Mynanke A and Amy Speck-Kern (Photo by Gwen Poulin)
Ocala, FL (October 24, 2020) – New faces and old faces at Excel Dressage came together this October at the Florida Horse Park in Ocala. Excel’s founder and Grand Prix rider Amy Speck-Kern and her team qualified 4 horses at levels from Training to Intermediaire I for the Championships, and closed out a rollercoaster 2020 with top finishes. A number of Excel imports also made their mark at Regionals, and the final scores resulted in all of Excel’s horses and riders qualifying for the 2021 Dressage Finals.
Speck-Kern’s newest young superstar is Mynanke A (Hennessy x Ferro), aka Maya, who since her arrival from Holland in July has won each of her tests and finished 3rd out of 18 in her fourth show ever, the 2020 Regional Championships. Speck-Kern piloted Maya to a 74.569% in the Training Level Open, and one the Training Level Test 3 Open class with a 75.345%. Hand-selected by Speck-Kern earlier this year in The Netherlands, Maya has proven herself to be a focused and talented competitor despite being on the brink of turning 4 years old.
Excel’s student and business partner Katie Hoog of Stal Hoog in Loxahatchee, Florida rode the 14-year-old Zhivago (Obelisk x Fruhling) to a 6th place finish in the Intermediaire 1 Freestyle Championship with a 69.038%. A relatively new partnership, Hoog and Zhivago clicked immediately, qualifying for the Regional Championships with a Freestyle set to the music of Portugal. The Man, Justin Bieber, Kygo, and Selena Gomez. Another of Hoog’s horses, Gimmick (Oscar x Olivi), ridden by Wellington-based trainer Caleb Scroggins, danced to Reserve Champion in the First Level Freestyle with a score of 73.901%. Gimmick and Scroggins also finished 7th overall in the Training Level Open Championship with a 70.776%. Hoog’s sister, Sarah Hoog, rode her own US bred Federer (Fidertanz x Rubentein) to12th place in the First Level AA Championship with a 65.417%.
Two Excel alums also joined in the competition at Regionals. Marilyn Mannroe, a horse selected by Speck-Kern for friend Emily Kiefner, finished 8th in the First Level AA Championship with a 66.459% and 3rd in the Training Level AA Championship with a 71.982%. At the Region 2 Championships, an Excel Dressage/Stal Hoog import, Esteban (Rosseau x Naturel), won the AA Prix St. Georges Championship with a 67.353.
For more information on Amy Speck-Kern, Excel Dressage, or its services, visit www.ExcelDressage.com.
Media contact:
Equinium Sports Marketing, LLC
Holly Johnson
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www.equinium.com