The Gold Tray

Keeneland Race Track, which opened in Kentucky in 1936, holds two prestigious race meets each year, one in the spring and one in the fall. Billing itself as “racing as it was meant to be,” Keeneland preserves the “tradition, ambiance and vision established by its founders – to showcase all that is noble, fine and enjoyable about Thoroughbred racing.” Keeneland has always attracted the top horses in the sport, including such standouts as Whirlaway (who won the Triple Crown in 1941), Alysheba (a Hall-of-Famer who raced in the 1980s) and Northern Dancer, a 1960s racehorse who became one of the most influential sires in Thoroughbred history.

Keeneland’s graded stakes races are special events. Not only do the winners earn cash, the owner of each winning horse also takes home a gold julep cup. When an owner wins eight cups, he or she gets the Keeneland Tray, a solid gold serving tray.

This spring, the 4-year-old colt Aikenite romped to victory in the Commonwealth Stakes at Keeneland, earning his owner, Dogwood Stable, the winner’s share of the $175,000 purse, as well as Dogwood’s eighth Keeneland Stakes victory and that coveted gold tray.  To celebrate, Dogwood is throwing a Gold Tray Party at the Aiken Racing Hall of Fame and Museum in Hopeland Gardens. The party is on Friday, November 11 from 5 to 7 and everyone is welcome. There will be light snacks and refreshments and Dogwood’s president, Cot Campbell, is expected to say a few words.

“There is no official program,” says Mary Jane Howell, who is the public relations director at Dogwood. “We’re basically saying a big thank you to Aiken.”

Aikenite is currently being pointed toward the Breeder’s Cup at Churchill Downs November 4-5. In his most recent outing, the Grade III Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland on October 7, he ran a thrilling, come-from-behind race, finishing second by a short nose to Mrs. S.K. Johnston’s New Zealand-bred Hoofit. There is no word yet on which Breeder’s Cup race Aikenite will enter.

Great Art, Great Place

The Aiken Thoroughbred Hall of Fame and Museum is putting on an exhibit of the works of the late Allen F. Brewer from September 18 to October 18. There is an opening reception at the museum on Saturday, September 18 at 2 p.m., and the public is invited to attend. There, they will have the chance to meet the artist’s daughters, Susan Brewer Tonarely and Sherry Brewer. Show hours will be Tuesday through Friday from 2 to 5 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 2 to 5 p.m. The exhibition is open to the public with free admission.

Allen Brewer (1921-1967) is considered one of the world’s foremost equine artists. He worked in oils, watercolor and pencil. Critics have rated his work highly in such areas as composition, perspective, handling of light and shadow, and the ability to suggest the underlying structure of bone and muscle. Horsemen have admired his paintings for their ability to reproduce an exact likeness of a particular horse.

Brewer is best known for his depictions of famous racehorses. The list of horses he has painted include Citation, Dr. Fager, Man O’War, Nashua, Northern Dancer, Stymie and Swaps. He also made portraits of several Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame members, including Capot, Kelso and Tom Fool. 

The Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum is located in Hopelands Gardens at 135 Dupree Place and celebrates Aiken’s contributions to equestrian sports. Prints from this exhibit will be for sale and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Hall of Fame. For more information, please visit the website: www.aikenracinghalloffame.com

Pony Club Polo Players

After 12 long years of work and negotiations, this summer the United States Pony Club has decided to accept polo as an official discipline.

“There were two main reasons that the Pony Club decide to accept us this year,” says Kris Bowman who is the director of club development at the United States Polo Association. “The first was that they saw how strong our intercollegiate and interscholastic program was – this year we had 110 teams. So they could see that if kids learned polo in the pony club, they could take it somewhere, they could play on an interscholastic or an intercollegiate level.

“The second reason was that they wanted to expand any programs that would retain boys in the Pony Club.”

Polo’s official induction into the USPC was marked by three days of games, clinics and demonstrations at the 2011 Pony Club Festival at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, from July 24-26. Clinics included sessions with the foot mallet, on horseback and in a hitting cage.

The polo demonstration match featured two members of Aiken’s interscholastic polo team, Ty Morris and Austin Allen. Austin is a junior member at Aiken Polo Club, while Ty plays with Overbrook in Wagener. Both young men are pony club members who are also veterans of polocrosse. Aiken is expected to have its own pony club polo team in the very near future.

