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Nicky Galligan and Javas Miss Jordan Win $15,000 1.35m-1.40m Jumper Stake

Nicky Galligan and Javas Miss Jordan.  ©Bailey Beck.

Mill Spring, NC – April 2, 2019 – Nicky Galligan (Keswick, VA) and Javas Miss Jordan galloped to victory in Sunday’s $15,000 1.35m-1.40m Jumper Stake with a time of 32.362 seconds. David O’Brien (Lexington, KY) and Dayla 6 owned by Cleveland Equestrian claimed second place with a time of 32.759 seconds. Doug Payne (Aiken, SC) and Quintessence owned by Jane Dudinsky claimed the yellow rosette for third after stopping the jump-off timers in 33.21 seconds.

Among 17 entries in the course set by J. P. Godard (Aiken, SC), Galligan remained ahead of the competition after first setting sight on the venue last week during Tryon Welcome 1. “This is my first time here. I’m really, really impressed,” he remarked.

“Normally, I’d be in Florida for the winter, and this year we did a little restructuring and didn’t go. So last week was actually my first show, too.” Galligan relayed that his favorite aspect of grounds is “fantastic facilities – the footing is top-class. “[It’s] really, really impressive – for me to jump the horses two weeks, three days each week and no worries about feet is incredible. I’m very happy to be here.”

On the course, Galligan commented, “It felt really nice. We were here last week, too, and today felt like a little step up [in difficulty] from last week. It was a little more technical in the lines, playing with the adjustability of the horse, shortening and then lengthening over the oxers, and a really nice day. It was a really nice job with the courses both weeks – I brought some young horses, as well, and they got fantastic experience.

“This is a very special horse to me and my family, actually,” Galligan revealed. “She’s part of the reason why we’re in the States. I’ve had her since she was four years old, and I was the first person to sit on her back. I bought her directly from the breeder and have been nurturing her quite slowly. She actually hasn’t been at a show since last August until last week, so this was just some shows to get her a little fit and jumping some rounds again. She will go home now for a couple weeks in the paddock, do a couple more shows and we will aim to come back here for the 3* show in May.”

Though the mare’s schedule has been slow so far, there was nothing slow about the jump-off round the pair produced to take the win. His strategy was “no pressure,” Galligan elaborated. “It was more about giving the horse experience in the jump-off, because she hasn’t jumped a lot of Grand Prixs, and had to warm up a second time and go back into the ring. So really, I was just thinking about giving her that experience of taking a breather, chilling out, warming up again and coming back in.”

Galligan continued, “After jumping our classes last week and this week I thought we could have a little bit of fun today. She’s a naturally fast horse, so we had a little bit of fun. No pressure on her, just let her do her job, and she came up good. It was a lot of fun.”

Though impressed with TIEC’s rings, Galligan attributed the mare’s strong build to the fact that he prefers to get the horses out of the ring as much as possible: “I guess we pay a lot of attention to detail in our strength and conditioning, and the soundness of our horses, and try to keep them happy,” he said. “We’re lucky to live in Virginia with a lot of natural hills, so I don’t spend a lot of time in the ring – I spend a lot of time in nature keeping them fit and strong. She just loves her job, too. She’s a very simple horse and loves to show.”

Click here to view full results from the $15,000 1.35m-1.40m Jumper Stake.

For more information, please visit www.Tryon.com.

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