WH Gibraltar (WH Bodacious x JKB Monietta) and Anna Caroline Chinnes took home a Top 5 Award this past weekend for the 2008 Region 12 Fifty Mile Endurance Championship. The ride was held in conjunction with the Sandhills Stampede held March 15-16th in Patrick, SC. The team of “AC & G” rode with two sponsors and completed all the vet checks in fine form to finish 6th overall in the 55-mile ride, and win a Top 5 for purebreds in the regional championship. This was the pair’s 6th endurance ride together, having completed the 1st annual Lee County Lizard Run two weeks before. They have also completed a number of limited distance miles. AC trains with Trisha Blackwell of Whitehaven Plantation in Bishopville, SC; she will now take some time off from endurance to concentrate on showing the farm’s sport horses. Trisha also competed at Sandhills—on her own straight Egyptian mare, Cinderella Story (Curundu Java x Ann Anazeh), on Saturday, and on the WH Bodacious son Indigo on Sunday. Cinderella Story finished the 30 mile ride in 24th place (out of 65 starters); previously this year she finished the 25 mile Lizard Run in 28th place. Trisha hopes to compete Cinderella Story in the challenging Longstreet’s Charge in May, so she took it slow on these two rides in order to preserve the mare’s soundness. Both Trisha and AC now look forward to competing the Valour Arabians’ endurance horses in upcoming rides.