Miles combined champion at The Event
Two veteran CIC three-star riders and one talented newcomer won top honors at The Event at Rebecca Farm on Sunday.
Gina Miles and her Irish Sporthourse, McKinlaigh, took first place with a combined 54 points in Friday's dressage, Saturday's cross country and Sunday's show jumping.
Tiana Coudray rode King Street to a second-place finish with 67.7 points, followed by Hawley Bennett, who finished with 68.3 points atop Livingstone.
Miles won $10,000 while Coudray and Bennett earned $8,000 and $6,000, respectively.
Miles, 32, and Bennett, 29, have competed in the CIC three-star division since 2001 and both have a wealth of international eventing experience. But The Event was the first CIC three-star competition for Coudray, 17, and King Street.
McKinlaigh had recently recovered from exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage, rendering his strong performance a pleasant surprise to Miles.
"I was coming in not quite sure of what his condition would be," Miles said. "It's very exciting."
Miles knew McKinlaigh was feeling well after she rode him through the cross country course in seven minutes, 23 seconds while picking up 13.2 time penalties.
Miles already lead before show jumping, but she completed a stellar performance in the final discipline, receiving no jump penalties or time penalties. She enjoyed having a six-point lead heading into show jumping.
"It certainly (gave) us a little bit more breathing room, which is nice," Miles said.
Though The Event qualified Miles for the International Equestrian Federation Eventing World Cup Final in Malmo, Sweden, Miles isn't sure if she'll go there because the trip would cost about $30,000.
Miles competed at The Event in 2004, finishing fourth. Rebecca Farm was hot and dry Friday and Saturday, but Miles said McKinlaigh was undisturbed by Sunday's thunderstorms.
"My horse is Irish - he loves the rain," Miles said. "He was fantastic all throughout. He is a classic eventing horse because he's super in all three phases."
Bennett was in second place prior to show jumping, but eight jump penalties dropped her to third. She would have finished second if Livingstone had clipped just one rail rather than two, but Bennett was still pleased with her finish because she hadn't competed with Livingstone since taking a hard fall in April.
Bennett was also rewarded for finishing cross country closest to the optimum time of 6:50. She finished in 6:59 with just 3.6 time penalties.
Even though Bennett finished second at The Event last year, she wasn't obsessed with winning it this year.
"I was more concerned with my horses and how I did, and wherever we ended up is how we ended up," Bennett said.
Bennett said Miles deserved to win and that she was happy for her, but she acknowledged that the weather didn't help her own cause.
"It poured rained just when I started and stopped right when I was done," said Bennett, adding that it was distracting to go back and forth from hot sun to pelting rain.
Bennett is a native of Langley, British Columbia, but she, Miles and Coudray all train in California now.
Coudray trailed Bennett by 3.4 points after cross country, but she received only four jump penalties in show jumping, allowing her to edge Bennet.
"I was happy to jump a nearly clean round," Coudray said. "Coming into this event, all I needed was a qualifying score."
Coudray may be new to the CIC three-star eventing circuit, but she's no stranger to travel and competition. She began Irish dancing when she was four and competed until she was 15. She was the North American champion in 1996.
The Event was Coudray's Rebecca Farm debut and Coudray was impressed by her experience.
"It's beautiful property and it's absolutely incredible the amount of prize money and sponsors they're able to get," Coudray said.
Finishing second was made even more special for Coudray because she placed between two of her favorite riders: Miles and Bennett.
"They're both wonderful people," Coudray said. "It was pretty neat to be sitting out there with them."