Tokaruk Show Stables Goes South for the Winter Equestrian Festival

Wellington, FL - The 2008 CN Winter Equestrian Festival kicks off today at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, FL and the Tokaruk Show Stable, making it’s debut appearance, is looking forward to facing the industry’s toughest competition. 

 “My brother Luke and I have shown here in years past,” says Michael Tokaruk, who launched the fast-growing show stable with his younger sibling last spring. “But we decided to bring the Tokaruk Show Stable to Wellington for the same reasons that thousands of others come here every winter. It is a Mecca of horse sports,” he adds. “Wellington attracts the best of the best in many disciplines, particularly the hunter-jumper world. Both Luke and I aspired to compete at the highest levels of the sport, and coming to Wellington is a natural step.”

Tokaruk Show Stables is a top-quality showing, training, and sales facility based on 36 acres in Aiken, SC. Clients range from short stirrup to Grand Prix level, and have included Taylor Byram, who won the NHJL/NAL Children’s Hunter Classic in Atlanta aboard the Karen Long Dwight-owned Honored, and owner/rider Janet Liu, whose young gelding Up to Something recently earned the Tricolors in the Baby Green Hunters in Tennessee with Michael Tokaruk in the irons.
 
The Tokaruks have been in Florida since late December, showing in the Pre-WEF festival at Littlewood. And the results have so far been impressive. In early January Michael and his Holsteiner gelding Lord Byron took top honors in both the Level 6 and Level 5 Jumpers and took a notable 3rd place in the Jan. 4 Welcome Stake. Aboard the beautiful bay mare Contessa, Michael also captured the 6-Year-Old YJC class. Luke, meanwhile, has racked up numerous ribbons with the impressive jumper Lucius 35. “He’s just amazing,” says Michael of the 9-year-old German-bred gelding. “He can jump the top of the standards every time. Luke has shown him five times and he’s never touched a rail.”

The Tokaruks will exhibit at WEF for the majority of the 12-week season and are looking forward to riding with the best. “The competition is intense, but it forces you to aspire to a higher level than at any other show in the country, if not the world,” Michael notes. “We are fortunate enough to have some nice horses in our barn right now and have had some early success. We hope it will continue for the rest of the season and into the spring and summer.”

In addition to showing and training, the Tokaruk Show Stable offers a select group of quality hunters, jumpers, and equitation horses for sale. The Tokaruks are also importing numerous quality horses from Europe. For more details and contact information, see their website www.tokarukshowstables.com.

Photo: Michael Tokaruk and Lord Byron ©Flashpoint Photography