Horse Shows by the Bay Series I Wrap-Up
RELEASE: July 24, 2009
AUTHOR/ADMINISTRATOR: By Rebecca Walton and Lauren Fisher
Traverse City, MI - July 13, 2009 - It was an exciting win for Ali Wolff and H&M Necoll in the $30,000 Spy Coast Farm Grand Prix of Traverse City on Sunday, July 12, at the 2009 Horse Shows by the Bay Equestrian Festival. The pair took top honors in a class of 23 entries at the beautiful Flintfields Horse Park in Traverse City, MI, for their first grand prix win together.
Canadian course designer Eve Frisque set the track for the afternoon's class in the grand prix ring and 11 entries went clear over the first-round course to the jump-off. Four of those entries went double clear, and Ali Wolff had two of the double-clear rides.
Patricia Griffith and Urnike, owned by Heritage Farm of Katonah, NY, had a double-clear round to take the third-place prize with their time of 38.092 seconds. Scott Lenkart and Impulsive, owned by MacMillan Sport Horse of Minneapolis, MN, returned and put down an even faster clear jump-off round in 38.074 seconds, which held the lead until Wolff and H&M Necoll entered the ring to push them back into second place.
Wolff and H&M Necoll were the final pair to jump double-clear rounds and managed to top Lenkart's time by almost a whole second, galloping through the timers in 37.117 seconds to take the win.
This is Wolff's second grand prix win, which she was very excited about. Her first grand prix win was at the Winter Equestrian Festival in 2007 with her other horse, Lanoo, who she jumped first in the jump-off. This is Wolff's first year competing at Horse Shows by the Bay, and she will compete again next week before leaving to show in Kentucky for the rest of the summer, and then going back to Florida in the fall where she attends the University of Tampa and shows in the winter.
"I have never even been to Michigan even, and I think that it is really nicely done," Wolff said of the show. "The weather is great, the show grounds are well kept and I love it; it is gorgeous here."
Earlier in the morning the competition kicked off for the day with the $2,500 NAL/WIHS Adult Jumper Classic in the grand prix ring. North Face Equine Service of Ann Arbor, MI, sponsored the class and the winning cooler and prize money was awarded to Elizabeth Perry and Leroy.
Ashley Reed and Fast Break, owned by Tiffany Hammack, took the top honors in Sunday morning's $2,500 NAL/WIHS Children's Jumper Classic, which was sponsored by Phelps Media Group, Inc., International of Wellington, FL.
Jumper ResultsHagyard Equine Medical Clinic sponsored the $1,000 1.30 m Jumpers in the grand prix ring Wednesday morning as 19 entries showed over the track set by Canadian course designer Eve Frisque. Fourteen of the original 19 entries went clear over the first-round course to jump off, and of those 14, 10 went double clear. Patricia Griffith of Katonah, NY, showed her seven-year-old mare Veronieque to the fastest double-clear round of the class for the win in a time of 30.805 seconds.
Second-place honors were awarded to Oh, So Funny and Dave Dorner, who went double clear in a time of 31.600 seconds. Third place went to Shane Sweetnam and Shakespeare with a jump-off time of 32.062 seconds. Emily Williams and Samba 75 put in a great double-clear effort with a time of 32.507 seconds to earn the fourth-place ribbon. Dave Dorner and Topliner were the first to show and held the lead with the fastest time of 32.881 seconds for most of the class, but were eventually pushed back to fifth place. Rounding out the top honors, Patricia Griffith rode Chambertina through the timers in 33.101 seconds for sixth place.
The $1,000 1.35m Jumpers also competed over Frisque's course Wednesday afternoon. Fourteen entries showed in the class, but it was the first pair who took the lead and stayed there right from the start. Kyle King and RMW San Friese jumped clear in the first round, went straight to their jump-off course, and made it look