directions in front of the third fence and ran through it, sending the rails on the 4’9” oxer flying. The Belgian-bred is ten years old but was imported late after having three foals in Europe.

Howard is looking forward to pushing to the next step with Paloma. She said, “I think she has world class scope. I think she’s one for the future.”

The Capital Challenge Horse Show concluded its ninth year on Sunday, October 7. For any additional information on the horse show including results and photos please visit our website at www.capitalchallengehorseshow.com