Macken Makes His Move at the Oak Blenheim Spring Classic
Equestrian News Release
San Juan Capistrano, CA – April 10, 2006 – The spectators surrounding the Oaks Blenheim EquiSport Grand Prix ring honored a legend when all was said and done. Eddie Macken confidently brought his new horse, Tedechine Sept, to the arena and left with the $35,000 Coast Magazine Spring Grand Prix blue ribbon and a well-deserved ovation.
Best known for his decorated European riding career in the 1970s, and participation with the Irish Olympic team from 1992 through 2004, Macken, of Langley, British Columbia, began riding Tedechine Sept in January this year. The pair bonded during the six-week-long Indio Desert Circuit while finishing with a handful of ribbons, but ultimately missing the blue.
Macken describes the 10-year-old Belgian Bred Mare as very strong and full of potential as this year’s campaign continues to gain momentum. “She has a lot of possibilities and I really look forward to seeing how she does in Spruce Meadows and then in Europe,” Macken said. “She’s good enough to go far.”
And she proved it on a course that reduced a class of 40 top-notch contestants to 7. Even though Richard Spooner—who was one of three riders awarded a position on the West Coast League’s World Cup Finals team—and Live Fire made the maiden trip seem effortless, most of the riders couldn’t manage to solve its puzzles. “For the field of horses, the course was great; it was strong enough and technical enough, and yet nobody got into any potential disasters,” Macken said.
Both Spooner and John Pearce returned to the jump-off with two mounts to join Tedechine Sept and Macken, Mr. Flannigan and Sharn Wordly, and Proficiat and Guillermo Obligato.
Like the first round, Spooner embarked on the opening trip for the jump-off aboard Live Fire. With the exception of one wide turn after the second fence, Spooner set a seemingly inaccessible precedent with no rails down in 41.33 seconds. Archie Bunker and Pearce left the ring with 4 faults before Spooner returned with Robinson to do the same. Obligado and Proficiat managed to leave all fences in tact, but they finished just off-pace in 41.83 seconds.
After Mr. Flanigan knocked down two rails with Wordly in the irons, Pearce reentered for another try, this time aboard Urioso. But after adding four faults early in his trip, Pearce couldn’t manage to repeat last weeks $50,000 Orange County Register Grand Prix win. With Live Fire and Spooner still holding the top position, Macken entered for the final ride.
“I watched Richard go and knew he would be quick. This was the first time I’d ever got [Tedechine Sept] into this kind of situation,” Macken said of the tense jump-off. “I didn’t know how fast or precise she was going to be, but I knew she was going to be competitive.”
With a steady pace to start, Macken and Tedechine Sept seemed as if their pace wouldn’t catch Spooner and Live Fire. But fence after fence, their precision remained perfect and they began to buy time. After a clean final jump and gallop through the finish markers, time stopped at 39.78 seconds. Eddie Macken, once again draped with blue, lead the victory gallop to the ovation of admirers young and old.
After dismounting at the in gate, Macken, and other riders, signed autographs for a group of young admiring fans who also attended the festivities of Kid’s Day. Throughout the day, hundreds of young riders and equestrian lovers were treated to pony rides, a bounce house, miniature golf, train rides, games, food, snow cones and an opportunity to walk the Grand Prix course with the riders.
Results – Oaks Blenheim Spring Classic II: $35,000 Coast Magazine Grand Prix, 4.2.06
1 – Tedechine Sept- Eddie Macken- Eddie Macken – 0/0-39.78
2 – Live Fire- C&S Partnership- Richard Spooner – 0/0-41.33
3 – Proficiat- Woodgrove Farm, Royal Diamond Sport Horses- Guillermo Obligado – 0/0-41.83
4 – Archie Bunker- Forset View Farms- John Pearce – 0/4-38.53
5 – Robinson- Half Moon Bay Investment Group- Richard Spooner – 0/4-39.66
6 – Urioso- Forset View Farms- John Pearce – 0/4-41.09
7 – Mr. Flanigan- Sharn Wordly Equestrian, LLC- Sharn Wordly – 0/8-42.41
8 – Quidam De Lugano- Devon Gibson- Devon Gibson – 1-95.78
9 – El Campeon’s Jipsian- El Campeon Farms- Will Simpson – 2-96.25
10 – LB Hotess De Rosieres- Cathleen Calvert/Fairbanks Valley Farm- Cathleen Calvert – 3-97.01
11 – AW Butterfly Hula- Leslie Steele- Leslie Steele – 4-90.28
12 – Shiraz- Mary P. Dunahay, Inc- Paul Rohrbach – 4-90.42
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Look for the debut of this exciting new website in late August. PhelpsSports.com is a new and highly innovative equestrian sports website offering equestrians and fans of equestrian sports from around the world a single web address for the latest breaking news of the Hunter, Jumper, Dressage, Eventing and other High Performance disciplines. The website will include up to the minute audio reports, live video interviews and features from around the globe, photography, and the creative writing and reporting of some of the finest equestrian journalists in the world.
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