“We expect Aiken to be one of the leaders in the pony club polo movement,” says Kris.

Kris is excited about the prospect of pony club introducing polo to hundreds, if not thousands of enthusiastic kids.

“Our interscholastic programs start when kids are 12,” she says. “But pony club starts when kids are much younger. So here we’ll have these amazing young riders, already playing polo by the time they are old enough for the interscholastic program.”

Aiken Drivers Abroad

This summer and fall, no fewer than six Aiken-based drivers packed up their horses, harnesses, carts and carriages and flew to Europe to train and compete. Five of these whips are in the pony divisions and are on their way to the World Pony Driving Championships in Lipica, Slovenia from September 22-25. One, Joe Yoder, trained in Germany with the American driving coach Michael Freund and then competed with the rest of the American team at the Reisenbeck CAI in July. From there, he went to Conty, France for the FEI World Pair Driving Championships from August 25-28.

Joe, a young driver who recently relocated to Aiken from Montana, drives a pair of black Gelderlander geldings owned by Jack Wetzel. Earlier in the year, he drove these geldings to the United States Equestrian Federation national pairs championship at Live Oak in Florida. The FEI World Pair Driving Championships were his first international competition.

At the championships, things started out well for the Americans. Joe Yoder had an excellent dressage test, scoring 44.03, which was good enough for sixth place in that phase. His teammate, Misdee Wrigley-Miller, scored 52.86 and came in seventh, putting the United States into fifth place going into the marathon.

The weather in France had been wet and the ground was quite saturated on the next day, marathon day. It was a day of changeable weather, with sun one moment and pouring rain the next, the kind of day that can play havoc with competitors and spectators alike.

Kathrin Dancer, the third member of the American team, was the fifth driver of the day, and the first of the Americans. She went clean with no time penalties. Misdee Wrigley-Miller had the 26^th start position. She also made it through the course without penalties, despite a driving rain that drenched her halfway through her run. Joe Yoder, the driver who was expected to do best in the marathon and who had a chance of medaling, had an unlucky draw. He went 50^th out of 70 drivers. By this time the course was heavy, muddy and cut up. He slogged through, but it was not pretty. His groom fell off the cart on the fifth hazard, and he incurred more penalty points on the course. He ended up in 57^th place. Wrigley-Miller and Dancer were 28^th and 45^th respectively.

The next day, cones day, was not a great one for the Americans either. Wrigley-Miller was eliminated on the course, Yoder had two balls down for six penalty points and finished 21^st.. Dancer dropped a ball and had time penalties for 9.66 points and 29^th place. Overall, Yoder ended up in 27^th place and the American team came out 10^th. Although these scores may sound somewhat disheartening, this is a new team with little international experience. Things can only get better!

The pony drivers are still training in Germany in preparation for their trip to Slovenia. On the same weekend as the World Pair Championships, the American ponies competed at the German National Championships in Minden. American drivers fared best in the singles division. Miranda Cadwell, who trains in Southern Pines, N.C. came in second, while Shelley Temple, who has a winter training base in Windsor, finished fifth.  Suzy Stafford, another Windsor driver, was just out of the ribbons in 11^th place.

Who Has America’s Favorite Trail Horse?

The American Competitive Trail Horse Association has a new reality TV series called America’s Favorite Trail Horse. Competitors tried out for the show back in April in three- minute mounted auditions that included some simple trail obstacles. Auditions were held all over the country and were open to anyone 21 and older - all you had to do was pay the entry fee (it was $149, a little steep for some riders.)

The top 100 horses and their riders were selected as finalists. These horse and rider combinations participated in the national finals, a five-day ride held at the Franklin Family Ranch near Austin, Texas in May. This ride was filmed for 13 one-hour episodes that will air on the HRTV every Tuesday at 8 pm starting on September 13. (The shows are also repeated three hours later at 11 and then again at 10 a.m. on Sunday.) Episodes 2 through 11 will each feature ten different trail horses. After the show, America will have the chance to vote for their favorite horse in that episode, and the winner of each show will get $5,000. Episode 12 will feature the ten previous winners. America’s votes will then determine which horse is selected as America’s favorite trail horse. Winning comes with a cash prize - $25,000 for first, $15,000 for second and $10,000 for third.

