East Dorset, Vermont — Amanda Flint of Long Valley, NJ, added a fourth victory to her string of wins at the Vermont Summer Festival by claiming the $30,000 Battenkill Grand Prix, presented by the Inns at Equinox, on Saturday, July 12. Flint tied herself for the win with Superbad and Chester VDL after producing the only two clear rounds in the $30,000 Battenkill Grand Prix, presented by the Inns at Equinox. At the end of the first round, Flint had no one to compete against except herself in the tie-breaking jump-off, and elected to save her horses for another day. Superbad, a 10-year-old German Sport Horse gelding by Ludwig von Bayern, and Chester VDL, a seven-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding by Silverstone VDL, are both owned by The Coverboy Group. Flint’s first clear round of the day came aboard Superbad, the winner of week one’s $30,000 Vermont Summer Special Grand Prix, presented by Johnson Horse Transportation. As the final rider of the day, Flint again went clear with Chester VDL, the horse she rode to victory two days earlier in the $10,000 Vineyard Vines Open Welcome, presented by Manchester Designer Outlets. For all the other grand prix contenders, rails fell across the course designed by Canada’s Chris Brandt, with a wide oxer leading into an oxer-vertical-oxer triple combination proving to be troublesome for many competitors. “It was hard for any horse, I thought,” said Flint. “It wasn’t the triple really; it was the (wide) jump coming into the triple. You got to the triple combination really forward, and then there wasn’t another stride. The triple was super tight and a little scopey, so that was the hardest part of the track.” She continued, “The course was a lot wider than what was built in the last two weeks. There were a lot of jumps on a half-stride, so you had to really know your horse and know what number (of strides) you were going to do.” Flint has ridden both her horses for several years, which she felt gave her an advantage over Saturday’s challenging grand prix course. Her well-devised plan for where to add or leave out strides throughout the track went off without a hitch. The $30,000 Battenkill Grand Prix, presented by the Inns at Equinox, marked Chester VDL’s first outing at the 1.50m height, and Flint was thrilled with how well he handled the step up. “He’s only jumped 1.40m before,” Flint said. “He handled it really well. He’s a very scopey horse. He’s only seven, which is why we just moved him up. He’s jumped every round we’ve asked him to clean so far, and he was great today. I think he’s finally getting strong in his body.” Flint also praised the gelding’s simple and straight-forward personality, which she admitted was the complete opposite of his barnmate, Superbad.
