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Canadian
Show Jumping Legend Captures Season Opener At Ocala |
The $15,000 Friday
Prix at the HITS Ocala Winter Circuit was captured by Canadian Show Jumping
star Ian Millar of Perth, Ontario, with a clean ride in the jump-off aboard
"Aftershock" with a time of 44.191 seconds. Graf Rossini and
Mary-Lisa Leffler, of Brookville, MD, secured second place with another
clean ride in 45.420. Third place belonged to Sulu Rose, Manakin, VA,
aboard "Cool Waters" with a clean ride and a time of 45.616;
followed by "Kargita" ridden by Elizabeth Towell, Camden, SC,
with a time of 45.186.
Ken Krome, course
designer, said his aim today was to give the horse and rider a warm-up
for Sundays Grand Prix by providing a variety of elements. "I wanted
to provide the riders a chance to see the adjustability of their horses
by including scope and galloping space, getting them to think bigger and
wider."
Krome, who has been
a designer for 10 years, says "the course is the true judge of the
horse and rider." The design of the course for Fridays Prix consisted
of 13 jumps and 16 efforts, with the jump-off consisting of 8. Only four
of the field of 32 managed to negotiate Kromes first-round course without
any faults.
Of these, three finished
the jump-off fault free. Winner Ian Millar, who took home $4,500 for his
first-place effort, was very complimentary of the Kromes Friday Prix course.
"It was well designed and was a very good test for Sunday."
He went further to say that he had ridden many courses designed by Krome
and considered him top in the business.
Millar praised the
HITS management company saying "no other competition management company
could have produced such a facility in a short period of time. It is a
pleasure to be here and this is an excellent facility. The maturity of
the trees, the location and the room makes this a pleasure. Damn good
job to Tom and company!"
Results Summary (Top
Four Finishers)
PLACE HORSE OWNER
RIDER RD 1/RD 2/RD2 TIME/$
1 Aftershock The Pointe/Millar Brooke LTD Ian Millar 0/0/44.191/$4,500.00
2 Graf Rossini Bruce Chovnick, LLC Mary-Lisa Leffler 0/0/45.420/$3,300.00
3 Cool Waters The Galloping Field Sulu Rose 0/0/45.616/$2,250.00
4 Kargita Kargita Group Elizabeth Towell 0/4/45.186/$1,500.00
Upcoming events include:
February 10, 2002 1:00 PM $50,000 EMO Grand Prix
February 17, 2002 1:00 PM $50,000 Rio Vista Grand Prix
February 24, 2002 11AM - 2PM Community Bank Family Day presented by the
City of Ocala
February 24, 2002 1:00 PM $50,000 HITS Grand Prix
March 3, 2002 1:00 PM $50,000 Cosequin Grand Prix
March 10, 2002 1:00 PM $100,00 King Shaving Grand Prix
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