June 6—San Juan Capistrano, Calif.
Most people heading into an open hunter classic would put their money on an experienced competitor, but green horses ruled the day at the third $25,000 WCHR West Coast Spectacular. John Bragg piloted Social Hour to the top of the two-round class just seven months after that horse landed stateside for the first time. John French finished right on his heels with Boss, who’s also just out of the pre-green ranks.
The closest been-there, done-that type was third-placed Banderas, who usually shows in the high performance ring and competed today with Nick Haness up.
Laura Strasburg’s 8-year-old warmblood of unrecorded breeding owned by Laura Strausburg broke the 90 barrier in both rounds to win.
“He’s just gotten better and better,” said Bragg, Laguna Beach, Calif. “He’s really figuring this thing out. He’s one of the nicest horse I’ve ever ridden. He has a big stride and it’s like he’s made for me.”
After two years at the Flintridge Horse Show, the biggest hunter classic on the west coast moved to Blenheim June Classic I this year. The class is open to juniors, amateurs and professionals, with options to jump at 3’6”, 3’9” and 4’, and neither horses nor riders need to qualify to compete in the western edition. In previous years the class was held at night, but this year it kicked off in the afternoon (with a half hour break scheduled so everyone at the show could watch American Pharoah win the Triple Crown).
Twenty-nine combinations took a turn around the first round course, set by Jasen Shelley at the Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park, and 12 came back for Round 2. French summed up the course as “hard,” citing long bending lines that cut across the grass grand prix field requiring a very precise track. One of the lines headed right into an in-and-out of scopey oxers that tripped up several competitors as they had to find just the right track and pace to negotiate the oxers. Previous winners Hope Glynn and Woodstock fell out of contention there, and Alexis Meadows fell off Lugano in the middle of the combination, though both walked out comfortably. There were no other major issues, and all three agreed that the fences encouraged great jumping from all their horses.
“The long course helped my horse,” said Bragg. “For my horse, who’s very alert about everything, he walked in and relaxed as he kept going.”
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Each of the top three horses has his own eye-catching style. There’s Social Hour, the big, reddish, athletic chestnut with his ears permanently pricked and a ground covering step. French’s Boss is typey and compact with a face to die for and a jump to match. And you can’t miss Banderas, who looks like a stylish oversized pony with two front stockings and a splotch on his belly and plenty of bounce in his step.
All three of the top horses were part of a strong West Coast contingent at Devon (Pa.) last week. Both Boss and Social Hour won classes in the Dixon Oval, and Banderas finished third in a high performance hunter class as well.
“This is good for the first year horse,” said French. “Boss has never done anything but a division. He’s never done anything in a big field. This was nice way to start. It was nice to be able to take our first year horses and give them experience.”
Bragg is already planning how to take advantage of Social Hour’s expanding resume. He’s planning to take that horse to HITS-on-the-Hundson (N.Y.) to contest the $500,000 Diamond Mills Hunter Prix Final.
Find full results at Horse Show Time.
Want more Blenheim? Here’s a report from yesterday, and you can see more gorgeous photos of open hunters here. We’ll have news and full analysis from the show in our June 29 Junior and Pony issue of The Chronicle of the Horse magazine.
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