Chenoa McElvain and Wallstreet RC are riding on a winning streak at the 2019 Santa Fe Summer Series at HIPICO Santa Fe! Hot off their win in last Sunday’s $25,000 Santa Fe Welcome Week Variable Grand Prix, this mighty pair struck again at yesterday’s $7,500 Kathy and Brad Coors Santa Fe Welcome Stake.
Photo by Sharon McElvain
The course designer, Hector Loyola, presented a difficult track, which ended in a triple combination to a five stride line to the final oxer. This challenging end to the course seemed to be the ‘line of death’ for quite a few competitors, inviting many rails to be knocked down. With 20 entries in the class, only three riders proceeded to the jump-off: Chenoa McElvain, Michael Tokaruk, and Mackenzie Hudson. “The Welcome was fantastic! It was fair, but begged many technical questions. I did want a few more clear rounds, but am thrilled with how the class went! Chenoa did what I thought the winner had to do to win the class,” said Loyola.
Chenoa McElvain’s first comment in her winner’s interview was to praise her student Mackenzie Hudson, who is the 2019 Rancho Corazon Scholarship Winner, co-sponsored by HIPICO Santa Fe. “I was incredibly proud of Mackenzie and her jump-off on Ekyra [Fortuna]. She’s been on quite a journey with that mare and rode her perfectly,” said McElvain. Hudson nearly won the class, before pulling up in front of the last jump on course.
Commenting on own riding, McElvain is thrilled with her and Wallstreet RC’s winning streak, “It was a very exciting win and I hope we can keep it going! I went in the ring not planning to go super fast, but when I came out of the ring, Jenni [McAllister] was like ‘so much for not going fast, huh?!’ During the course walk, I was debating the inside turn from the first triple bar to jump 4, but when I trotted into the ring for the jump-off, I gave it a second look and knew I was going to ‘for sure’ try that. I went first in the jump-off, so I had to put pressure on the rest of the field a little bit. I trusted Walle’s scope and did the inside turn. Mackenzie would have beat me if she had finished the last jump!”
Photo by Sharon McElvain
The awards ceremony took place during a beautiful Santa Fe sunset and the class served as the perfect warmup for the upcoming $30,000 Sonrisa Week Grand Prix this Sunday on the Grand Prix Field!
