Hygain Highlights from The 2022 Devon Horse Show
Pangaea Earns Best Young Horse Title to Conclude 2022 Devon Horse Show and Country Fair
Devon, Pa. – June 5, 2022 – Concluding another successful year of the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair was the presentation of the coveted Best Young Horse and Leading Handler awards in the historic Dixon Oval. The prestigious award for Best Young Horse was selected from the ribbon winners of the in-hand classes throughout the day. This year, it was Kimberly Sweeny’s Pangea (Uno Don Diego-Willow) and handler 19-year-old Hailey Raach who took home the top prize.
Pangea earned the Devon blue in the 2-Year-Old Pennsylvania Bred-Fillies class with handler Jay Raach, and also won the 2-Year-Old Other Than Thoroughbred-Filles class with Hailey as the handler earlier in the day. Pangea was also awarded the Best Pennsylvania Bred Horse, leaving a lasting impression on the judges to ultimately earn the Best Young Horse of the 2022 Devon Horse Show. Pangea was also the recipient of the Kenneth Wheeler Perpetual Trophy, donated by B.J. Meeks, and the championship cooler, sponsored by Saratoga Horseworks Ltd. Reserve Best Young Horse was awarded to Susan Tice-Grossmann’s Rougemont (Ribaldi-Lady Calvert), handled by Drew Taylor.
The Leading Handler Award was presented to the handler who accrued the most points, based on ribbons won, throughout the eligible classes during Sunday’s competition. At the conclusion of the afternoon, William Howland was announced as the handler who would etch his name on The Michael E. Grady Memorial Perpetual Trophy, donated by his friends. Howland handled Gina Filewicz’s Thepreacherswife (Runnintothealter-My Catori) to the Best Thoroughbred award earlier in the day, and also handled Diana Dodge’s Avon (Winston-Revlon R) and Abbie Fischer’s Indescretionable (Smarty Jones-I’m Spicy Hot) to top titles.
While Sunday marked the conclusion of the 2022 Devon Horse Show and Country Fair, the always highly anticipated event looks forward to returning in 2023.
FROM THE WINNER’S CIRCLE
Hailey Raach – Best Young Horse Winner
On receiving the Best Young Horse award:
“This is my first ever Best Young Horse at Devon. Normally I don’t get them, my dad Jay Raach does. I had her today and it was great. This is only her second horse show this year. It’s been a lot for her and she’s been really good today.”
On Pangea:
“Pangea is by Uno Don Diego, who is a very big dressage stallion. Her mother is by Console who is another dressage stallion, so she has no hunter in her at all. She’s supposed to be 17+ hands, she’s only two years old so it makes it special that a two-year-old won today. She’s really easy to work with, the sweetest horse in the barn, she can be a little big for her size but she’s figuring out how to grow into herself. Hopefully a big hunter career ahead of her.”
On The Devon Horse Show:
“I’ve been coming to the Devon Horse Show since I was two years old so it’s been great to come back and see everyone, watch and be able to have great horses to show. It’s been fun.”
On her family’s breeding history:
“My dad is Jay Raach and my mom is Karen Raach. My dad was the USEF Leading Hunter Breeder Handler of the Year last year. We had the USEF Yearling High Score Hunter Champion Hunter Breeding Horse last year and the USEF High Score Hunter Breeding Horse last year. We show all the time, not just breeding but hunters, jumpers, equitation. I have done hunter breeding here and there, and when we need an extra handler I’ll do it. I don’t do it as often as my parents because they are professionals. I’ve been holding since I was 10 years old in amateur handler classes, but I’ve been working with horses and been around horses since I was two years old. We lived on a farm so I was around horses starting at two weeks old. I am 19 years old and I graduated from high school last year and this is what I do full time. I love it. I would love, in 10 years, to take over the family business and have my parents retire so when I’m 30 I’ll hopefully be in charge of everything and show all of the horses and ponies.”
Best Young Horse, sponsored by Renaissance Farm:
Place / Handler / Owner
1. Pangaea / Hailey Raach / Kimberly Sweeney
2. Rougemont / Drew Taylor / Susan Tice-Grossman
3. Rhapsody / Jay Raach / Linda Uphold
Leading Handler Award, sponsored by Renaissance Farm:
Place / Handler
1. William Howland
