On a sunny Saturday afternoon with a spectacular backdrop, John Bragg bested a field of 28 to take top honors in the 2015 $25,000 USHJA World Champion Hunter Rider West Coast Hunter Spectacular, presented by Valencia Saddlery, at the Blenheim June Classic I in San Juan Capistrano, CA, aboard Laura Strasburg's Social Hour. Bragg and Social Hour finished the two-round class with the top score of 175. Finishing on a score of 172.87 was John French aboard 2014 USHJA Pre-Green Incentive Reserve Champion, Boss, owned by Laura Wasserman. Rounding out the top three with a score of 171.87 was Nick Haness aboard Banderas, owned by Ecole Lathrop. In addition to finishing second in the class, Boss was named the Best Turned Out Horse, and his groom, Alex Garcia, received the Best Turned Out Award, sponsored by Shapley's. Sally Stith-Burdette, Shapley's director of marketing, presented Garcia with the award, which included a cash prize, gift basket of Shapley's products, and commemorative ball cap. "It was a hard course," said French. "Every single line was a bending line with 10 or 11 strides. It seemed like for some people the bending lines to the last in-and-out was a little bit hard. Instead of bending it, they tried to make it straight and then it ended up getting there sooner than they thought. That was one of the hardest lines." The courses, set on the Blenheim grass Grand Prix field and designed by Jasen Shelley of Wellington, FL, proved to be difficult but appropriate for the class. Round 1 featured 13 jumping efforts with long bending lines and an oxer to oxer in-and-out. Round 2 had 10 jumping elements with few related distances. Judges included Thom Brede and Otis Brown on Panel 1 and John Roper and Ellen Gates on Panel 2.
