Kristen VanderVeen and Bull Run’s Prince of Peace ©TIEC.
Mill Spring, NC – May 8, 2021 – Kristen VanderVeen (Wellington, FL) and Bull Run’s Prince of Peace announced their arrival at the Tryon Spring Series with a win in the $75,000 Tryon Resort Grand Prix at Tryon International Equestrian Center and Resort (TIEC), stopping the jump-off timers in 39.172. Sharn Wordley (Citra, FL) and Gatsby, his own 2004 Irish Sport Horse stallion (Simba x Daisy Cruise), flew to reserve on a time of 39.556, while third place went to Sydney Shulman (Greenwich, CT) and Villamoura, the 2009 Selle Francais mare (Diamant de Semilly x Kasina) owned by Jill Shulman, after their 40.531-second performance in the jump-off.
VanderVeen and the Bull Run Jumpers Six LLC-owned 2009 Holsteiner gelding (Cardenio x P-Comtesse) were one of 10 pairs to qualify for the jump-off test after 19 entries toured the first-round track set by Peter Grant (CAN). Last to go, VanderVeen reported that she knew she had to run to the last fence after seeing Wordley’s performance. It was an all-out gallop to the last fence, shaving just four-tenths of a second off Wordley’s time to win.
“It worked for us once, when we tried that, so I figured [I would] trust him and run as fast as I could to the last,” VanderVeen recapped. “I know his [Bull Run’s Prince of Peace] strength is in the long runs, and actually there were quite a few long runs here. I decided to not risk too much at the rollback turns, but really leave some strides out and push it to the last jump. I also left out a step into the combination because he’s very smart about that. I just tried to work to his strengths.”
Sydney Shulman and Villamoura Take a Tryon Detour to Win $25,000 Horseware Ireland Welcome Stake
Sydney Shulman (Greenwich, CT) and Villamoura kicked off Tryon Spring 1 with a win in the $25,000 Horseware Ireland Welcome Stake, speeding through the jump-off timers in 35.405 seconds. Catherine Tyree (Chicago, IL) and Bokai, the Catherine Tyree LLC-owned 2006 Dutch Warmblood gelding (Up To Date x Lucky Girl), cleared the short course in a time of 36.682 to earn reserve, while Fernando Cardenas, Jr. (New Hill, NC) and his own Calvados, the 2010 Danish Warmblood gelding (Chellys Z x Serupgards Canasta), scored third on a time of 40.082.
Shulman and the 2009 Selle Francais mare rerouted to TIEC just last week, at the urging of Cat Tyree, Shulman revealed. “Cat said, ‘I’m never telling you to come to a horse show when you’re not going!’ – I wasn’t planning to come here until about a week ago, but we decided to catch this show on our way back home.”
Besides being a convenient place to pause for two weeks on their way back north after a grueling winter circuit in Wellington at the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF), Shulman noted that she was looking for some confidence-boosting rides as well by competing at the national level.
“The jumps are super big at WEF and it’s so hard all the time, every weekend, so I kind of needed a little ego boost for my horses and myself,” Shulman admitted. “We wanted to take a deep breath at a new venue and jump some nice classes. I’m really happy that we came here!”
For more info and results, visit www.Tryon.com.