Lake Placid, NY – July 10, 2018 – A win by Laura Chapot on Thornhill Kate in the $100,000 Great American Insurance Group Grand Prix highlighted the second week of competition at the 49th annual Lake Placid Horse Shows, presented by Sea Shore Stables, LLC and sponsored by Bainbridge Farms, LLC.
Seven of 36 entries reached the jump-off by riding clean over the 13-jump, 16-effort first-round course designed by Michel Vaillancourt. Three of the seven then went clean over the eight-jump jump-off course with Amber Harte on Cafino and Chloe Field on Tess de Jalesnes opening the jump-off with clean rides.
Riding her 13-year-old, Irish Sport Horse mare, Chapot was fourth to try the jump-off and she moved into the lead with a time of 38.996 seconds. The last rider to try to beat Chapot was two-time Olympic gold medalist and 2017 FEI World Cup champion, McLain Ward. He wound up with two rails down for eight faults on his young horse, Upsilon de la Liniere, giving Chapot her fifth Grand Prix win in Lake Placid.
“Kate is a naturally fast horse,” Chapot said. “She’s very careful and she’s a real trier. With her, I don’t have to always press, press, press at every jump; I can just rely on her natural quickness and let her do the job.
“Of all the Grand Prix I compete in throughout the year, I want to win in Lake Placid the most,” Chapot continued. “I have been up here every summer of my life and the people in this town are so incredibly nice that it just means so much to me to win here.”
Amber Harte, first to go in the jump-off, took home second place aboard Cafino with a time of 39.725 seconds. Chloe Field and Tess De Jalesnes were third with a time of 46.978 seconds. Ilan Bluman of Colombia was fourth with four jump-off faults in 43.470 seconds on EAX Run Run LS.
Chapot’s win also earned her the Richard and Diana Feldman Trophy as the rider with the most prize money in Lake Placid’s two Grand Prix events. It’s the third time she has won the award, having won previously in 2014 and 2016.
won the $15,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby
Exclusive, owned by Isalou, Inc. and shown by Jimmy Torano, won the $15,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby presented by Eastern Hay & Grain and Purina Animal Nutrition on Sunday. Exclusive received a two-round total of 374.5 points from the two judging panels of Rachel Kennedy with Joe Dotoli and Julie Winkel with Tom Brennan to win Lake Placid’s culminating hunter competition presented by Eastern Hay & Grain and Purina Animal Nutrition.
After the first round, Exclusive had been sitting second to LaFitte De Muze, owned by Cheryl Olsten and shown by Amanda Steege, but an impressive score of 197 in Round 2 outscored LaFitte De Muze by five points to give Exclusive the win for the second straight year and make it three years in a row for Torano.
“This is a horse that actually does the 3’3″ amateurs and hasn’t jumped over 3’3″ since we did this class last year,” said Torano. “He’s just been doing the amateurs with Daryl Portela who owns him and we just decided to do this Derby yesterday. He came out and jumped really well. He was great in the handy and he was neat everywhere and luckily they gave us the nine bonus points. It was just a great ride.”
Steege was equally happy with her horse who finished with a two-round score of 370 after receiving the highest base score in both rounds. “LaFitte is just learning how to do the derby and I didn’t want to push him,” she said. “I chose to do just one of the high options because jumping 3’9″ is already something new for him. I’d rather be patient and bring him along slowly as he’s going to be something really special.”
The second week at Lake Placid also featured the horse shows’ annual Kids Day and Doggie Costume Contest sponsored by Lake Placid Lodge. On Kids Day, more than 60 youngsters from the north country were treated to a day of learning from a variety of experts including Ann Braswell of Terrapin Hill Farm, farrier Tony Bucci, course designer Lewis Pack and Erick Nagy of HEART Equine Ambulance.
More than 30 dogs participated in the Doggie Costume Contest and the winner was Luigi, a rescued Jack Russell Terrier owned by Sarah Willeman and Philip Richter, who was dressed as “Pirates of Mirror Lake.”
Other featured class winners of the I Love New York Horse Show included:
Tuesday, July 3 – Laura Chapot on Umberto in the $1,500 Pepsi Beverage Company 1.35m Jumper Class
Wednesday, July 4 – Laura Chapot on Out of Ireland in the $5,000 Lake Placid CVB 1.40m Open Jumper Stake; Paige Jardine on Full Speed in the $1,200 NBC 5 1.30m Jumper Class
Thursday, July 5 – Sloane Coles on Copias in the $5,000 Hollow Brook Wealth Management 1.40m Jumper Class; McLain Ward on HH Gigi’s Girl in the $30,000 FarmVet Jumper Classic
Friday, July 6 – Laura Chapot on Umberto in the $1,500 Milagro Tequila 1.35m Jumper Class; McLain Ward on Cerise in the $20,000 Deeridge Farms 1.40m Open Jumper Stake
Saturday, July 7 – Clementine Goutal on Diamond Foxy in the $10,000 Crowne Plaza Resort & Golf Club Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic; Rebecca Morris on Triomphe $5,000 The Wild Center Children’s Jumper Classic
Sunday, July 8 – Sima Morgello on Zopala in the $7,500 Taylor Rental & New Holland Low Amateur Owner Jumper Classic; Katie Eppinger on Ino Van Bareethof in the $5,000 J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines Adult Jumper Classic; Daneli Miron on MD Serenade de Montsec in the Low Junior Jumper Classic; Sam Walker in the Kathy Scholl Equitation Championship presented by Kate Levy & Family
The two 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 and Olympic competitors. 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, Anonymous, Bainbridge Farms, LLC, Beacon Hill Horse Transportation, Inc., Beyaert Farm, Debbie & Jim Burrows, C.M. Hadfield’s Saddlery, Inc., Carolina Arena Equipment, Casella Waste Management, Jane Forbes Clark, Clifton Park Rental Center, CMJ Sporthorse, Community Bank NA, Crowne Plaza Lake Placid, Dartbrook Rustic Goods, David R. Fowler Custom Tack Trunks, Deeridge Farms, Der Dau Custom Made Boots, Eastern Hay & Grain, Equestrian Living, FarmVet, Inc., Featherlite Coaches, Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort, Great American Insurance Group, Hampton Inn, High Peaks Resort, 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 Flower and Gift Co., Lake Placid Lodge, Milagro Tequila/Empire Merchants North, Mirror Lake Inn / The Cottage Cafe, The Morrissey Family, Morrissey Management Group, NBC 5, North Star, On A Fence Designs, Pepsi Beverages Company, Prevost, Pure Placid, Purina Animal Nutrition, RobinsonRidge, Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Saratoga, Ruthies Run, Sagamore Farm, Sage Hill Farm, Sea Shore Stables, LLC, ShowNet, Sidelines, Dennis Sisco & Alexine Lesko, Storm Ridge Capital, LLC, Stretton Enterprises, Inc., Taylor Rental/New Holland, The Clothes Horse, The Whiteface Lodge, The Wild Center, Town of North Elba Park District, Village of Lake Placid, Voltaire Design, 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.
All photos by The Book, LLC
