Competitors in the Amateur-Owner Hunter 3’6” 36+ division returned to the E.R. Mische Grand Hunter Field on Saturday to contest the final three classes of the division for a chance at the champion and reserve titles. With two first place ribbons, Rindy Dominguez of Barrington, RI, took the champion title aboard her own MTM Casablanca.
Rindy Dominguez and MTM Casablanca. Photo © Sportfot.
Dominguez and the 11-year-old bay mare earned two firsts, a fourth, fifth, and eighth over the two days of competition which left them 2.5 points ahead of the reserve winner. The mare has been paired with Dominguez for approximately a year and a half but is just making her first Winter Equestrian Festival debut this season.
“She was imported as a jumper, but I bought her about three weeks after she was imported. We’ve spent the fall learning how to be a hunter,” Dominguez explained. “She’s been so lovely. This is her first experience at WEF and her first time at the 3’6” height, which is also something I haven’t done in about two years so it’s very exciting.”
Dominguez is excited for the mare’s future after ending the 2018 season as the Zone 1 Champion in the Amateur-Owner 3’3” 36+ division.
“She’s just lovely,” she said. “The more she shows, the more she is figuring it all out and just continues to get better. The incredible thing about her is no matter where she leaves the ground to jump, she always jumps the same, so you can be a little tight or long and she will still make it beautiful.”
Rindy Dominguez and MTM Casablanca in their winning presentation. Photo © Sportfot.
“She is going to go home, have a huge pile of hay, and rest in preparation for the next class,” Dominguez joked.
The reserve title was awarded to Tina Allen and Sinatra. She and the seven-year-old Westphalian gelding (Last Man Standing x Lovely) were the only other combination to secure two blue ribbons in the division, along with a sixth place.
In the Amateur-Owner Hunter 3’3″ division, the winners of the stake class, Christina Plichta and Kingsford, were presented with the Champion Equine Insurance Hunter Style Award by Laura Fetterman.