Posted April 27, 2006

Jessica DiGenova Wins Debut CCI** at Florida Horse Park

Student, Trainer Claim 2nd and 3rd Place

Stephanie Butts, 22, of Laytonsville, MD and Karen O'Connor of Ocala, FL claimed second and third place in the debut CCI** at the Florida Horse Park.

Riding Zydeco, a 14-year-old Canadian Sport Horse, Butts just returned from England after spending a year training with Judy Bradwell, an FEI eventing judge. For the past three months she has been training with David and Karen O'Connor at their Ocala farm. Zydeco used to be her mom's mount (Gretchen), said Butts. "She did Rolex on him twice and Burghley, as well." Butts is not aiming for either of those competitions in the near future, but she is hoping, "if everything goes perfectly between now and then," to compete at Fair Hill International, Oct. 19-22. "He has an amazing jump and he is a machine on cross country," said Butts, who has also trained with Phillip Dutton in the past.

Karen O'Connor not only earned a third in the two-star at the Florida Horse Park, she also claimed the top spot in the one-star and second place in the Advanced Combined Test. "I was lucky," she explained modestly.

Her "luck" had her and Mandiba in the lead following each portion of the one-star and earned her the overall win by almost a full 10 points. In the Combined Test, she and Upstage came in second by about a quarter of a point, and in the two-star, she and Lets Make A Deal were only three-tenths of a point behind second place.

"You should talk to Teresa (Loughlin), she does all (Lets Make A Deal's) conditioning and schooling," said O'Connor with a smile. And, "Teresa is going to take the reins back at some point here and carry on." Loughlin owns and competed Lets Make A Deal up through Intermediate, before turning him over to O'Connor in February for a spell. She debated riding him at the Florida Horse Park CCI**, but had her decision made for her.

"We played Paper, Rock, Scissors on Monday to see who was going to ride him," laughed O'Connor. "I won."

O'Connor said Loughlin "is exceptional at finding horses that need retraining and then retraining them," and Lets Make A Deal was no exception. An American Thoroughbred, Lets Make A Deal is a former racehorse a friend in Chicago found for her. "I bought him sight unseen," said Loughlin, because my friend said, "this one had a face like a princess, an ass like a washer woman and a walk like a hooker. That is a saying by Woody Stephens, a famous Thoroughbred trainer."

He is a really special horse, said O'Connor. He is a beautiful mover, a scopey jumper, fast on the cross-country track and he has a personality that expects attention. "He is not a high-maintenance horse, but he is highly expressive and wants to be part of everything. He is a great personality to work with; very smart and personable and loving. You'd want to marry him if he was a person," she laughed. "He'd make a great husband!"

O'Connor complimented the course designers at the Florida Horse Park, as well. "They have made a huge effort trying to build complexes that involve an undulation of the ground," which is not easy, considering it is Florida. "Between the two of them (David O'Connor and Capt. Mark Phillips), they have done a great job. Frankly, kudos to David for designing the original courses that Mark has continued to use now that he is in the driver's seat in the course design," said a proud wife.

The two-star course was 4,537 meters (2.82 miles), featured 25 obstacles, many of which required multiple efforts and had a time limit of 16 minutes 30 seconds.

For full results of the Florida International CCI**/CCI* 3-Day Event, visit www.flhorsepark.com.

Photo Credit: Stephanie Butts and Zydeco are on their way to a second-place finish at the Florida International CCI** at the Florida Horse Park, April 20-23. Photo by Palmer Photo, www.palmerphoto.photoreflect.com

Photo Credit: Lets Make A Deal carried Olympian Karen O'Connor to a third-place finish in the Florida International CCI** held at the Florida Horse Park. O'Connor also earned a first in the CCI** and a second in the Advanced Combined Test at the event, aka the Festival of the Horse presented by the Star Banner. Photo by Palmer Photo, www.palmerphoto.photoreflect.com