Makhloghi and Burke Record First Day Wins at Saratoga Classic II Show
The Saratoga Classic II Horse Show kicked off on Wednesday, June 19, 2024, at White Hollow Farm with the professional hunters and several jumper classes. The show will run through Sunday, June 23, and features a $10,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby on Friday as well as a $25,000 Saratoga Grand Prix and the $15,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby Regional Championships on Saturday.
In the jumper divisions, professional Kyla Makhloghi rode her longtime partner, Rosemont Farm Inc.’s Hurry Up B, to a win in a 1.10-meter class of 16 entries.
While “Scarlet” has jumped to the national and international grand prix level since Makhloghi bought her as a six-year-old, the 12-year-old KWPN mare (Kojak x Cade Z) has decided she wants to jump at a lower level these days.
“She’s been trying her heart out for the last five years,” said Makhloghi. “She’s only 12, but she’s done amazing things for me, and I don’t ever want to put her in a position where she feels like she can’t go. I’m seeing if she’ll be happy jumping smaller jumps and maybe doing it competitively with someone else. I put a working student of mine on her last week, and she was awesome.
“I was just doing a training class,” she continued of her Wednesday plan. “With Scarlet, you can’t go slow! It’s a 1.10m class for a horse who’s been doing big stuff, but she owes me absolutely nothing, and I just want her to be happy.”
Makhloghi, who is based in Wellington, FL, said Scarlet tries hard no matter how high the fences are. “She was ready!” she said. “She gives 1,000% at everything you ask of her. She treated today like she treated the grand prix she won here a few years ago. She’s a competitor always. It’s going to be a little bit of an experimental summer with her, and she’s going to tell us what she wants. She’s been the best thing in my life for a very long time.”
This is the fourth year that Makhloghi and her students have competed at the Saratoga Horse Shows at White Hollow Farm.
“Management has really worked hard at making it better in all the ways that you want a horse show to,” she said. “They’re really conscious of improvement for the competitor and for the horse.”
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