According to the ACTHA website, “The purpose of America’s Favorite Trail Horse is to bring attention to the great American trail horse that has served this country so magnificently. It is our sincere hope that this effort will cause many to get back in the saddle again. . . .”

Edgar Cato

Edgar Thomas Cato, one of Aiken’s most influential horsemen, died on June 21. Mr. Cato was born in Aiken County in 1925 and grew up in Augusta. Along with his father Wayland Sr. and his brother, Wayland Jr., he founded the Cato Company in 1946. Cato stores specialized in women’s apparel and were an immediate success. By 1948, the company had seven stores in small towns in South Carolina. A year later, the company had over $1 million in revenue and it continued to grow and expand.

Mr. Cato was a sportsman, horseman, pilot and philanthropist. His sailing adventures took place mainly in Newport, R.I. and Charleston, S.C. He competed successfully in many regattas and was a two-time 12 meter world champion and an IRC champion. He was a supporter of and contributor to the International Yacht Restoration School and Sail Newport’s public access sailing programs. He also created the Hissar Sailing Center at the College of Charleston and the Edgar T. Cato Dinghy Park in Newport.

Many people will remember Edgar Cato wearing his hunting pinks and serving as the Master of Foxhounds of his own private pack, the Flat Branch Hounds at his Augusta Plantation in Windsor. He was not just an avid foxhunter, he was also a supporter of foxhunting and of the Aiken equestrian community. According to Linda Knox McLean, he was the largest single donor the Hitchcock Woods has ever had.

He had interests in horse racing and especially in steeplechasing. His steeplechasers, racing under the name Brigadoon Stable, were frequent entrants in races on the National Steeplechase Association circuit, including the semiannual races in Aiken. His most successful horse in recent years was Erin Go Bragh, who won the New Jersey Hunt Cup in 2008. His commitment to the sport was deep and he served two terms as a board member of the NSA.

Finally, he was a generous supporter and sponsor of polo. He created Loughrea Plantation about ten miles east of town, a spectacular polo farm that has two of the best tournament fields in the area. His Brigadoon polo team, captained by his daughter Christine, has been an important presence in low, medium and high goal tournaments in South Carolina and Florida.

A memorial service for Mr. Cato was held Saturday, June 25 at the Aiken Thoroughbred Hall of Fame and Museum.

Polo Plans

Once again, numerous polo players are staying in Aiken for the summer, and there are several players who will be hosting informal, private chukkers on their own fields to give their green horses some experience and keep their hand-eye coordination up to par. At least two clubs will be offering organized games and practices. One is Overbrook in Wagener, and the other is Aiken Polo Club, which has not had a summer polo program for about 20 years.

According to Overbrook's Clint Nangle, the polo at his club will be casual and laid back. "If you want to go charging down the field, it's probably not the right place for you - we have a style of play that is more easy-going," he says. Practices are currently scheduled for Wednesday evenings at 6:30 pm and Saturday mornings at 9:00 am, but the schedule could easily be modified to accommodate players' schedules.

Overbrook is also offering coaching chukkers with pointers on rules and plays, and has been running a full lesson program with private and semiprivate sessions available for riders of all types, beginners through advanced. Clint says that the lessons have been quite successful, bringing in numerous new players, both from the greater Aiken equestrian community and from Lexington and Columbia. The chief instructor is Christine Cato, who brings a wealth of polo experience at all levels, from low goal club chukkers up to the 20 goal and beyond. (For more information, check out the website: www.overbrookaiken.com or call 803-646-8350.)

Aiken Polo Club's summer season is not just the first summer polo it has offered in a long time, it is also the first arena polo the club has ever had. The club will be using the new polo arena at Hilltop Farm east of town on Hatchway Bridge Road. Practice chukkers are scheduled for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 9 am, with more practice days if there are enough people who want to play.

Aiken polo club's manager, Craig Fraser, says that there are plans to have lessons, lease horses, clinics and a progression league. The practice season starts June 18 and will conclude in mid August or carry on until the fall outdoor season starts in September if people want to play. For chukkers, call the regular APC hotline: 803-643-3611. For more information, contact Craig: craig@pologuy.com or 803-292-3377.

