Get Set To Enter July 28 for the Connaway & Associates North American-Bred Horse Award at the 2026 Capital Challenge Horse Show

The 2026 edition of the Connaway & Associates Equine Insurance Services, Inc. High Point North American-Bred Horse Award at the Capital Challenge Horse Show (CCHS) will mark the eighth consecutive year this prestigious prize has been offered at the USEF heritage show, which runs September 23 through October 4, 2026, in Upper Marlboro, MD.

Laura Connaway of Connaway & Associates Equine Insurance Services, Inc. will present the award to the North American-bred horse that earns the highest-scoring round across all professional hunter divisions and special classes at CCHS. The presentation to the winning horse will take place in the evening on Wednesday, September 30.

Once the 2026 Capital Challenge Horse Show prize list becomes available on Sunday, July 26, and entries open on Tuesday, July 28, add class 8000 to your entry on Show Management System. No entry fee is required for the award. If you forget to add the class to your entries, you can add it at a later date.

Horses bred in Canada, Mexico, and the United States that compete in the professional hunter divisions, the green hunter 3’ and 3’3” divisions, the North American 3’-3’3” Green Hunter Championship, the WCHR Professional Challenge, and the WCHR Developing Professional Challenge at CCHS are eligible to earn the Connaway & Associates Equine Insurance Services, Inc. High Point North American-Bred Horse Award, provided their breeding information is accurate and up to date with the horse show office.

Laura Connaway of Connaway & Associates said, “Supporting and promoting the Connaway & Associates Equine Insurance Services, Inc. High Point North American-Bred Horse Award at the Capital Challenge Horse Show is a meaningful way to demonstrate our deep appreciation for breeders of top-quality competition horses in North America and to recognize their often-overlooked yet crucial role in producing top horses.

“At Connaway & Associates, we’re honored to work alongside Capital Challenge Horse Show again to sponsor this award and look forward to the incredible, inspirational stories it so often produces,” added Connaway, a grand prix show jumping competitor and competition horse breeder.

The 2025 winner of the Connaway & Associates Equine Insurance Services, Inc. High Point North American-Bred Horse Award at CCHS was Beverly Blues, ridden by Meghan Knapic, owned by Jenna Weinfurt of First Blue LLC, and bred in Canada by Lana Smith.

With Knapic in the saddle, the then five-year-old Canadian Warmblood mare scored an 86 in the Green Hunter Mares 3’-3’3” division to capture the 2025 award.

Weinfurt and Knapic spotted Beverly Blues — then named Aquila RPH — in a Canadian auction in 2021 when she was a yearling. She is by the Aquilan Calypso son Atlas RPH and out of the Leeto Z mare, Lollipop RPH.

Read all about the 2025 winner here. 

Previous Connaway & Associates High Point North American-Bred Horse Award Recipients
2025 — Beverly Blues and Meghan Knapic; bred by Lana Smith of Rosenol Performance Horses in British Columbia, Canada, owned by Jenna Weinfurt’s First Blue LLC.
2024 — Ondine D’Orleans and Elizabeth Towell Boyd; bred by Monique Huntington-Keitz, of Beaver Creek, CO, owned by Finally Farm and Neill Sites
2023 — SVF Inaugural and Maria Rasmussen; bred by Heidi Smilde of H2 Sport Horses LLC, owned by Kristen Hamel’s Sunset View Farm LLC
2022 — Duke Of Argyll and Hunt Tosh; bred and owned by Betsee Parker
2021 — Mr. Manhattan and Daniel Geitner; bred by Emil Spadone of Redfield Breeding, owned by Martin Schlaeppi
2019 & 2020 — Monday Balous and Cassandra Kahle; bred by Karin Morgenstern Jimenez and Carlos Jimenez DVM of Sporting Chance Farm, owned by Don Stewart and Emil Spadone of Redfield Farm

On Tuesday, July 28, 2026, enter your horse for consideration on Show Management System. For more information, visit CapitalChallenge.org.