Caroline Clark Morrison was in tears after collecting her grand amateur-owner hunter and amateur-owner hunter, 36 & over championships at Devon on May 31.  “He’s just a really good horse and he always wins when it really matters,” she said of Milan.  “I’ve been showing here for 32 years and it means a lot.”

Morrison’s last Devon tricolor was 13 years ago, in the amateur-owner hunter, 18-35 division.  She won the stake class today to clinch the tricolors in a division where the points were widely spread.  She also had to contend with jumping in a driving downpour.  “He knows when it counts and he doesn’t mind going out in the rain and jumping around,” she said. 

“He’s a little quirky on the ground, but when you get on him, he’s the same every day,” Morrison said of Milan, who she bought in the fall of 2005.  “He’s 13 now and this might be his last year showing.”

Stephanie Riggio was walking out of the Dixon Oval after collecting her fifth place in the amateur-owner hunter, 18-35 stake class when in-gate supervisor Kevin Giblin told her to turn right around.  “I was so surprised.  It’s such an honor to win at Devon,” she said.  Riggio’s tricolor caught her unaware because she didn’t win a class—she placed second twice and third and fifth over fences, adding a sixth in the under saddle to the tally.  “My goal when I came here was to get a ribbon in every class,” she said.  “We got everything but a blue, but we were very consistent, which made me happy.”

Riggio bought “Indy” in the fall of 2006.  “It was a slow learning process figuring him out,” she said.  “He’s pretty straightforward—it was just a matter of me figuring it all out.  He’s not the variable in the equation!”

Riggio plans to start a Masters degree program at The New School (N.Y.) in the fall for fine arts and creative writing.

Riggio wanted to dedicate her win to her cousin, Melissa Riggio, who lost her battle with leukemia in April.  “It’s been a tough couple of months.  She was with me today,” Riggio said.