The first Grooms Class of the 2025 Winter Equestrian Festival – with $6,000 in prize money on offer – saw a record number of entries and a majority of ribbons for Heritage Farm grooms.
Forty-two grooms and their well turned out horses, in full tack, lined up for the judges – complete with backpacks and all the equipment and extra items they would choose to bring with a horse ready to show. Emily Williams judged the hunters and selected Heritage’s Farm’s Luis Mandujano with Lexi Maounis’ Forsini as the winner. “I was surprised,” Mandujano said. “But I am super happy.”
Hunter Grooms Class
Williams raced over from showing in the 1.40m in the Denemethy arena to make it to Ring 10 in time for the Grooms Class. “I was pretty honored that they asked me to judge this,” she said. “I came running over because I really wanted to do it, and it was tough because between the top six it really could have gone almost any way. So, then we had to really get down to the little details.”
Grooms classes at WEF have grown steadily in popularity since its inception, with the aim of giving recognition to those whose work behind the scenes is essential to the success inside the ring. As a hunter rider and trainer, Williams, who won the $25,000 USHJA 2* International Hunter Derby during week 4, understands the importance of a good team of grooms. She enticed Remiglio Padilla out of retirement to join her hunter barn this winter – and he works with a team of three others, none of whom could compete this time because of the conflict of interest. “I wanted my guys to be able to come and do this, but I didn’t really think it was fair if I was judging,” she said.
Heritage Farm Domination
Mandujano was one of eight Heritage Farm’s grooms to finish in the top eight – five in the hunter group and three in the jumpers. Heritage could claim a Trifecta with their hunter grooms as Carlos Mares with Darjeeling claimed second and Roland Hernandez with Moonshine took third place – both horses owned by Hallowell Lane Farm LLC and showing with Heritage Farm.
Jumper Grooms Class
Mandujano’s counterpart winner in the jumper category – selected by Jimmy Torano and Charlotte Jacobs – was also his stablemate Ladislao Lara with Grace Lowe’s Kilbrackan Blue Jay.
Lara said he was fairly confident going into the competition even though he only started working with horses three years ago, when he joined Heritage Farm. “I learned very quickly,” he said. “And I learned everything here at Heritage.” Like many of the grooms Lara had spent most of the day preparing the horse for the contest – paying attention to every detail while giving baths, cleaning tack, polishing lead shanks and, in Lara’s case, braiding the jumper himself. He chose to show Kilbrackan Blue Jay for a reason. “This is the horse that I spend most time with, and I trust him,” he said.
Details Matter
Details proved to be the difference for the judges, and the fact that Williams marked down one groom due to “the tiniest shaving in the top of the tail” speaks to the high standard of the competition. Another contender for the title lost out due to the tightness of the girth. “That [horse and groom] is probably used to winning,” she said. “But the girth was super tight. I understand the concept of having a tight girth if your rider is getting on, but for me as a rider I want my horse to be comfortable until I’m ready to get on.”
Other critiques included horses’ feet that didn’t have fresh paint and grooms who had their shirts untucked. Williams provided feedback to the riders in her top eight and would have liked the chance to give more information after the class to those who entered – reminding them that they are judged on the overall presentation of themselves as well as the horse. “I would have loved to let them know that a tank top is not really acceptable,” she said. ”You want to look professional.”
Some grooms impressed with their use of creative thinking including sunscreen, a KIND bar and water for their riders in their backpacks. Mandujano stood out as the only groom to bring a halter with him. “You never know if you might need to tie the horse up,” he said. He has been a groom for six years ago. Unlike Lara, he was surprised to win. He received a check for $990, but that was not his main reward.
“I am so happy,” said Luis. “It is not about the money. I am just really proud and happy for the horse.”
Read more stories about winning grooms of the 2025 season in Wellington:
* About Remigio Padilla
* About Sofie Karlsson
* About Anna Halasz
* About Tamiles Pezzim
Sarah Eakin has a long history of sports reporting and covering equestrian disciplines – particularly show jumping, polo, racing and dressage – for a range of international publications as writer and editor-in-chief. In 2024, Sarah launched Paper Horse – an online magazine with an eclectic mix of stories from the horse world at www.paperhorsemedia.com. Paper Horse is an official Media Partner of Wellington International. Sarah was born in England and came to the US in 1996 as Sidelines’ Polo Editor; at the time she was chief polo writer at the Horse and Hound and Polo Correspondent to The Daily Telegraph. She married US professional polo player Gary Eakin and stayed Stateside traveling throughout North America while covering equestrian events. She is also an author; Wed, White and Blue, her first novel is on Amazon.