In other polo news, this spring New Bridge Polo Club decided to encourage more participation at their club. They are lowering their dues by almost 50 percent, bringing them more in line with other club dues in the area. Now, homeowners at New Bridge can play polo for $3,000 per year, while outside players can join for $3,500 per year. New Bridge holds three practices a week and maintains practice and stick and ball fields. Members are welcome at the practices, can use the stick and ball fields, and get a discount on club tournaments. They can even use the other club amenities, which include a swimming pool and tennis courts. Practice days are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, so they mesh perfectly with Aiken Polo Club, which holds practices on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. If you join both clubs, you will have somewhere to play six days a week!

Willie Hartnett, who manages the club says that there are a few other changes on the horizon this fall. For instance, the club always holds an 8 goal, the Copa de Plata in the fall, but this tournament is usually just a club event. Now it will be a USPA event, and a qualifier for the National Presidents Cup, held each April in Palm Beach. There is a lot of enthusiasm for this tournament and for all the other  fall tournaments. In fact, Willie says that there are already a handful of entry forms in the office from teams that are either very organized or very eager for the season to begin. "We expect a big season on the 8 to 12 goal level," he says.

Aiken International Horse Park

The Equine Steering Committee of the Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce is moving forward with plans to develop a world class international horse park in Aiken. Although the ESC has been talking about a horse park since its inception in early 2009, it has yet to create a formal plan and a proposal to do so. This spring however, the committee commissioned Jeff Wallace, a former editor at the Aiken Standard, to put together a draft of a white paper entitled a "Vision for an International Horse Park in Aiken County." The paper was then circulated to the members of the Equine Steering Committee, the chamber's board of directors, and to the membership of the Equine Support Council for review, comments and suggestions.

The proposal, which is 16 pages long, gives a summary of the history of the horse industry in Aiken and makes a case for the construction of a "comprehensive multi-use facility amenable to all equestrian disciplines." The ideal location for the park is deemed to be "somewhere in the 1-20 corridor, close to but not in Aiken proper." The park is envisioned as something that will help the equestrian industry in town, but which also is something that Aiken itself needs for a healthy future. Since the 1950s, the Savannah River Plant has been the major driver in Aiken's economy. With closures at the plant "more the rule than the exception", Aiken would be well advised to "look to other areas to bolster its future economy."

The proposal calls for a facility that encompasses at least 600 to 1000 acres, with space for a cross country course, permanent barns, a covered arena, and an "architecturally striking" signature building that is seen as a tourist destination in itself. The park would also have its own trail system, which would, ideally, connect up with a countywide system of trails that the Equine Support Council is in the process of establishing. The plan calls for the use of as much green technology as possible in the construction of the park, thus making it a "national model for conservation and green development." Use of green technology might also make the construction of the park eligible for various government grants and loans.

All of this is still in the very early planning stages, however. Not only is the draft white paper being modified through discussions with members of the Equine Support Council, but the Equine Steering Committee has yet to decide how the park should be funded, who exactly should own it, and even if they should pursue the project. An international horse park of the size and stature envisioned by the ESC's plan would necessarily cost many millions of dollars. Exactly where that money might come from in these uncertain economic times is certainly an important question. But proponents of the horse park are not daunted. Even if the money for the project is not all there yet, and even if the facility has to be constructed in stages, they believe that a horse park is vital to the future of the equestrian industry in the area, and even to the future of Aiken County itself. 

Aiken International

Horsemen who train in Aiken are doing quite a bit of traveling these days, and will be doing more in the near future. This spring, Shawna Harding, whose base of operations is Aiken, was selected as one of three riders to represent the U.S. at the World Cup Dressage finals in Leipzig, Germany at the end of April. After that competition, she stayed on in Europe to continue competing, giving her two mounts, Come On III and Rigo, valuable experience and exposure on the international circuit.  Come On III is a stunning 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood that Shawna has owned and campaigned since he was a youngster, while Rigo is a10-year old Hanoverian gelding owned by Tonya Rowe.

Earlier this year, Shawna won the $25,000 Carol Lavell Advanced Dressage Prize which helped fund her trip overseas. Other fundraisers included an auction of 30 bags of feed donated by Charlie Herrick, owner of Banks Mill Feeds. Shawna will be showing in Germany, Austria and Italy before returning to the states.

