Weekly Photo: Craigslist TB beats Warmbloods

Craigslist horse Au Girl, a bay Thoroughbred mare, was victorious last month over the Warmbloods in a AA Chicago show.

Craigslist horse Au Girl, a bay Thoroughbred mare, was victorious last month over the Warmbloods in a AA Chicago show.

Craigslist OTTB Au Girl beat the Warmbloods in the AA rated Showcase Spring Spectacular in Chicago June 20 under owner/rider Caitlyn Epperson.

In a speed jumper class, the lovely bay mare had it all over the 26-horse field of Warmbloods and other breeds, says coach Trapp O’Neal, who notes that the team had a great day despite traveling 1,200 miles from Houston to Chicago to get there.

Au Girl
Barn name: Lulu
Sire: Formal Gold
Dam: San Miguel Queen
Foal date: April 23, 2009
“I think what made this victory special was that it was a class with a lot of different breeds, and a lot of Warmbloods,” says O’Neal, a Texas Grand Prix rider and coach who purchased Au Girl from Craigslist in 2013. Please see an earlier article in Off Track Thoroughbreds here: http://offtrackthoroughbreds.com/2015/06/03/craigslist-ottb-rakes-in-high-level-ribbons/

After buying Au Girl on a whim, he was attracted by her good conformation and manners, O’Neal retrained her and sold her to his riding student, whose victory was so sweet.

“The ride as a whole was a big accomplishment,” O’Neal says. “To travel that far for that type of event— it took a lot to win it. They had to jump clean, leave all the rails up, and be faster than everyone else.”

Not only did the bay mare take her place in the winner’s circle, but she won a $2,500 purse!

Epperson’s mother Kathy says Au Girl finished a good four seconds ahead of the 2nd-place finisher.

“It’s not just about speed though. She turns in nice flowing rounds, gives 110 percent, and is the perfect balance of heart and determination to win,” she says. “This was Au Girl’s first Classic win, hopefully with many more to come.”

3 responses to “Weekly Photo: Craigslist TB beats Warmbloods”

  1. Janet Coy

    CONGRATS !! Those of us that are Thoroughbred fans are not surprised by this great win !!!!!! Hope you have many more victories with this lovely mare !! Although the best victory is that you found her !!!

  2. lexi63

    I retrained all my OTT thoroughbreds to compete in world cup jumping, there is nothing like a thoroughbred . they are the best horses in the world to compete on , a warm blood does not have the enormous heart of a thoroughbred , thoroughbreds will out do any breed of horse in any given event if trained & ridden properly. The problem is thoroughbreds are not the chosen mounts any more, they used to be all that anyone rode, now a thoroughbred is a rarer find for some reason ( slower to react, easier to handle) warmbloods are the chosen mounts more nowadays, I would chose a thoroughbred every time if i wanted to compete at any level in any event.

  3. Marilyn Lee-Hannah

    Woohoo!

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