Past Future and Young Event Horse Winner Finishes Second in First Three-Star Performance

Muggle by Leslie Threlkeld/USEA

Getting a spot on the podium at a CIC*** is no small feat, but victory is made even sweeter when it’s your first crack at the level.

Nilson Moreira da Silva (BRA) piloted Muggle (KWPN name Uhmazing Grace), a ten-year-old Dutch Warmblood (Obediah x Isn’t She Nice xx by Mr. Redoy xx) owned by the Phoenix Syndicate LLC, to a second place finish at both horse and rider’s inaugural three-star performance at the CHC International in Fairburn, Ga. The pair has been partnered for about a year after Muggle’s owner and former rider Melissa Stubenberg and her friend Laura VanderVliet decided over drinks one evening that the horse might be Moreira da Silva’s type of ride.

Muggle, or “Prince” as he is called in the barn, is no stranger to winning, however. The chestnut gelding, bred by Judy Jefferis of Laurel Hill Farm, was the first ever USEA Future Event Horse Champion as a three-year-old. With Stubenberg, he won the 5-Year-Old division at the Serra Valley Farms YEH in 2009, and was fourth in the East Coast Championships for Five-Year-Olds with Ryan Wood in the irons.

Source: USEA eNEWS