Stuart Horse Trials

USEA - Galway Downs International Horse Trials Provide A Perfect ...

Temecula, Calif., March 24, 2011— A star-studded field of 15 horses is ready to compete in the CIC3* at the Galway Downs International Horse Trials on April 1-3, which is a designated Adequan USEA Gold Cup Division . Two of the group’s leading contenders are Hawley Bennett-Awad on Gin ‘N Juice, a pair whose pivotal score helped Canada earn the team silver medal at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, and Gina Miles, the 2008 Olympic silver medalist, on her new mount Chanel.
 
Bennett-Awad, a 2004 Olympian who lives in Temecula, started riding Gin ‘N Juice as a young horse and has trained her to the sport’s highest levels. The Thoroughbred mare, 10, was bred by Terry and Linda Paine of Temecula and foaled across the street from the Southern California Equestrian Center, site of the Galway Downs event. Bennett-Awad is also riding the mare’s full brother, 5 O’Clock Somewhere, in the CIC2*.
 
Bennett-Awad’s main goal for this year is to ride Gin ‘N Juice in England’s famous Badminton Three-Day Event three weeks after Galway Downs, in preparation for the 2012 Olympics in London.
 
“Galway Downs is the perfect last run before we leave,” said Bennett-Awad. “Ian Stark’s courses are big and bold, and every single time I’ve ridden his courses, my horses come off them better than they were when they started. Plus, I can see the great changes Ian’s been making to the courses, and I can’t wait to ride them.”
 
Miles, of Atascadero, Calif., won the 2008 Galway Downs International Horse Trials on her way to earning the Olympic silver medal in Hong Kong with McKinlaigh. Miles has been searching for a successor to her great partner, and she believes she’s found one in Chanel, a Danish Warmblood mare co-owned by Liza Jane MacNaughton and previously ridden in European international events by Peter Flarup of Denmark.
 
Miles has already competed Chanel twice this spring and is hoping to qualify for the Pan Am Games in Mexico this summer. “She’s my hope for London 2012, and Galway Downs is an important step in our preparation. I know I can depend on Galway Downs, because it’s a first-class event with a top-notch course,” said Miles.
 
Amy Tryon of Duvall, Wash.

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