Wilmington, Ohio – The 2024 Winter in the Midwest Series has proved successful for young professional Devin Milan (USA), who scored her fourth featured win of the circuit in the $10,000 Welcome Stake at Winter Spring Forward.
Piloting Garo Kazan’s top jumper mounts, Milan has secured the win in at least one feature class during of each of her trips to World Equestrian Center – Wilmington in 2024.
As the pathfinder Thursday afternoon, she added another success to the record of Kazan’s nine-year-old Zangersheide gelding, Conquest (Colestus x Excellenta C).
Having piloted Conquest since his five-year-old year, Milan knew to opt for one extra stride over Michael Pegg’s (CAN) unrelated bending lines. “He can get flat, especially over the verticals. I did one less on my mare in the bending lines than I did on ‘Hot Dog’ because I wanted to protect those jumps,” Milan commented.
“I liked that we started on an oxer. I met it exactly how I walked it out of the turn. I thought that the verticals on the course were going to be the most challenging pieces for me. The R+L vertical was set on an angle and jump three with the waves can be spooky to the horses, especially right out of the gate toward the stands,” Milan expressed.
Executing her plan flawlessly in the first round, Milan set an uncatchable pace in the jump-off. Leaving out a stride in the final line and making a tidy turn back on the wide oxer, the duo secured another win in 27.214 seconds.
Charlottle Clark (USA) entered toward the bottom of the order with her own 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare, Kinsella (Capitalist x Jerpoint Mist), to challenge Milan’s leading time. One extra stride across the middle put the duo through the timers in a close 29.77 seconds for second place.
Richard Rinehart (USA) made his return from WEC – Ocala right where he left off, finding his place in the top three once again with his 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding, Caesar (Chalet x Glorielle), in 31.708 seconds.
$10,000 Welcome Stake Results:
1 Conquest, Devin Milan, Garo Kazan | 0 | 27.214
2 Kinsella, Charlotte Clark, Charlotte Clark | 0 | 29.77
3 Caesar, Richard Rinehart, Catherine Rinehart | 0 | 31.708
4 HJ Blind Date, Molly Kindness, Molly Kindness | 0 | 31.963
5 Duc De Jentiere, Lani Hutchison, Lani Hutchison | 0 | 33.971
6 Piranha SCF, Hanna Toering, Spy Coast Farm | 0 | 35.123
7 Victory RW Broekkant Z, Michaella Gerlacher, Shady Lane Ranch | 4 | 33.287
8 Karlina T, Devin Milan, Garo Kazan | 4 | 67.907
9 Quincidence, Wilhelm Genn, Wilhelm Genn | 4 | 72.847
10 Fortysix & 2, Lyriss Jaeger, Lyriss Jaeger | 11 | 80.386
Make sure to visit the WEC Blog and follow us on social media @worldequestriancenter for full coverage on all feature classes!
Results can be found at horseshowing.com.
All horse show images are provided by Winslow Photography and can be purchased onsite at WEC – Wilmington or online through their website.