Devin Ryan Wins $100,000 Great American Insurance Group Grand Prix at 48th Annual Lake Placid Horse Shows

Above photo: Devin Ryan and Eddie Blue

Lake Placid, NY – July 9, 2017 – Devin Ryan won the $100,000 Great American Insurance Group Grand Prixat the 48th annual Lake Placid Horse Shows, presented by Sea Shore Stables, LLC and sponsored by Bainbridge Farm.

After 12  of 27 entries qualified for the jump-off by riding fault-free over the 16-effort, first-round course designed by 2016 Rio Olympic course designer Guilherme Jorge, Ryan was the first to return for the eight-effort tiebreaker on Eddie Blue. Ryan rode his 8-year-old, Dutch Warmblood gelding to a clean ride in 35.220 seconds to set the mark to beat.

After the next 10 riders failed to catch Ryan’s time, it came down to Jimmy Torano, winner of the first week‘s $75,000 Devoucoux Richard M. Feldman Grand Prix of Lake Placid. Torano succeeded in riding Daydream to a clean round, but his time of 35.604 seconds left him just shy of Ryan and prevented him from joining Leslie Burr Howard, Debbie Dolan-Sweeney, Margie Goldstein Engle, Jeffrey Welles and Darragh Kenny as the only riders to sweep both Lake Placid Grand Prix in the same year.

“He’s not the fastest horse but he has such a big stride and in a big field like this I was able to take advantage of that,” Ryan said. “There were two places on course where I was able to leave out a stride and I think I finished about as fast as I could have with him today.”

Torano’s second place finish, combined with his win the previous week, earned him the Richard and Diana Feldman Trophy for the best combined finish in Lake’s two Grand Prix. He also earned a win in the $15,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby presented by Eastern Hay & Purina Animal Nutrition, held just prior to the start of the Grand Prix. Torano won over a starting field of 26 horses on Exclusive. He finished the two-round competition with 373 points to top another Grand Prix rider, Amber Harte. Harte, who placed fifth in the Grand Prix on Austria 2, finished second in the Hunter Derby with 357 points on Style.

“I’m fortunate to have a lot of good horses to ride and I’m used to doing both the hunters and the jumpers,” Torano said. “Exclusive gave me two beautiful rounds and then I hustled over to the Grand Prix ring and while I wasn’t able to catch Devin at the end, it was a pretty successful day.”

In the $7,500 Taylor Rental & New Holland Low Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic, Kendra Gierkink rode Freestyler to the win for the second straight week. Only 12 of 42 horses completed the first round without penalty to reach the jump-off, and Gierkink won with the fastest of the eight clean jump-off rides, finishing in 38.313 seconds. Danielle Stacy and Hot Topic placed second with a clean jump-off ride in 38.463 seconds.

Paige Kouimanis rode Lexus to the win in the $5,000 J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines Adult Jumper Classic. Kouimanis topped a field of 35 horses, 12 of  whom reached the jump-off, and she claimed the win with the fastest fault-free ride, finishing in 28.140 seconds. Placing second was Sarah Gordon with a clean jump-off ride in 30.209 seconds on Bonitha.

Taylor St. Jacques rode to the win in the Kathy Scholl Equitation Championship presented by Kate Levy & Family. St. Jacques topped a field of 17 finalists in the championship event open to riders who finished first or second in Lake Placid in Pessoa U.S. Hunter Seat Medal, ASPCA/NHSAA Maclay Horsemanship, Platinum Performance USEF Show Jumping Talent Search, National PHA Equitation or WIHS Equitation classes.

Sunday also featured The Clothes Horse Parade of Champions. The Lake Placid Horse Shows offer over $535,000 in prize money and feature the nation’s best horses and riders competing in four show rings. The horse shows offers more than 100 classes of competition each week for all levels of competition ranging from young children on ponies to grand prix competitors and Olympic competitors and medalists. Each show is USEF ‘AA’ rated for hunters and 6* rated for Jumpers.

Thank you to this year’s list of generous sponsors including 17 Hands Gallery, Adirondack Life, Bainbridge Farm, Beacon Hill Horse Transportation, Inc., Michael & Barbara Bitterman, Debbie & Jim Burrows, C.M. Hadfield’s Saddlery, Inc., Carolina Arena Equipment, Casella Waste Management, Jane Forbes Clark, Clifton Park Rental, CMJ Sporthorse, Community Bank NA, Crowne Plaza Resort & Golf Club, Dartbrook Rustic Goods, David R. Fowler Custom Tack Trunks, Deeridge Farms, Der Dau Custom Made Boots, Devoucoux, Inc., Eastern Hay & Grain, Equestrian Connect, FarmVet, Inc., Featherlite Coaches, Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort, Great American Insurance Group, Hampton Inn, High Peaks Resort, Milagro Tequila/Empire Merchants North, Hollow Brook Wealth Management, LLC, Hooker Family, Horse Watch, Horseshoe Trail Farm, LLC, Hunt, Ltd., iEquine Media Inc., J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines, Juliam Farm, Kate Levy & Family, Lake Placid CVB / Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST), Lake Placid Lodge, The Morrissey Family, Morrissey Management Group , Mirror Lake Inn / The Cottage Cafe, NBC 5, North Star, On A Fence Designs, Pepsi Beverages Company, Prevost, Pure Placid, Purina Animal Nutrition, RobinsonRidge, Ruthies Run, Sagamore Farm, Sage Hill Farm, Michael Schultz, Sea Shore Stables, LLC, Dennis Sisco & Alexine Lesko, ShowNet, Storm Ridge Capital, LLC, Stretton Enterprises, Inc., Taylor Rental/New Holland, The Clothes Horse, The Wild Center, Town of North Elba Park District, Village of Lake Placid, The Whiteface Lodge, and Woodlea Farms.

Additional information on the Lake Placid Horse Shows is available by calling the Lake Placid Horse Show Association at 518-523-9625 or visit online at www.lakeplacidhorseshow.com.