Traverse City, MI - The junior and amateur-owner riders had their day to shine this afternoon at Horse Shows by the Bay with a $10,000 Show Jumping Hall of Fame Junior/Amateur Owner Jumper Prix, and Kels Bonham of Claremore, Okla., came out on top.

Riding Orley, an 11-year-old bay owned by Heather Bonham, the 16-year-old bested a class of almost 20 entries for the win. Bonham, Erin Haas, Cathy Rolfs and Khari Taustin were the only four riders who were double clear in the first round to move on to the jump-off. Eight riders had four faults in the first round.

Today's courses were designed by Michel Vaillancourt and were composed of 12 numbered obstacles, including a double and a triple combination. The time allowed was 84 seconds, and several riders in had difficulty making the time.

Rolfs of Barrington, Ill., rode first in the jump-off and left all the rails in the cups with a time of 39.584 seconds. Local Michigan rider Haas followed with All of A Sudden and added two seconds to her jump-off time because she failed to start within the 45 seconds allotted after the buzzer. However, she brought down a rail for four faults and a final time of 37.776 seconds. Taustin held the lead for a short time with a clear round and a time of 37.866 seconds, but as the last rider to jump, Bonham quickly shaved more than three seconds off the leading time. She and Orley made several inside turns while maintaining a strong pace, stopping the clock at 34.717 seconds.

"(Orley) was really good," Bonham explained. "He was a little fresh because we gave him yesterday off, and when he is, he's a little stronger, but he jumps out of his skin! I was mostly worried about staying in the time allowed because I have a tendency of going kind of slow on him and taking my time in the corners, and a lot of people were getting time faults, so I was just really focusing on keeping my pace on the flat areas."

She continued, "Like I said, I'm usually slow on him and I'm just trying to be the only double clean, but the two who went right before me had been double clean, so I knew I had to be a little faster. I just focused on wanting to win and decided to take as many inside cuts as possible and not pull on the reins."

Taustin and Katja finished in second place, while Rolfs and Rilletto finished in third. Haas and All of A Sudden took fourth place, while Linda Radigan had the fastest four-fault round with a time of 76.401 seconds to finish in fifth place. Sargeant and Henry Pfeiffer rounded out the top six with four faults and a time of 77.049 seconds.

In the $2,500 Junior/Amateur Oner Jumper Classic, Julia Lourie rode Shane Sweetnam's Quidam Junior to the win with a double clear round and a jump-off time of 34.604 seconds. Julie Fontaine and Romanoff gave Lourie a run for her money but narrowly missed her time to finish in second place with 34.680 seconds. Greer Gordon and Maxima took third place with a time of 39.984 seconds, while Lauren Stakal and CR's Erin go Bragh were fourth with two time faults in the jump-off, clocking in at 42.083 seconds. Lourie also placed fifth with the fastest four-fault jump-off round on Napoleon, while Kaitlin Campbell and Lucy in the Sky rounded out the top six with four faults and a time of 32.5242.

Competition will resume Sunday morning with a $2,500 Children's Jumper Classic, a $2,500 Adult Jumper Classic and the afternoon $25,000 Grand Prix of Traverse City.

For complete results, please visit www.horseshowing.com. For more information about Horse Shows by the Bay, please visit www.horsesportsbythebay.com.

PHOTO CREDIT: Kels Bonham and Orley, winners of the $10,000 Show Jumping Hall of Fame Junior/Amateur Owner Jumper Prix. Photo (C) 2007 Chrissy Lane.