|
2007 American Young Horse Championships
Cabana Boy and Grandioso are 2007 Markel U.S
Young Horse Dressage Champions
September 17, 2007
 Hilltop Farm’s Cabana Boy, with Christopher
Hickey aboard, and Grandioso, owned and ridden by Jason
Canton, are this year’s Five-Year-Old and Six-Year-Old
National Young Horse Dressage champions. Cabana Boy
earned the Five-Year-Old championship title and Grandioso
the Six-Year-Old title following Sunday’s finale
class at the 2007 Markel/USEF National Young Horse
Dressage Championships held at the Kentucky Horse Park
in Lexington.
Hickey came with high expectations for the young Hanoverian
gelding by Contucci x Bordeaux under
his tutelage that had just returned from the 2007 World
Championships for Young Dressage Horses
in Verden, Germany. Canton came with no expectations. “I
came here expecting nothing and just hoping for the
best. My plan was to ride the horse as best I could,” Canton
said. “I’ve always had a feeling he’s
a very special horse and he proved it today.”
Cabana Boy, owned by Hilltop Farm and
bred by Dough and Shannon Langer of Wisconsin, was
a clear favorite coming into the Five-Year-Old competition.
Cabana
Boy received an overall score of 8.480 after two days
of competition.
A “fabulous feeling” is how Jason Canton
described his win in the Six-Year-Old competition at
the Markel/USEF National Young Horse Dressage Championship
with Grandioso. “It’s been a long year
and a lot of hard work getting to this point.” The
Westfalen gelding was bought by Canton, of Alpharetta,
Georgia, in Germany when he was a five-year-old.
Grandioso (Grosso Z – Popocatepetel by Palisandergrund)
was bred in Germany by Willi Hillebrecht. The judges
certainly liked the horse. Speaking for the judges’ panel,
Marianne Ludwig said, “As
I heard Hilda say yesterday, you are a lucky man. Super
impressive horse. Grandioso’s final score was
8.368.
Waterloo Se, with California’s Willy Arts aboard,
is the 2007 Champion in the Markel/USEF Young Horse
Dressage Championship for Four-Year-Old Horses. The
Championships are being held at the Kentucky Horse
Park. The Dutch Warmblood gelding (00 Seven – Showbiz
by Jazz), owned by DG Bar
Ranch and Siegi Belz-Fry, earned an overall score of
8.62 in Saturday’s championship class.
By Lynndee Kemmet for Dressagedaily.com -
Photo (c) Phelpsphotos.com
A full report
of the 2007
USEF/Markel Young Horse Championships with articles,
quotes, photos and scores at Horsesdaily.com
Related Link
2007 World Championships for Young Dressage Horses
|
