WILLIAMSBURG — A major name has been notably absent from the Traverse City hunter rings for the past several years, and that finally changed in 2026 as Victoria Colvin took back-to-back wins Thursday of Traverse City Spring 2 in the $10,000 Green Hunter Incentive.
Aboard Central Park, Colvin topped the $10,000 Green Hunter Incentive with scores of 87 and 88 in the respective rounds. The effortless rounds Central Park put in undoubtedly made the gelding one to watch in the hunter rings as the season progresses.
“He’s a really cool horse,” Colvin said of the 6-year-old (Grandorado x Stutbuch). “It’s my first week on him so we don’t know each other too well, but he went amazing. He doesn’t really spook at anything and he’s very comfortable. He’s just a very easy horse.”
Owned by Wade Equestrian Farms, LLC, Central Park only began competing stateside in December of 2025, with his Traverse City victory being one of his most notable results to date. Paired up for the first time this week with Colvin, who holds five USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship titles, they are off to a winning start already.
Not long after her first win, she scored another in the $10,000 Green Hunter Incentive 3’6″ & 3’9″, this time aboard Et Cetera, owned by Glade Run Farm LLC. With sky-high scores of 90 and 91 in the first and second round, respectively, Et Cetera edged out an impressive field of green hunters for the top prize.
Colvin knew her partner better in this class, taking over the ride last fall, and the horse is also a past winner of this class during the Traverse City Spring Series. While Colvin proved earlier she could ride to the win regardless of experience together, their more solidified partnership certainly helped.
“It feels great,” Colvin said following her second win, reflecting on a great day. “Et Cetera jumped incredible in both rounds. I think [the Green Incentive] is a fun class to add before we go to Kentucky for the Green Incentive Finals. It gives an extra class for them to do and the rounds are a little longer, so for the Finals in a big ring we can test their fitness and see where they are.”
Daniel Bluman (Israel) had a last-minute change in travel plans that brought him to the Traverse City Spring Series, resulting in a win for him and longtime partner Gemma W in the week’s first major international event, the $62,500 CSI4* Welcome Stake. Against a top field of international athletes, including world number one-ranked Kent Farrington (USA), Bluman and Gemma W were blazingly fast in the jump-off to secure the top spot on the podium.
“Gemma is such a special mare,” Bluman said of the 15-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare (Luidam x Unaniem), owned by Over The Top Stables LLC. “She’s just brilliant and I’m very happy that she gets to take the win today.”