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Laura Chapot and Sprite Do It Again in Acorn Hill Farm Speed Challenge at 2005 Winter Equestrian Festival This year, things are looking pretty good for the pair. They have already claimed second and third place ribbons in two of the three previous Acorn Hill classes. The class is usually held in the Internationale arena on the grass, but today the conditions were a bit different. The rain came down in buckets very early Friday morning and the decision was made to move the $5,000 Acorn Hill Speed Challenge out of the grassy Internationale Arena and into the sandy DeNemethy Arena in order to ensure good footing for the horses. While Chapot would have loved to compete on the grass, she was glad for the change, noting, “It’s nice that we have the option of going on the sand rings where the footing is good even in the rain.” Sprite seemed to jump on the sand just as well as she had jumped on the grass. “She is very fast naturally. I don’t have to do much more. She’s incredibly careful, which makes it nice. I don’t have to worry so much about keeping the jumps up; just getting to the fences.” While she felt confident about her mare, the rain caused for many of the 114 original competitors listed in the order to scratch, opting to save their mounts for another day. Ultimately, a field of 35 competed over Venezuelan designer Leopoldo Palacios-Jugo’s course. Olympic course designer Palacios kept the rainy conditions in mind, but still tested both horses and riders, offering them lots of options throughout the course. Canadian course designer Peter Holmes worked with Palacios in setting up the course. “We need to take care of the horses,” commented Palacios. “But they can turn.” Added Holmes, “The footing is not slippery, just deep and heavy; that was the issue. But we gave them huge options. So it was their choice and that’s the goal. You need options so the riders can choose what is best for their horse.” Palacios agreed, noting that every horse reacts differently. This course took into consideration the weather and the footing while still offering a lot of options, allowing the riders to make tight turns and bold moves. The course consisted of 11 jumps, including one triple and one double combination. Riders had choices right from the start, but it was the end of course where most of the rails fell. The most difficult part of the course proved to be fences #9 and #10. Fence #8 was a square oxer and from there the riders needed to make almost a complete turn in order to get to #9, an orange and white square oxer. Fence #10 was a yellow and white vertical. Chapot explained that rollback fences always tend to be a problem because “it depends on the number of strides you get and the angle you take the fence at.” For Sprite, it wasn’t a problem. “She’s pretty experienced and this is easy for her,” she said. Chapot added that Sprite was off the previous week and definitely feeling her oats. “When she has time off, she jumps extra high and so I have to make sure she is not too strong.” Chapot continued on about #10 explaining, “It is at the end of the course coming towards home and after #9 it’s a long run and a gallop. It’s a vertical and their momentum is going, so they tend to flatten over the jump,” catching a rail in the process. In fact, Chapot’s other mount was one of the horses who was snagged by #9. She and Three Coins were last to go and although their time of 58.073 seconds would have put them second, that rail down for four faults placed them 14th. It was Margie Engle on Canaille who took the early lead in this class with their clear round in a time to beat of 64.064 seconds. They were the sixth pair to compete. It took another 16 riders to go before Chapot took over the lead with Sprite. Three riders later, Neo, ridden by Kent Farrington, stopped the clocks with a clear round in 59.207 seconds to place second. Farrington helped Neo to that victory by guiding him into very tight, smooth turns to the jumps. Now the riders were on a roll, as the next to enter was Chappie, ridden by Debbie Stephens. Their bold, forward moving round was just what was needed to move them into third place with a clear go in 63.526 seconds, just ahead of Canaille and Engle. No one else was able to meet the challenge that Sprite presented and a very happy Chapot claimed the first place ribbon. It was obvious the love she has for her mount. “I really love it when that horse wins. She’s very special to me. I’ve had her since she was six years old. She is a show jumper and she knows how to play the game!” Week five is Zada Enterprises, LLC Wellington Masters CSI 3* and runs February 23-27 as part of the nine week long Winter Equestrian Festival taking place in Wellington, FL. Today’s Acorn Hill Speed Challenge was the fifth of eight classes offered during the Winter Equestrian Festival and are a part of the North American League Open Speed Challenge Series. Concluding the series, the winning horse who has earned the most prize money during WEF will receive the Acorn Hill Farm 1.40m Speed Series Award. The award will be presented during the Budweiser American Invitational on April 2nd. Who knows, maybe Chapot and Sprite will again claim that award, as they have been consistently in the ribbons. So far, no rider has won twice this year in the Acorn Hill Challenge. In week 1 (January 26-30), the winner was Antigua RG, ridden by Laura Kraut to a clean round in 55.517 seconds. Second place finisher was Sprite (0/56.569). Week 2 (February 2-6) winner was Pia, ridden by Olympic veteran Beezie Madden to a clear round in 70.111 seconds. This time, Chapot and Sprite were third (0/72.610). Week 3 (February 9-13) winner was Far West, ridden by Darragh Kerins (0/60.073). Week 4 was Hunter week at WEF and no Speed Challenge class was held. The $20,000 1.50m Classic is the Saturday feature at 1:00 p.m. during the 2005 Winter Equestrian Festival. The main event is Sunday’s $75,000 Zada Enterprises, LLC Masters Cup – CSI 3*, a member event of the AGA Series of Show Jumping, kicking off at 2pm. Official Results-#1005–$5000 Acorn Hill Speed Challenge-Table II, Sec 1. – 02-25-05-Internationale Arena-NAL
The North American League (NAL) runs a season-long series in six hunter and jumper divisions – Children’s Hunter, Children’s Jumper, Adult Hunter, Adult Jumper, Pony Jumper, and Open Jumper Speed. Each series culminates with a championship final at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in Harrisburg, PA, in October. Riders need not be members of the NAL to compete in any qualifying classes, but only current members earn points toward year-end finals. For more information and a list of qualifying competitions for 2005, please visit the Ryegate Show Services website at www.Ryegate.com. PHOTO CREDIT: Laura Chapot and Sprite win Acorn Hill Speed Challenge. Photo by Randi Muster. |
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Wellington,
FL – February 25, 2005 – It was no surprise when Sprite,
ridden by Laura Chapot, crossed the finish line with a clean round and
the fastest time of 57.780 seconds at the Winter Equestrian Festival
in Wellington, FL. Not only had they won the Acorn Hill Farm Speed Challenge
during the same week last year, but they were the winner of the series
as well and received the 2004 Acorn Hill Farm 1.40m Speed Series Award.
The format for the 1.40m Speed Challenge was Table II Section 1, Faults
and Time in the First Round.
