Kerrigan Gluch & American-Bred PRE Vaquero HGF Win Under-25 Grand Prix for USA Championship Freestyle Showdown

3 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Kerrigan Gluch & American-Bred PRE Vaquero HGF Win Under-25 Grand Prix for USA Championship Freestyle Showdown
Sara Hassler and Harmony’s Boitano that are atop the USA Under-25 championship leaderboard, narrowly ahead of Kerrigan Gluch on Vaquero HGF. © 2020 SusanJStickle.com

WAYNE, Illinois, Aug. 19, 2020–Kerrigan Gluch and the American-bred P.R.E. Vaquero HGF won the Under-25 “Brentina Cup” Grand Prix Wednesday to lead to a showdown with Sara Hassler and Harmony’s Boitano in the freestyle Friday to decide the United States championship.

Endel Ots and Sonnenberg’s Everdance won the Intermediate 1 to tighten the hold on the championship that would be the rider’s second straight national Intermediate 1 title.

Kerrigan and the 13-year-old gelding scored 68.744% to win the Grand Prix with Sara and Boitano second on 67.487% and to come within 0.118 of Sara at the top of the Festival of Champions leaderboard.

The placing of the two combinations, both based in Wellington, Florida, were the reverse of the Intermediate II. Sara and the 15-year-old KWPN won the opening competition on 69.853% with Kerrigan and Vaquero second on 68.147%. The percentages assigned for each result put Sara on 58.31 and Kerrigan on 58.192.

Kerrigan, 23 years old, graduated from Florida Atlantic University last week with a business degree.  

Vaquero was bred at Hampton Green Farm in Fruitport, Michigan, sired by Cuatrero IU. The horse was sent to Spain where Jose Daniel Martin Dockx was successful in young horse classes before returning to the U.S.

In 2015, Kerrigan began competing Vaquero for Hampton Green whose owner Kimberly van Kampen led the U.S. PRE group. The pair earned bronze at the North American Young Rider Championships that year.

Kerrigan and Vaquero were on the U.S. young rider team that competed in Europe in 2016. The pair also competed in the Under-25 division at the festival in 2019. At the Adequan Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, they were on the “Star Spangled” U25 Nations Cup team that took silver.

Sara Hassler, who is coached by her father, Scott, the former U.S. young horse coach, rode Boitano in the Intermediate 1 division at the 2019 festival. Boitano is owned by Leslie Malone who owns Harmony Sporthorses in Kiowa, Colorado.

In the Intermediate 1, Endel Ots and Sonnenberg’s Everdance, 11-year-old U.S.-bred KWPN mare, scored 75.441% for the victory and with a win in the opening round Prix St. Georges extended the lead for the championship with only the freestyle left. Endel won the title in 2019 on Lucky Strike.

David Blake of Cardiff on the Sea, California and Heide Spirit placed second on 72.559 Wednesday to move the duo into overall second while Callie Jones of Henderson, Kentucky and Don Philippo were third on 69.823%.

Under-25 Brentina Cup Grand Prix 

            Judges:   Heidi Berry Kristi Wysocki Sarah Geikie Janet Lee Foy William Warren  
Pl.   Score %   Nat. Athlete Horse   E H C M B  
1.   68.744   USA Kerrigan Gluch Vaquero HGF   67.821 66.41 69.744 71.667 68.077  
2.   67.487   USA Sara Hassler Harmony’s Boitano   65.897 68.718 66.026 69.615 67.179  
3.   64.154   USA Rebecca Roman Ultimo   66.154 61.923 62.821 65.385 64.487  
4.   64.026   USA Emily Smith Quantum Jazz   65.641 62.564 63.718 65.128 63.077  
5.   62.897   USA Kaylee Christensen Chateau 28   65.256 63.718 61.026 61.282 63.205  
6.   62.744   USA Emily Smith Dublin   63.846 61.154 64.744 61.923 62.051  
7.   62.333   USA Mary Fischer Xama Dos Pinhais   61.154 60.769 62.051 64.103 63.59  

Intermediate 1

            Judges:   Janet Lee Foy Sarah Geikie William Warren Michael Osinski Kristi Wysocki  
Pl.   Score %   Nation Athlete Horse   E H C M B  
1.   75.441   USA Endel Ots Sonnenberg’s Everdance   75.441 75.000 74.853 76.029 75.882  
2.   72.559   USA David Blake Heide Spirit   71.471 73.529 73.676 74.559 69.559  
3.   69.823   USA Callie Jones Don Philippo   71.029 68.971 68.235 72.941 67.941  
4.   68.853   USA Dawn White-O’Connor El Torro B   72.206 68.676 67.647 69.412 66.324  
5.   68.824   USA Kathy Priest Damon’s Fantasy   69.265 69.853 70.147 67.647 67.206  
6.   68.765   USA Bridget Hay Fauna   66.471 71.029 67.500 69.118 69.706  
7.   67.294   USA Jami Kment Gatino Van Hof Olympia   66.471 70.588 69.118 67.941 62.353  
8.   67.088   USA Katlyn Flett Zen   66.324 66.471 67.500 68.088 67.059  
9.   66.147   USA Yvonne De Haan Winter   64.853 66.618 66.324 67.059 65.882  
10.   66.000   USA Ruth Shirkey Wyleigh Princess   66.324 66.176 64.559 68.382 64.559  
11.   62.823   USA Susan Jones Four Ever   60.735 62.941 63.088 63.676 63.676  
RT.       USA Emily Donaldson Audi