LEXINGTON, Va.--Caroline Martin of Reigelsville, Pa., riding three horses owned by Emil Spadone, won all three events in the Young Event Horse East Coast Championships held at the Virginia Horse Trials in Lexington on Thursday, Oct. 29, Friday and Sunday, Nov. 1.

Caroline Martin on Redfield HSH Conner (Photo by Jessica Duffy)Martin won the 4-year-old championship on Spadone’s Irish Sport Horse gelding Redfield HSH Conner and a divided 5-year-old Championships on Spadone's Redfield King and Spadone's Redfield Galway Blake.

Due to inclement weather on Friday, the 5-year-old championships were divided into two groups, with 21 horses to finished the jumping portion on Sunday, Nov. 1.

The Thursaddy overnight dressage/conformation leader Redfield King, wo topped the group that jumped Friday, was named 5-year-old champion.

Sunnier skies and clearer weather were seen Sunday, and of the 21 horses that competed that day, Redfield Galway Blake topped the leaderboard earning a final score of 91.47.

 

ON THURSDAY, the 4-year-old Championship, the dressage and conformation competition was held in the morning and the jumping in the afternoon.

Due to record entries in the Championships, the 22 horses in the 4-year-old division had their own set of judges: Marilyn Payne judged dressage, Dr. Tim Holekamp judged conformation, and then Payne was joined by Phyllis Dawson to judge the jumping competition.

Martin on Redfield HSH Conner was of the first in the ring this morning and picked up the highest 4-year-old dressage score of the day – a 17.32 (out of 20) – combined with his conformation score to sit second after the dressage and conformation portion of the competition.

Then “Conner” wowed the judges in the jumping phases in the afternoon, picking up the highest cross-country jumping score of the day – a 28.5 (out of 30) – to win the 4-year-old Championship with an impressive overall score of 89.37.

Martin imported Conner from Ireland four months ago and said he has been a pleasure to work with.

“He was sourced by my good friend Kelly Hutchison,” Martin said. “She’s my agent, and we’ve been working together for the past two years. He’s sired by Touchstone and he’s just a lovely creature. I couldn’t be happier with him.”

“He’s a bit quirky on the ground,” Martin said. “You can’t tie him – you have to hold him when you tack him up. In the awards ceremony, I tried to get on from the ground and he spun me off - he’s one of those, you know? But I always find that the good ones are a little bit quirky like that.”

Martin said that, of her two horses in the 4-year-old Championship, Conner was not the one she would have expected to win.

“It’s interesting at the Championships to see which horses ‘peak’,” she said. “Last week, all of a sudden, Conner became super workmanlike, not spooky, very brave to the jumps. I honestly think he had a really good day.”

Conner be turned out until December before Martin starts legging him back up for the winter season in Ocala.

The goal for next year is to qualify for the 5-year-old Championship in the spring and run either a Training/Preliminary or an easy Preliminary in late summer or early fall to prepare for the Championship.

Irish eventer Tim Bourke of Berryville, Va., on Quality Collusion finished second on an overall score of 87.92 to be named Reserve Champion.

Bourke described “Pico” as “the most saintly horse you could ever come across.”

Similar to Martin’s story of how she found Conner, Pico came over from Ireland this summer with help from Bourke’s friend Jonathan Reape.

“He’s by OBOS Quality and bred by the Kennedys, the people that own OBOS Quality, so he’s a homebred of theirs,” Bourke said.

Bourke said his wife, Marley Stone Bourke, and his working students do most of Pico’s training and that he’s probably only ridden Pico maybe 10 times.

“He’s brilliant for them,” he said. “One of the girls in the barn, Lisa Takada, took him to a qualifier because I was away at a clinic. He’s just that type, anyone can ride him. He’s so simple and so good. This was the fifth time he’s been in a trailer since he got here.”

Third in the 4-year-old Championship was Daniel Clasing of Levittsville Va., on his own Butts Arthur, a Warmblood gelding, who finished on a final score of 84.76.

 

ALSO ON Thursday, the 5-year-old class of 54 horses spent the day competing in dressage.

Caroline Martin on Redfield King (Photo by Leslie Mintz)After the first phases of competition, Martin led with Redfield King, a Warmblood gelding of unknown breeding owned by HX Group Redfield Kings, and Redfield Galway Blake, an Irish Sport Horse gelding of unknown breeding owned by Emil Spadone.

Those two horses held the top two spots overnight on 26.02 and 25.67, respectively.

Martin works regularly with Emil Spadone and Paul Hendricks, who breeds and sources horses in Holland and Europe.

“I try to have people on each continent and keep an eye on everything because you don’t want to miss out on a good young horse,” she said. “Paul has been breeding more, bloodier event horses for me, and he owns a share of Redfield King while Emil owns a share, Gayle Davis owns a share, and they gave me a share. We have one or two shares left!”

“He’s quite special,” said Martin. 

Redfield King earned a dressage score of 17.96 (out of 20), the highest of the day for both age groups.

Martin tried him while in Holland last year.

