Holloway Scores Top Spot in Medium Junior Jumpers and WIHS Equitation Hunter Phase at Kentucky Spring Classic

Press Release Kentucky Spring Horse Show – Hunter Holloway showed her skills in the Kentucky Spring Classic, bringing home wins in both the hunter and jumper rings.

In the Medium Junior Jumpers, Holloway took home the victory aboard Italia, a 7-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, with a time of 51.098 seconds, a full four seconds faster than second place finishers Ashley Hartman and Clear Lady.

It was a meaningful win for Holloway, who has done the majority of the training on the home-bred Italia.

„It was pretty exciting,“ said Holloway. „He is 7 years old and we bred him. „Lisa Oliver broke him when she worked for us, but since then I’ve been the one on him. I did his first jumps, his first courses – everything. It’s pretty special now to have him moving up into the Medium Juniors. We were planning on having a nice, fast, smooth round. He stepped up to the plate great.“

After her win in the jumper ring, Holloway headed over to the Stonelea Ring and brought home a win in the WIHS Equitation Hunter Phase with Orion, a 12-year-old Westphalian gelding.

„The plan was just to have a nice round,“ said Holloway. „We want to keep getting qualified for finals here. Orion is amazing; I don’t think he gets enough credit. He’s kind of the horse that does all the work, and then we pull Sunny out for finals. Everyone knows Sunny and I as such a good pair, but no one ever realizes how good Orion is.“

She continued, „He’s the one that gets me qualified every year – that does all the work – and he’s for sale this year. He’s a great horse. He’s a blast to ride.“

Holloway was enthusiastic about her first trip to the Kentucky Spring Classic.

„This is actually my first time being here during the spring shows,“ Holloway said. „It’s a beautiful facility. They do a great job with the show and the management is great. The weather could be better but it’s been great.“

The Kentucky Spring Horse Shows allowed for Holloway to spend more time in the jumper ring as well as continuing with the hunters.

„This year our focus is more on the jumpers,“ Holloway explained. „Mom and I both will hopefully be doing more of the FEI classes. We’re trying to do more World Cup qualifiers and more big classes.“

Madison Dehaven and Chanel brought home the win in the Low Amateur-Owner Jumpers for the second week in a row with a time of 24.013 seconds, a full two seconds faster than second place Alexandra Duval and XM.

Dehaven was full of praise for Chanel, her 8-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare.

„I was very happy with her today,“ Dehaven said. „Everything kind of came up like I wanted it to. I’m really learning to ride her on a nice rhythm. She wants to go forward and gallop, and for me that was really hard to get used to.“

From the start, Dehaven made a plan that paid off in time saved.

„I really liked the course,“ said Dehaven. „There were a couple of challenging things for her. In the jump-off, there was a right rollback, and she’s a lot harder off the right. I would say that plank to the last fence was where I made up time. I had planned eight strides down the last line, but we were in a nice gallop and I caught the plank and the seven was just there. I left out to the last oxer and she was really good.“

The Kentucky Spring Classic, running through May 22, features a FEI CSI3* rating. On Saturday, May 21, riders will compete under the lights in the Rolex Stadium during the $130,000 Mary Rena Murphy Grand Prix. All three FEI classes held during the Kentucky Spring Classic count for the Longines Ranking List and the Saturday classes will also count for the Rolex/USEF Show Jumping Ranking List. In addition, the featured national classes will be the $50,000 Bluegrass Grand Prix, which counts towards the Rolex/USEF Show Jumping Ranking List, and the $25,000 Under 25 Grand Prix to be held on Sunday, May 22, in the Rolex Stadium.

Results: Low Amateur-Owner Jumpers
1 CHANEL MADISON DEHAVEN 24.123
2 X M ALEXANDRA DUVAL 26.423
3 CORVETTE REBECCA LANNOYE 26.447
4 DON PERION BROOKE SALTZMAN 27.736
5 VICTOR E ANNE GARDNER 27.870
6 AMALEE CHARLOTTE CLARK 27.989
7 BALIO MICHELLE NAVARRO-GRAU 28.663
8 RIMINI DEBRA WYCOFF 28.920
9 OTHELLO SARTIAU Z MICHELLE KAMINE 29.757
10 AREZZO 19 KEVIN BABINGTON 4 27.002

Results: Medium Junior Jumpers
1 ITALIA HUNTER HOLLOWAY 0 51.098
2 CLEAR LADY ASHLEY HARTMAN 0 55.382
3 JOHNNY B GOOD SUMMER HILL 0 58.770
4 QUATTRO QUEEN ANNABEL REVERS 0 62.545
5 GAELLE VAN MARKIESLANDEN SARAH CLIFTON YANDELL 0 66.012
6 WOOPY 14 CLAUDIA VILLAMIL 4 55.396
7 MTM LIGHTS OUT JAELYNN DOWNING 4 57.432
8 OMS CHECKERS CAROLINA VILLANUEVA 4 60.963
9 HERMINE 44 ADDISON PIPER 4 62.971
10 QUITE LADY MARIA YZERMAN 4 63.083

Souce: Press Release Kentucky Spring Horse Show