Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

WAYNE, Illinois, Aug. 23–Cabana Boy, bred in the United States and ridden by Chris Hickey won the U.S. Developing Horse Championships Sunday to complete an historic Triple Crown of young horse titles by adding to the five and six-year-old victories won by the pair.

Cabana Boy and Hickey, the head trainer of the owner, Hilltop Farm in Colora, Maryland, won the championship presented by the Dutta Corp. and Performance Sales International with a score of 73.44 per cent, a combination of two classes both of which the pair won. Cabana Boy is by Contucci out of a Bordeaux mare and was bred by Douglas and Shannon Langer in Wisconsin, not far from where the championships were held at the Lamplight Equestrian Center in Chicago’s western suburbs.

In second place was Don Bailey, by Donnerhall out of a Pik Bube mare, ridden by George Williams of Delaware, Ohio for 68.29 per cent. Don Bailey is owned by Elizabeth Juliano of Gates Mills, Ohio. Third place on 67.47 per cent went to Chicago, by Calido I out of a Corleone mare, and ridden and owned by Heidi Gaian of Hollister, California.

Cabana Boy, Hickey said, was a “poster child” for American breeding.

To win the five and six-year-old titles and then the Developing Horse title at age seven was a once in a lifetime achievement for a rider, he said.

And for Hilltop Farm owner, Jane McElree, who celebrated her 80th birthday this year, Cabana Boy’s success was the “icing on the cake.”

Hickey said the nickname for the bay Hanoverian was The Mayor of Hilltop Farm. “He knows everything, is a real busybody.

“His confidence  of going into the show ring with the attitude that he knows all the people are there to watch him is what makes him a great show horse.”

But he said that moving up will be interesting because Cabana Boy has found it easy to perform the work so far. He has found some of the Grand Prix work easy, but is having to focus more than he has in the past on learning piaffe and passage.

The pair will compete at Dressage at Devon next month and then take a break.

George Williams said that Don Bailey’s success at these championships was appropriate as the Oldenburg gelding was bought two years ago from Performance Sales International which jointly sponsored the event with the Dutta Corp.

He said that he began focusing on the horse last May and joked that Don Bailey would disagree with Cabana Boy’s belief that spectators were there to see him because Don knows they are there to watch him.

“”He needs to get stronger and the steadiness needs to get better,” he said, but he is “very athletic and a little hot at times” though very aware of himself.

“I like his spirit, energy and temperament,” he said, and he believes that he and Don Bailey have developed trust in each other.