The Wednesday class at WEF was held in a one-round speed format due to the large volume of entries and 17 of the 86 came home fault-free. Tiffany Foster of Canada took the early lead aboard Artisan Farms, LLC’s Galino when she put in the first clear round with a time of 71.23 seconds; she ultimately ended in 14th place at the class’s completion. Harrie Smolders (NED) also went early in the class and shaved nine seconds off of Foster’s time to end on 62.598 seconds with Copernicus Stables, LLC’s 11-year-old KWPN mare (Oklund x Orrada), Corrada. The performance held strong and the pair finished in third place overall. Only several trips after Smolders, Chris Pratt (CAN) laid down a time of 62.49 seconds with Caron Stucky’s 12-year-old Oldenburg gelding (Larino x Paguera), Luigi, which was good enough to earn the second place finish.
Ballard was the first to return after the drag break with her second mount of the day, the nine-year-old Westphalian mare (Caratello B x Ceitas), Ceitasi, and crossed the timers in 58.55 seconds. After shaving four seconds off of the previous top time, it was clear the new combination was unbeatable.
“For this horse particularly, today was a good opportunity because we are gearing up for the CaptiveOne Advisors 1.50m final on Saturday,” Ballard explained. “We actually were not planning to do this class if it was going to be held on the grass, but because it was held in the ring we thought it would be good prep for her. She is very competitive so to go fast on the first day at a lower height is just part of our plan to keep her feeling very confident for the big class.”
Ballard has been leading the rankings in the CaptiveOne Advisors 1.50m Classic division throughout the season but recently dropped into second place after not competing for one week while she was at another horse show.
“Because I missed a week I’m now second in the ranks for the division going into the final on Saturday night, so the pressure is on her, but I think she will be up for it,” she said of the mare. “This is only my fourth show on her but she has all of the experience and as with most of my horses that are in partnership with Ilan [Ferder], we tend to move quickly.”
“I have to say I have good luck at this facility,” Ballard added. “I like to jump on the grass but I also like this ring, so hopefully it is a good sign for the rest of the week!”
