Courtney King Claims Six Victories and a High Score Award at Centerline Events at Westbrook Hunt Club in Connecticut
Equestrian News Release
WELLINGTON, FL – May 23, 2006 – With four horses entered in dressage classes ranging from the FEI Young Horse Test for 5-Year-Olds to the Grand Prix, Courtney King of Bedford, New York, claimed six victories at Centerline Events at Westbrook Hunt Club, held May 20-21 at Westbrook Hunt Club in Westbrook, Connecticut. King’s winning mounts at the two-day show included Idocus, Harmony’s Wyoming, Roby WII, and Tsunami. Aboard Tsunami, King earned the High Score Award for Saturday (77.222%), which was the highest score earned at the two-day show. Despite rainy weather conditions all weekend, for King it was a near-perfect outing. “The show was fantastic!” King said.
The judges officiating at Westbrook were Kathleen Barbosa (S) of New Jersey; Margaret Freeman (S) of New York; and Heidi Berry (R) of Virginia.
King claimed two Grand Prix victories at Westbrook with Idocus, earning first place both on Saturday and Sunday in the show’s two FEI Test of Choice classes. Idocus is a 16-year-old Dutch breeding stallion by Equafor owned by Christine McCarthy. “Idocus was as much of a star as he was last week,” King related, referring to her win with him in the Grand Prix at the Windy Hollow Hunt Spring Dressage last weekend (May 14). On Saturday, the pair earned the blue ribbon with a score of 70.00% and they won again on Sunday with 71.875%. “The only thing I wasn't happy with were the pirouettes, which have been a struggle since he started breeding,” King admitted, and then added happily, “but it just feels great to have the horse in the ring that I have at home and in the warm up! Now it's really fun to show Grand Prix! And he finally seems to be having fun too!”
King also claimed two victories with Harmony's Wyoming in the FEI Young Horse Test of Choice, riding the FEI Test for 5-Year-Olds on Saturday and Sunday. Wyoming is a five-year-old Hanoverian gelding by Weltmeir out of a Donnerhall mare that King owns with Harmony Sport Horses. The pair earned a score of 76.00% (7.6) on Saturday, and on Sunday the duo took the blue ribbon with an even higher score – 82.60% (8.26). “The judges said his mediums were the highlights of his test,” King noted. “They particularly loved his canter. He still needs to get better at the simple changes, but I am extremely impressed with how good his mind is at the shows.” King is aiming Wyoming for the 2006 Five-Year-Old Championships.
King also notched a win with Roby WII, an eight-year-old, 18.1-hand dark brown Oldenburg gelding by Rubenstein, owned by Richard Malloch. Though the pair placed second in USEF Third Level Test 2 on Saturday with a score of 65.00%, they came back on Sunday to place first in USEF Third Level Test 3, earning a score of 71.333%. King noted that on Saturday, the footing in the warm-up was extremely deep because of the continual rain. “Roby had a particularly hard time dealing with that,” King explained. “He had two major explosions during the test.” But with several of the movements earning 8s from the judge, the pair finished respectably. “Sunday was much better!” King related. “Despite his little explosions, Roby is a blast to show because he is very impressive and he knows it. He really loves to show off!”
King added another victory to her tally at Westbrook with Tsunami, noting that he was “the surprise superstar” for her at the show. Tsunami is a six-year-old Arabian/Dutch warmblood gelding by Idocus. Tsunami won USEF First Level Test 4 on Saturday, earning 77.222%, which proved to be the high score of the day and King was awarded the High Score prize. The score was also the highest percentage earned at Westbrook over the weekend. “He was absolutely perfect!” King said. Tsunami came back on Sunday to contest USEF First Level Test 4 again and placed second with an impressive score of 72.778%. “Tsunami is an extremely talented little guy, but he is also an extreme challenge to train!” King noted. When King debuted the youngster, they were eliminated at his first two shows – he jumped out of the ring during their first test, and he jumped into the ring before their test at the second show. But this weekend marked a turning point for Tsunami. “He absolutely surprised me by performing as well at the show as he does at home,” said a pleased King after Saturday’s victory. “He received three 9s on that test – one of them for his trot lengthening, which is out of this world!”
Centerline Events at Westbrook Hunt Club, the Official Region 8 Qualifier for the North American Young Rider (NAYR) Championships, at Westbrook Hunt Club in Westbrook, Connecticut, May 20-21, hosted 120 horses competing in 289 rides. For full results, visit http://www.centerlineevents.com/index.htm
King, 28, is based at Gleneden Dressage in Bedford, New York. In 2000, King was named to the USET Olympic Long List and in 2004 she was named to the USEF High Performance Developing Riders List. King is a United States Dressage Federation (USDF) Bronze, Silver, and Gold Medalist and a USDF Certified Instructor through Fourth Level. http://www.courtneykingdressage.com
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