“He’d only jumped once before I tried him. I sent video to a couple of people who told me not to buy him but Paul flew him over for me," said Martin. "I just fell in love with him.”

“Cross-country is the easiest part for him,” she said. “He’s a freak!”

Jumping competition for the 5-year-old Championship was to take place all day Friday on the Virginia Horse Center’s “Oak Hill” side of the property over the combined show jumping and cross-country course.

But the jumping/gallop portion of the competition had to be halted Friday after the first 25 horses due to deteriorating footing and challenging weather conditions.

The Virginia Horse Center staff went above and beyond moving jumps, adding footing, and removing obstacles when necessary, but it wasn’t safe to continue the competition for the remaining 27 horses, so the remainder of the competition was postponed to Sunday, and Friday’s class and Sunday’s class would be pinned as separate divisions.

So it was the overnight dressage/conformation leader Redfield King who won with a remarkable score of 93.52, which included perfect marks for both the cross-country and general impression.

Conner is related to “King” through Connect.

“King is so easy going – he is a gentle giant,” said Martin. “He is almost 18 hands. Just massive, but so easy to do deal with. I got really lucky. I trotted across the street, cantered up and down the hill, jumped three jumps, and went in. I had to wait while they moved some jumps around, and they asked me if I wanted to go back to warm-up to jump some more, and I said absolutely not. This horse is so brave and if I had jumped anymore he would be too nonchalant. The mud and all that – he could care less. He is such a class horse and it is too easy for him.”

King was bred in the Netherlands by Paul Hendrix who is business partners with Spadone of Redfield Farm.

Martin flew to the Netherlands last year, and she said, “Hendrix] said ‘Caroline I have the perfect horse.’ I was like ‘we will see,” and I get there and he throws me right up on him and he was 100 percent right. He is so special. He was recently broke because he was so big they left him out in the field for awhile and he had only jumped a handful of times, but the horse is just incredible.”

Martin has developed a large buying and selling business with Spadone and Hendrix, but King is different, and Martin has been able to syndicate him in order to keep the ride, and she has big hopes for his future.

“I would love to take him next year to the 6-year-olds at Le Lion, we will see what happens with COVID and all of that, but the horse went Training/Preliminary at his last show," said Martin. "The horse can go Preliminary/Intermediate next year. He is so brave. Such a great jumper. The gallop is unreal and the flatwork is too. I would like to get as much experience on the big international stage for him as I can because he finds everything so easy, so I would rather not run him a lot, but just do one big show a year.”

Nina Gardner’s homebred gelding Kismet, ridden by Jennie Brannigan ,was Reserve on 89.13, and Kismet is very special to Brannigan since she rode his dam Ularinka.

“Ularinka was a favorite at Phillip Dutton’s barn, and I rode her when I worked for him,” said Brannigan. “She passed away this year, so it makes it extra special. He is the second one I have had out of her, and the other one was lovely as well. He is by the Gardner’s stallion National Anthem, and I obviously compete a lot of horses by him.”

Kismet was well-prepared for today’s endless rain and wet footing by Brannigan’s home in Chester County hunt country.

“I was pretty proud of him on cross-country." said Brannigan. "I thought he was brave and super. I live in hunt country, and we have been doing these rides where we go ride through the creeks and jump all the hunt jumps and just get them going out doing more natural cross-country leading into this, and I think it really helped actually especially in the conditions today.”

Third place went to Red Right Return, Jane Dudinsky’s homebred Holsteiner gelding, who scored an 88.07 with rider Doug Payne.

 

ON SUNDAY, out of the 21 horses moved from Friday, Redfield Galway Blake topped the leaderboard on a final score of 91.47.

Caroline Martin on Redfield Galway Blake (Photo by Claire Kelley)“He was fantastic,” said Caroline Martin. “He’s a great cross-country horse. He’s Irish, and he actually placed fourth in the Dublin Young Horse Championships as a 4-year-old last year. He’s been beautifully produced, and I just recently got the ride on him.”

“It’s been up and down the past couple of years," said Martin. "I had to sell all my Advanced horses and start a business. So, I started working with Emil Spadone and Paul Hendricks. I’m happy I’m able to rebuild my string with quality horses.”

Caroline Martin with Emil Spadone’s 'Redfield’ horses won all three Championship divisions at The Dutta Corp. USEA YEH East Coast Championships, and they were the only horses to score in the 90 percentile – Redfield King finished with a final score of 93.52 and won the YEH 5-year-old Thursday division and Redfield Galway Blake finished with a final score of 91.47 won the YEH 5-year-old Sunday division, while Redfield HSH Conner scored an 89.37 to be named the 4-year-old Champion.

Keepsake, a 5-year-old Warmblood mare owned and bred by Nina Gardner and ridden by Jennie Brannigan was Reserve Champion with a final score of 88.55.

Third with a score of 87.74 was Parlez Clear, a 5-year-old Thoroughbred cross gelding owned and ridden by Alexa Ehlers and bred by Clear View Farm.

Redfield King was the Overall 2020 Dutta Corp. USEA YEH East Coast 5-year-old Champion with Redfield Galway Blake Reserve Champion.