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Whitney Boyce-Petrey Pilots Canebrake to 1st Grand Prix Win in $25k Domino’s Grand Prix

Whitney Boyce-Petrey and Canebrake [Alison Hartwell Photography]

Whitney Boyce-Petrey of New Orleans, Louisiana and Lincoln Case’s Canebrake won the $25,000 Domino’s Grand Prix under sunny skies at the Gulf Coast Winter Classic. As their first Grand Prix win, the victory was especially sweet!

Course Designer Nancy Wallis of Lambertville, New Jersey set the first round time allowed at 79 seconds. “I think Nancy did a great job designing all week,” commented Boyce-Petrey. “She built all week and got everyone comfortable. Each class she designed would present us with a new challenge or question on the course leading up to the Grand Prix,” she added.

First to go Shannon Hicks and Helen Gilbert’s C’Havinia turned in a first round effort in a time of 73.434 seconds, but with four jump faults would finish in second place as the fastest four fault round.

Sara Dees of Chatom, Alabama in the irons of her own Clearwater 5 followed in a time of 75.961, but a heartbreak rail at the final fence had them finish in sixth place overall.

Penny Brennan and her own Sun Tzu, the victors in Friday’s $5,000 Horseflight Open Welcome, had a rail at the second fence and their time of 75.067 would find them finishing in fifth place overall.

Boyce-Petrey had her first ride in the grand prix field on WRB Show Stables, LLC’s Mira, but their time of 79.688 seconds with five rails and time faults would find them finishing in eleventh place overall.

Dominique Damico of Berwyn, Pennsylvania and her own Cauoso followed with an eight fault first round in a time of 75.759 seconds, awarding them an eighth place overall.

Evan Coluccio of Middleburg, Virginia and EMC International’s Fluttershy also earned eight jump faults, and their time of 79.993 seconds added one time fault for an overall ninth place finish.

Hicks returned to the field, this time in the irons of Helen Gilbert’s Al Pachini. Four faults in a time of 74.495 seconds earned them a fourth place ribbon.

Brennan and Mister Money, owned by Brennan and Michelle Guardino-Dettelbach, followed in the order, but eight jump faults in a time of 74.762 seconds awarded them a seventh place finish.

Boyce-Petrey was up next, this time with Canebrake and the pair turned in the only first round leaving all the rails up. Their time of 79.049 seconds earned them one time fault, but also the win.

“The course walked nice and didn’t scare you when you walked it,” said Boyce-Petrey, “but it rode a little different,” she said. “It was fun and rode well, but it was a bit tougher,” she added.  Boyce-Petrey continued, “The Horseflight jump wasn’t near the in gate, but you had to ride toward the gate and then make a 90 degree turn to get to the Horseflight jump. With my first horse I rode, I overrode the one stride and then my horse spooked really hard at the Horseflight jump.  For my second ride, I made sure my horse saw the Horseflight jump,” she said.

Dees returned with her own Rico S for her second ride, but twelve jump faults in a time of 73.089 seconds saw them finish in tenth place overall.

Hicks and Helen Gilbert’s Emir D sat in the enviable last to go position, but four jump faults in a time of 73.862 seconds would see them finish in third place overall.

“We just got him [Canebrake] in the beginning of the fall and this was his first Grand Prix of the season and his first win,” Boyce-Petrey exclaimed. “We got him from a friend of mine in Ohio who got him as a Low Junior Jumper. She did some smaller classes with him and thought he could be something special and that’s when we bought him,” she said.

Boyce-Petrey continued, “We started working for the Case family about a year ago and they are just the loveliest and most supportive people. Since then, our business has grown tremendously. And we have a great staff! Heather Hays, Andrew Michael and Cullen Latimer are just amazing,” she added.

“We really like showing in Gulfport every year,” said Boyce-Petrey. “We brought nineteen horses with us and we’ll be here next week too. It’s a great show; we live in New Orleans so it’s an easy hour drive from home so we can run back and forth when we need to and the people here are so nice!”

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