DEVON, Pa.--Despite what may have been the worst weather in it's long history, the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair was a huge success, both from the competitions in the ring to the crowds around the ring.

Aaron Vale on Carissimo winning the Grand Prix.(Photo by Kind Media)Devon this year drew its finest list of competitors ever, particularly its premiere divisions, Arena Eventing and FEI Jumping, and those riders lived up to their reputations, providing exciting class after exciting class.

"In my many years of attending Devon, I've never seen such a level of competition, particularly in the jumpers," sad Wayne W. Grafton, Chairman and CEO of the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair. "And it was the same with Arena Eventing. If you are into exciting competition, you got it at Devon his year."

"Financially and in numbers of spectators, we were hitting numbers above last years, which were good," said Grafton. "It was a great show with great competitions, and now we've turned the corner and are heading into the Fall Classic."

For all of Junior Weekend, Wednesday, May 21 through Saturday, May 24, it was unseasonably cold with off and on rain.

Then luckily on Sunday,the sun finally came out and it warmed up a bit for one of Devon's two biggest nights, Arena Eventing,

Eventing World Number One Boyd Martin  gave the huge, standing room only crowd a tutorial on how to ride a jump-off round, thrilling the spectators with tight turns and a flat out gallop the length of the ring to win the Event for the third time and the second consecutive time on  Miss Lulu Herself.

 

IN THE JUMPER Welcome Stake, the Bluman cousin fought it out, with Daniel riding for Israel, coming out on top over Mark, riding for Colombia.

The two Speed classes Wednesday and Friday evenings bore the brunt of the bad weather.

It was not only raining with occasional downpours, but it was also cold and windy, yet there were still people standing by the rail huddled under umbrellas.

And the competition made it worth their while, with now World Ranked Number Five McLain Ward winning over Kaitlin Campbell in the Two Phase Wednesday.

Then on Friday, Campbell, taking advantage of going after Ward, beat him a an exciting class over a course that used both the Dixon Oval and the Wheeler Ring.

Again, the big night, Grand Prix Thursday, thankfully for Devon brought good weather.

Grand Prix night always draws a huge crowd, but this year's seemed bigger than ever, and the Grand Prix delivered an exciting six horse jump-off.

Aaron Vale, last to go, pulled it out, winning by just a half second over Shane Sweetnam of Ireland and hometown favorite Alex Matx.

Then Saturday evening's  Idle Dice Stake delivered a 19 horse jump-off, with one after another taking huge risks to deliver the win.

"With a jump-off like that, the only thing you can do is to do something crazy," said Mark Bluman, who did just that to win, and it gave him what he said was a dream come true.

Time after time, riders commented on the atmosphere and aura of Devon and the importance of winning at such an historical event.

Devon delivered again, and this fall young and up and coming riders get to ride in the hallowed ring at the Fall Classic.