Week Two of the Legacy Cup Filled with MVP Non Pro and Pony Winners
RELEASE: May 22, 2008
AUTHOR/ADMINISTRATOR: By Diana DeRosa
Amelia McArdle was giddy after winning the Non Pro 3’6” Finals on MVP, which was a combined class of juniors and amateurs. She won the Junior Finals as well as the Leading Non Pro 3’6” Rider honors. Lavari ridden by Tracy Scheriff won the Non Pro 3’6” Amateur Finals and Leading Amateur Rider award. Emily Wygod and North Shore were the big winners in the Non Pro 3’ Finals (Go Round, Finals and Amateurs). Jennifer Waxman and Ulone won the Non Pro 3’ Junior Finals. Brittni Raflowitz and Mind Your Step dominated in the Pony Hunters. Havens Schatt won the Leading Trainer Award after she and her students totaled $10,424.
McArdle went early in the Non Pro 3’6” Finals and while her combined score of 253 from the three groups of paired judges was certainly good she waited cautiously to see if someone else would take away her lead. In the end she and her 10-year-old 15.3-hand chestnut Belgian Warmblood gelding MVP proved to be the most valuable players.
As the Leading Non Pro Junior Rider, based on money won from the Non Pro 3’6” division, McArdle and MVP were presented with the Signature Trophy in honor of Weatherly Stroh’s Large Junior Working Hunter who dominated that division in the Midwest from 1987-1991.
Scheriff and her 12-year-old 16.2-hand bay Holsteiner gelding Lavari bested the field of Non Pro 3’6” Amateurs to take the championship ribbon. Scheriff, 24, who lives in Ramsey, NJ couldn’t say enough good things about Lavari. “He is amazing. He goes out there and is consistently the same. He wants to be a good boy and he wants to win.” Scheriff received the Jeannie Geiger Memorial Trophy for her Leading Amateur Rider honors. She recently graduated from Quinnipiac in Connecticut with a degree in Criminal Justice.
The top 25 riders qualified from a field of 40 to compete in the Finals by first riding in the Non Pro 3’6” Go Round. That Go Round and Junior class was won by On The Rox ridden by Ande Farish and owned by Lanes End. Winner of the Non Pro 3’6” Amateur Go Round was Cruise, ridden by Lindsay Fishell, owned by Royce Fishell and Lindsey Sey.
The purse for the Non Pro 3’6” division totaled $12,000, with $10,500 earmarked for the Finals. The winning horse received $3,520.
Non Pro 3' WinnersAmateur rider Emily Wygod was competing on North Shore, an eight-year-old 16.2-hand bay gelding, in the Non Pro 3’ Finals to have some fun. “I wasn’t expecting much,” said the Californian. That fun ride led to North Shore winning the Go Round, the Finals and the Amateurs.
For Jennifer Waxman, 16, of Chagrin Falls, OH, the winner’s circle is her second home and this time she did it again in the Non Pro 3’ Junior Finals. She rode Ulone, a horse she’s ridden only a couple of times. Waxman has been a consistent winner at the Legacy Cup and admits, “It is a good opportunity for the hunters to win some money for once. And it’s fun and different.”
The top 25 riders had to qualify from a field of 37 to compete in the Non Pro 3’ Finals by first riding in the Non Pro 3’ Go Round. Twelve-year-old Lauren Tyree of Chicago, IL, was soft spoken yet excited after winning the Non Pro 3’ Junior Go Round on her six-year-old 15.3-hand bay Selle Francais gelding, Mozart, owned by First Partners, who she’s only been riding for a year. Their ride was as musical as his name.
The purse for the Non Pro 3’ division totaled $11,400, with $9,900 earmarked for the Finals. The winning horse received $3,406.
Pony Hunter WinnersBrittni Raflowitz, 13, was glowing after winning the Pony Hunter Go Round, Finals and the Leading Pony Rider title on Mind Your Step, a six-year-old 13.2-hand chestnut Dutchbred gelding, trained by Richard McGrath nicknamed “cookie, because he looks like a cookie monster and gives me kisses,” she explained. Her medium pony, who is owned by Central Pennsylvania Equestrian Center, really did mind his steps