Temecula, Calif. – June 3, 2018 – Though it was the final day of Nilforushan Equisport Events’ Temecula Valley National Horse Show, plenty of prize money was still available for the taking with hunter and jumper classics abundant across the showgrounds. Sunday concluded on a high note for Samantha Waslewski aboard her own Castello, the winning pair in the $5,000 Kask High Junior/Amateur-Owner 1.45m Jumper Classic, as well as Amanda Gomez and Calesco as the victors in the $3,000 San Luis Rey Equine Hospital Medium Junior/Amateur-Owner 1.35m Jumper Classic. In the hunter ranks, Amy Brubaker took both the champion and reserve championship titles with Frascati and Convaro in the $2,500 Adult Amateur 3’ Hunter Classic, while Caroline Goodman won the $500 Children’s 3’ Hunter Classic aboard Sgt. Pepper.
With fences set at the lofty 1.45m height, entrants in the $5,000 Kask High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic were tested over course designer Olaf Petersen, Jr.’s (GER) 14-effort track, and of the initial field of competitors, only three pairs would navigate clean first trips to qualify for the short course. As the first to return, Waslewski with the ride on Paige Waslewski’s Castello set the pace for the two to follow, taking advantage of her 18.1-hand horse’s stride and tripping the timers in a quick time of 43.552 seconds, leaving all the fences intact.
Next to ride, owner-rider Jenny Calandra and Shantonagh subsequently laid down a valiant effort to catch the early leaders riding a penalty-free trip, but broke the beam in a time of 49.590 seconds to settle for second position with one horse-and-rider combination left to go. Needing a clean and speedy trip to capture the win, Reichow and Cubiki managed to meet one of those criteria in the jump-off by leaving all the rails in the cups, but tripped the timers in 44.124 seconds, just half of a second too delayed to finish in second place behind Waslewski and ahead of Calandra.
Riding the same course as their 1.45m counterparts, the large pack of exhibitors in the $3,000 San Luis Rey Equine Hospital Medium Junior/Amateur-Owner 1.35m Jumper Classic each took their turns around the first course in an attempt to remain eligible for a top placing, with three duos ultimately proving able to do so, mirroring the earlier Junior/Amateur-Owner class. Though the oxer-vertical-vertical triple combination midway through the initial course was the undoing of numerous pairs, Gomez and Pam Gomez’s Calesco, owner-rider Alexandra Murray aboard RMF Fara van de Maltahoeve and Natalie Dean and her own Mary Poppins mastered the track to move forward into the second phase of riding.
First to ride, Gomez and Calesco turned in a clear round in 44.730 seconds to set the early standard, followed by Dean and Mary Poppins in a slower 47.051 seconds and with a single rail down to accumulate 4 faults. After getting a new shoe tacked on between rides, RMF Fara van de Maltahoeve entered the Audi Grand Prix Arena with Alexandra Murray in the irons as the final challengers, but the final pair was unable to overtake Gomez and Calesco with one clipped rail and a time of 44.944 seconds to capture the reserve position.
Down the path in the grass Grand Hunter Arena, Amy Brubaker of Salt Lake City, Utah, won the $2,500 Adult Amateur 3’ Hunter Classic sponsored by the Theodosakis Family for the second consecutive week with Frascati. She rode her 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding to a score of 83 in the first round and then improved to an impressive 90 in the classic round to clinch the title. The weekend continued to get better for Brubaker when her second mount, Convaro, a 13-year-old Oldenburg gelding owned by Michelle Kerivan, claimed the classic reserve championship with scores of 84 and 85.
In addition to winning the $2,500 Adult Amateur 3’ Hunter Classic, Brubaker and Frascati claimed the Adult Amateur 3’ Hunter division championship by winning all but one class in the division. Earning the reserve championship of the division was Catherine Westling on her 12-year-old Oldenburg mare Cartanja.
In the $500 Children’s 3’ Hunter Classic, Caroline Goodman claimed the tricolor aboard Sgt. Pepper, her 17-year-old Westphalian gelding that she has owned for four years, with scores of 77 and 82. With two scores of 78, the classic reserve championship was received by Kate Shaffer and CCF Solomon Sea, her 6-year-old Holsteiner/Thoroughbred gelding.
Taking the division championship in the Children’s 3’0 Hunters after winning two of the over fences and the under saddle was Allie DeSimone aboard her 7-year-old Oldenburg gelding, Lord Livingston, for the second straight week. Receiving the division’s reserve championship ribbon was Sierra Geisler and How Sweet It Is, her 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding.
In the Amateur-Owner 3’3”-3’6” 18-35 Hunter division, presented by Enchantment Farms, Jamee Crawford and Legado Farm’s My December, a 14-year-old Westphalian stallion, clinched the championship title, while Sarah Hellman rode her 10-year-old Holsteiner gelding Not To Worry to the reserve championship.
Sara Markham and her 10-year-old Oldenburg gelding Primo topped the Amateur-Owner 3’3″ 36 & Over Hunters division, presented by Enchantment Farms, to win the tricolor ribbon, and Kim Cheikha rode Noteworthy Horse’s Cajeton, a 10-year-old Holsteiner gelding to the reserve championship.
FROM THE WINNER’S CIRCLE
Samantha Waslewski – $5,000 Kask High Junior/Amateur-Owner 1.45m Jumper Classic champion
On Castello:
“His barn name is Marcus and he is a giant at 18.1 hands. He is a very gentle giant, though. I have had him for three years and he is now 10 years old. He is everyone’s dream horse.”
