Jennifer Brannigan of Kennett Square, PA topped the podium on Sunday in the CCI4*-L to wrap up the 2022 MARS Bromont CCI on Nina Gardner’s homebred Twilightslastgleam. Two rails in the show jumping made the final phase a bit of a nail-biter as she finished just 1.4 penalties ahead of her nearest rival, Lindsay Traisnel of Maidstone, Ontario, riding Bacyrouge.
Following her win, Brannigan said of Twilightslastgleam, “I am just proud of yesterday and how hard the horse always tries. I cannot ask for more.” On a personal level she remarked, “As I get older it is not always about being perfect. It is about enjoying when it goes your way.”
Jennifer Brannigan (USA) and Twilightslastgleam. (Cealy Tetley photo)
Top Canadian Traisnel rode Bacyrouge, an 11-year-old Selle Francais gelding owned by Patricia Pearce. She said, “We got him as a four-year-old as a resale project and kind of sold everything else instead. This was while we were living in France. He did his first four-star last year at Bromont and was awesome, so I said okay, he always goes well at Bromont, we are going back to Bromont. We love Bromont!”
Other top-10 finishes in this division came from Jessica Phoenix and Wabbit (7th) and Jamie Kellock and Summer Bay (8th).
The CCI4*-S saw Valerie Pride (USA) and her own Favian add just one rail and 1.6 time penalties to retain their cross-country lead for the win. The only Canadian among the four finishers was Kendal Lehari, who placed 3rd riding Audacious.
The win in the CCI3*-L went to Olympian Boyd Martin, who added nothing to finish on a score of 31.9. Martin is based in Unionville, PA and rode Miss Lulu Herself, a nine-year-old Hanoverian mare owned by Bonnie Stedt.
US rider Elizabeth Halliday-Sharp took the CCI2*-L with Miks Master C, a 10-year-old Swedish Warmblood owned by Ocala Horse Properties. Three Canadians logged top-10 finishes, led by Jessica Phoenix/Alekhine (5th), Holly Jacks-Smither and Josephine (6th), and Brooke Massie/Major Chase (8th).
In the CCI2*-L U25, 17-year-old Cassie Sanger of Lakeville, CT and Fernhill Zoro added nothing to their cross-country score in Sunday’s show jumping to win the division. Sanger is coached by well-known top event rider, Darrah Alexander of Pine Plains, NY. Fernhill Zoro had previously been ridden by Alice Roosevelt to a 5th-place finish in 2019 at Bromont.
Of her first experience at Bromont, Sanger said, “It is gorgeous; for show jumping and dressage there is definitely a lot of atmosphere, the cross-country was definitely tough and to the level so I was paying attention the whole way around!”
This year saw a triumphant return to competition for the event following a two years of COVID-19 restrictions and welcomed the return of both spectators and vendors. Next on the calendar is the Little Bromont Horse Trials June 18-19, which will feature national level competition.
(Read the reports following dressage here and cross-country here.)
Full results here.
~ with files from Red Bay Group, LLC
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