Kacey McCann Has Successful Week in Saratoga, SBS Farms Picks Up Top Ribbons at Devon Horse Show

Saratoga Springs, NY- June 20- SBS Farms, led by trainers Susie Schoellkopf and Jennifer Alfano, have had a string of successes at top shows such as the Saratoga Classic Horse Show in Saratoga Springs, NY, and the prestigious Devon Horse Show in Devon, PA.

The first week of competition in the Saratoga Classic Horse Show was held June 15-19. The Saratoga Classic shows were first run in 1927, and were started again in 1998. They are a highlight of the early summer season in Saratoga Springs. This top-level historic competition attracts many of the country’s best horses and riders, and benefits an endowed Skidmore College scholarship fund.

The big winner this past week was 15 year old Kacey McCann of Palmyra, PA. She piloted By the Way, owned by SBS Farms, to the championship ribbon in the competitive Small Junior Hunter division. This is only the third show that the pair have been together, but the early success is not a surprise. “He’s very sweet and has got a very good heart,” McCann explained. “He’s a little green though. He doesn’t know a lot yet, but he always tries to do the right thing.”

On Mick O Angelo, owned by the Buffalo Therapeutic Riding Center, she also won a Junior Jumper class. McCann also placed second in the ASPCA Maclay class on her reliable equitation mount, My Way. The top placing gave her enough points to qualify for the year-end Finals. “I’m very excited about showing in the Maclay Finals for the first time,” McCann revealed. “I’m a little nervous, but in a good way.”

McCann also pointed out that she enjoys the equitation classes, because they are a good mix between the hunter and jumper classes that she also competes in. “You have to ride everything smooth like a hunter round and look pretty, but you also have to be very accurate and effective, because the courses are more like a jumper round,” she stated.

In addition to McCann’s success, SBS Farms had another young rider that excelled, this time in the 11 & Under division. Ten year old Charlotte Jacobs, of East Aurora, NY, placed second and fourth in the hotly contested classes.

The Devon Horse Show is one of the most prestigious horse shows in the country, and SBS Farms was well represented this year. The show ran from May 26 to June 4. In the first week of junior competition, Kacey McCann finished seventh in the ASPCA Maclay class against some of the top junior riders in the nation.

Rider Jennifer Alfano also had top ribbons during professional week. On the venerable G.G. Valentine, she was second in the Handy Hunter class and third in the stake class in the Regular Conformation division. In the Regular Working Hunter division, she guided Once and Again to fifth and eighth place ribbons. On Gandolph, Alfano picked up another third place ribbon in the Second Year Green stake class.

SBS Farms will compete at the Saratoga Classic Horse Show for a second week and then will move on to the Merrill Lynch Hunter Jumper Classic in Cleveland this July.

For more information on SBS Farms and the Buffalo Therapeutic Riding Center, please visit their website at www.ryegate.com/BTRC/bec.htm.

Photo Credit: Kacey McCann and Mick O Angelo, winners in the Junior Jumper division at the Saratoga Horse Show. Photo by Flashpoint Photography.