On her partnership with Castello:
“We bought him three years ago and the plan was for my trainer to compete him in the 1.40m classes and grand prix. My other horse got hurt around that same time, so I started riding him because I didn’t have a horse to ride. We started jumping in the 1.15m, then a week of the 1.30m and he has basically brought me up from the 1.25m’s to doing the grand prix.”
On showing at the Temecula Valley National Horse Show:
“This is my first week and I really liked it a lot. I’m bummed we are only here for the beginning of the summer but I am sure that we will be back next year!”
On the course:
“I have really liked the courses all week and the jump-off today was really fun. I could tell when I was walking it that it would be exciting, so I was really trying to go clear just to do the jump-off! My goal was just to go clean and be fast because I have been working at being fast and efficient.”
Amanda Gomez – $3,000 San Luis Rey Equine Hospital Medium Junior/Amateur-Owner 1.35m Jumper Classic champion
On Calesco:
“We got him probably two months ago from Will Simpson and I did the 1.20m at HITS Coachella and we won a class there, which was a great start. It’s really just been a process of figuring him out.”
On taking care of her own horses:
“When I ride at home, I don’t jump much, it is mostly just hacking. I am trying to figure out where his head is and try to get us comfortable together. I hang out a lot with my horses at home. I like to be in their stalls with them and take them on walks. I don’t have any grooms, I do it all on my own and with my friends and my mom. I know a lot about my horses and what they do, I try to be really hands-on.”
On competing in the 1.35m Classic:
“I was a little nervous because I have never jumped that high. The jumps this week were built in a really solid way, much more than last week, and I let him see the combination where people were having some trouble, as well as a few of the other fences, and picked up my gallop and gave him some room and he was great.”
On competing at the Temecula Valley National Horse Show:
“I love this show! I have been coming to Galway Downs since I was a little kid for local shows and I was really excited to hear that Ali [Nilforushan] was going do a show here. Ali is like family to me and we love this show and can’t wait to come back!”
Caroline Goodman – $500 Children’s 3’ Hunter Classic champion
On her rounds:
“They felt good! I was proud of my distances and proud of my horse.”
On Sgt. Pepper:
“I’ve had him about four years. He’s such a good boy, so sweet and he just cares so much. I have a lot of fun riding him. He was very calm in the grass ring – I think he really liked the trees and grass. He tried to eat it a couple times! He was really relaxed today. We are definitely going to show more and work a lot this summer. I’m excited for the rest of the time I have with him. He’s 17 years old.”
On the Temecula Valley National Horse Show:
“I love this show! I love all the trees and how it looks. It’s so pretty here, I just love it.”
Amy Brubaker – $2,500 Adult Amateur 3’ Hunter champion
On her rounds:
“I feel amazing. It has been an amazing day and an amazing two weeks. Today was a little bit of a challenge because my bay horse is a little temperamental and his first round was lovely but when we came out, the flies started bothering him. So he shook his head and we had trouble the second round. The second round of the classic I decided that he had been so good for all two weeks that we would take it jump by jump and if the flies were bothering him, we would stop, otherwise, we would keep going. He was good and he kept jumping around and was phenomenal.”
On Frascati:
“I have had him for a year and a half. He is an interesting horse for me – he was imported from Europe by Rebecca Bruce and he flipped himself over on the flight and fractured his withers. In quarantine, they weren’t sure if he was going to make it but the Bruce’s did everything they could to save him and he had a few years off to recoup. We are just bringing him back and he has done two weeks in a row now so I think he is ready to go. I think that the judges love him because when he goes in the ring he is rhythmic and comfortable – in an adult amateur division that’s how it should be: pleasant, easy and fun.”
On Convaro:
“In the barn, these two compete a little bit. Frascati is the super sexy one, and Convaro is the one you can really count on. I have the best of both worlds. Michelle Kerivan owned him as a sale horse and I showed him and had some success so Michelle finally just told me to keep him. I will be paying him off for a long time but he is so worth it.”
On the Temecula Valley National Horse Show:
“Any Ali [Nilforushan] show is great -— you just know that there will be top judges, interesting classes and great footing. As an exhibitor, he knows just how to put on an event and make everyone happy. Everyone is so friendly and you really feel like you are welcomed. I can’t stress enough how wonderful that feeling is.”
RESULTS
$5,000 Kask High Junior/Amateur-Owner 1.45m Jumper Classic
Place / Rider / Horse / Owner / R1 Faults / R2 Faults / Time
1. Samantha Waslewski / Castello / Samantha Waslewski / 0 / 0 / 43.552
2. Emma Reichow / Cubiki / Emma Reichow / 0 / 0 / 44.124
3. Jenny Calandra / Shantonagh / Jenny Calandra / 0 / 0 / 49.590
4. Natalie Dean / Don’s Diamant / Natalie Dean / 4 / 79.468
5. Katherine Brewer / Kangano / Katherine Brewer / 5 / 82.930
6. Lauren Kay / Bambali / Lauren Kay / 7 / 84.530
$3,000 San Luis Rey Equine Hospital Medium Junior/Amateur-Owner 1.35m Jumper Classic
Place / Rider / Horse / Owner / R1 Faults / R2 Faults / Time
1. Amanda Gomez / Calesco / Pam Gomez / 0 / 0 / 44.730
2. Alexandra Murray / RMF Fara van de Maltahoeve / Alexandra Murray /0 / 4 / 44.944
3. Natalie Dean / Mary Poppins / Natalie Dean / 0 / 4 / 47.051
4. Alexandra Murray / Desteny / Alexandra Murray / 1 / 85.426
5. Sara Jorgensen / Chivas 57 / Allie DeSimone / 1 / 85.865
6. Shota Ogomori / SIG Beaujolais / SIG International / 4 / 79.172