This summer, a number of Aiken-based combined driving competitors will also descend on Europe. In August, Jennifer Matheson, Suzy Stafford, Wendy O'Brien and Shelly Temple will be transporting their ponies and vehicles to Germany to train with the U.S. driving coach Michael Freund before traveling to Lipica, Slovenia to represent the United States in the FÇdÇration Equestre Internationale World Pony Driving Championships. There, they will be joined by another Aiken based driver, Janelle Marshall, who will represent Australia, her native country. The World Pony Championships take place from September 21-25.

The FEI World Pair Driving Championships (for horses) will be held in Conty, France from August 24-28. Aiken will also have a representative in that event: Joe Yoder, a recent Aiken transplant, will be driving a pair of Gelderlander geldings owned by Jack Wetzel and trained by Vance Coulthard, both well-established Aiken horsemen. Jack's Gelderlanders started out as a four-in-hand of carriage driving horses, and were a familiar sight leading Aiken's many carriage parades. Just about two years ago, they entered their first combined driving event with Bill Long, a veteran competitor, acting as whip, and last fall, competed in the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky. This winter, Joe Yoder took the reins, driving them to the top of the standings in numerous pair competitions on the national circuit. In March, Joe and Wetzel's pair won the United States Equestrian Federation's National Pairs Championship.

Wetzel's team will fly to Germany to train with Michael Freund in early July. They will probably enter some warm-up competitions before taking on the world in France. 

Fire at True Prospect

Early in the morning of May 31, a fire destroyed the barn that the event rider Boyd Martin was renting from Phillip Dutton at Dutton's True Prospect Farm in Pennsylvania. There were 11 horses in the barn at the time, and three people living in the upstairs apartment. Lillian Heard, Caitlin Silliman and Ryan Wood were awakened by the fire and sounded the alarm. Along with Phillip and Boyd, they managed to rescue five horses from the blaze. The surviving horses were transported to the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals at the University of Pennsylvania New Bolton Center. Six other horses perished. Lillian, Caitlin and Ryan were treated and released from Jennersville Hospital.

The horses in Boyd's barn included numerous upper level eventers, some up-and coming horses, as well as the personal horses of Caitlin Silliman and Lillian Heard: Lillian's Ariel, a young mare competing at the Preliminary level, was one of the horses that died. The other horses that did not make it out were Call Me Ollie, Charla, Phantom Pursuit, Cagney Herself and Summer Breeze. Survivors included Catch a Star, Ambassador's Rose, Otis Barbotiere, Minotaure du Passoir and Neville Bardos, the horse that Boyd rode at the 2010 World Equestrian Games. After several weeks of treatment for burns and smoke inhalation, all five horses have been released from the clinic, but only one, Ambassador's Rose, has so far been able to return to work. The prognosis for the remaining horses is unclear, although they are reported to be healing rapidly.

The eventing community was shocked by the tragedy, and immediately united around all those affected by the fire. In the weeks since, there have been numerous fundraisers to help defray costs for Boyd as well as to help Ryan, Lillian and Caitlin, who lost all of their possessions in the fire. The outpouring of support has been immense, with charity auctions at various events, bake sales, special schooling events and an online charity auction on eBay. Many individuals and companies have stepped up to offer their support. For instance, EcoGold, a Canadian company that sponsors Boyd, donated 50 percent of proceeds from orders of their saddle pads to Boyd's team, raising over $8,000 in two weeks. At one charity auction, $14,000 was raised - then Alan Shinton, a generous supporter of eventing, stepped up to match those funds, bringing the total to $28,000. The June 12 Lumber River Starter Horse Trials at the Carolina Horse Park in Raeford, N.C. donated a portion of their funds to victims of the fire. Closer to home, Full Gallop Farm in Aiken made their June combined test a benefit for the True Prospect recovery funds.

Separate, tax deductible funds have been set up for Caitlin, Lillian and Ryan. There is also a general relief fund. To donate or for more information, visit the website at South California Equestrian Sports (www.scesports.org) or go to Boyd Martin's site. (www.boydandsilvamartin.com) 

Boyd Martin and his team make their winter home in Aiken where they are based at Bridle Creek Equestrian Community. Fire investigators in Pennsylvania have determined that the fire was accidental and electrical in origin.