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$50,000 East Meets West
Hunter Challenge, Sunday, March 11, Is Third Annual Bi-Coastal Simulcast
Competition for Indio and Ocala |
INDIO, CA (March 9, 2001)--How do the West Coast
horses stack up against the East Coast horses? Find out Sunday, March 11, when
horses in Indio, California, compete against horses in Ocala, Florida, in one
class via simulcast satellite transmission in the third annual $50,000 East
Meets West Hunter Challenge presented by The Chronicle of the Horse.
World-class show hunters at HITS show grounds on opposite sides of the country
have competed in a series of qualifying events for five weeks at the HITS
circuits in Florida and California. Horses have earned a numerical score on a
scale of one to 100 in each of the preliminary rounds. The top ten horses at
Ocala and Indio which have earned the highest scores in the preliminary rounds
have qualified to compete in the final rounds of the $50,000 East Meets West
Hunter Challenge starting at 8am PST at the HITS Desert Horse Park in Indio,
and at 11am EST at the Golden Hills International Show Grounds in Ocala.
Following the successful plan of the previous Challenges, on the morning of
March 11, course designers in Indio and Ocala will set an identical course.
Satellite trucks will link the two sites so that a panel of judges at each
venue can watch every round from both sites. Rounds will alternate between the
two venues, with judges watching the competition only on TV monitors to
equalize the judging. For spectators, televisions located in a tent near the
competition arena will display the round from the opposing show grounds, and it
will be only a few steps away to the ring outside to see the next round
on-site.
HITS has successfully produced this innovative simulcast competition twice
before, allowing riders from opposite coasts to participate in one competition.
In 1999, Eva Gonda of Beverly Hills, California, on El Campeon Farm's
Doubletake won the $50,000 Hunter Challenge from Indio. In 2000, it was a
three-way Challenge when HITS Indio, HITS Ocala, and the Cosequin® Winter
Equestrian Festival in Palm Beach competed in a $75,000 Challenge. Cody Baird
of Greenwich, Connecticut, riding Most Wanted at the Cosequin® WEF took the
blue for October Farm.
The East Meets West Hunter Challenge is open to hunters showing in Junior,
Amateur-Owner, First-Year Green, Second-Year Green, Green Conformation,
Regular, and Regular Conformation Hunter. The event's sponsor, The Chronicle of
the Horse, is the most widely read hunter/jumper weekly news magazine.
Website: www.HitsShows.com
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