PrintAfter winning the Preliminary Horse Challenge last year at Woodside, things came full circle when Jude’s Law put down two flawless jumping efforts in his first advanced to end on 40.4 penalties and take home blue with Beth Temkin today, Sunday, May 30, at Woodside Horse Trials in Woodside, Calif.
“He has been amazing. He is amazing, and I’m not sure I’ll ever get to ride another horse like him,” said Temkin, 40, of the 9-year-old Irish Thoroughbred. “I’m honored. You worship the ground these horses walk on. Everyone should get the opportunity to ride one like him.”
Temkin was in second coming into today’s show jumping, and the pair’s fault-free round put the pressure on overnight leaders Maxance McManamy and Beacon Hill. Last year’s North American Junior/Young Rider Championship double-gold medalists were unable to hold on to first, however, and knocked two rails to drop them into third with 43.4 penalties. Jennifer Wooten-DaFoe and The Good Witch claimed second with 42.1, Andrea Baxter and Estrella moved up to fourth with 54.6 from their 11th-placed position after dressage, and Pam Fisher on Simply Priceless sealed fifth with 56.0.
There were only two refusals on the cross-country yesterday, Pam Fisher on Sea Lion had a stop at fence 14, a chevron coming out of the second water complex, and Maley Coombs on Land Hope had a refusal at 20A, a vertical log before a ditch-and-corner combination, and both Temkin and Wooten-DaFoe were pleased with Derek di Grazia’s design. No one made the time, but David Koss on Look Sweet came closest, only adding .8 penalties to their score; they eventually ended in seventh.
“The course was great. Because I live here I was very concerned about the footing because of all the rain we’ve had. It’s been really wet here, but I thought they did a great job on the footing,” said Temkin, Portola Valley, Calif. “He was fast. I didn’t look at my watch at all until I came to the last fence, and I was right there.”
While Wooten-DaFoe wasn’t necessarily looking to ride for the time on The Good Witch, she still only added 8 time penalties to her score, and a double-clean show jumping round won her the red ribbon.
“She was ready to go. She was coming back from Rolex, which was very disappointing and very unfortunate that I popped off, but she felt really good today,” Wooten-DaFoe, 32, said with a smile. “I wanted to just have a nice confident round. The way Derek designed the course; his questions were tough enough. It was a solid advanced course. I really like the technical questions; it really suits my mare. It was nice to knock off the cobwebs since we kind of got stuck when we came home from Rolex.”
Both Temkin and Wooten-DaFoe are aiming their horses for the CIC*** at The Event At Rebecca Farm (Mont.) in July.
