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Leslie Howard and Nick of
Diamonds Win $100,000 Avis Grand Prix at HITS Catskills III |
ELLENVILLE, NY (July 22, 2001)-U.S. Olympic Team
Silver Medallist Leslie Howard, 44, of Westport, Connecticut, aboard Nick of
Diamonds, was the fastest of five double-clears to win the $100,000 Avis Grand
Prix at HITS Catskills III today, besting a field of 22 that included another
three U.S. Olympians-Nona Garson, Peter Leone, and Todd Minikus. Sydney Team
Alternate Minikus, 39, had four clear for today's jump-off, including his
Olympic mount Oh Star, but the win eluded him. "It only takes one horse to
win," said Howard, who rode only the single entry in today's class.
"My horse is extremely fast. If he keeps the jumps up, I don't think
there's a faster horse in the country. His ground tempo is so quick and he
turns so quickly. When Oh Star had problems, I knew that if I kept the jumps
up, I had a good chance."
Howard was awarded an embroidered cooler from the Cosequin® U.S. Grand Prix
League, an engraved silver tray, certificates from Agway for 650 pounds of
horse feed, and a check for $30,000. The S'Blieft Group owns Nick of Diamonds,
a nine-year-old gray Swedish-bred stallion. Sally Mackenzie, an Account Manager
for Avis, made the presentations in ceremonies before the victory gallop.
"I'm proud to be a part of the horse show and to be a sponsor here,"
said Mackenzie. "This is a great turnout and we're looking forward to many
more horse shows after this."
Anthony D'Ambrosio of Mt. Kisco, New York, designed the course. D'Ambrosio, the
former two-time world record holder and the current North American world record
holder for the North American puissance, won a total of 32 Grand Prix classes
in his riding career and retired from competition in 1998. He has been
designing courses full-time for three years. For Round One, D'Ambrosio built a
13-obstacle course that started riders off with an oxer at Fence No. 1 followed
by a left turn that took riders on a long sweeping tour of the arena in which
they jumped a vertical at 2, an oxer-vertical double at 3, an oxer at 4, and a
vertical-oxer double at 5, before turning right. The second half of the course
took riders to a vertical at 6, followed by a hairpin right turn to a short
line from an oxer at 7 to a vertical at 8 to a liverpool at 9. Riders then
turned left to the oxer at 10 followed by another left turn to a
vertical-vertical double at 11. A sharp turn right to the straight line home
completed the course--an oxer at 12 to a vertical at 13. Time Allowed was set
at 88 seconds. One rider retired on course. Nine horses went clean and
qualified for the Jump-Off. Sydney Team Member Garson and her Olympic mount
Rhythmical and Los Angeles Team Silver Medallist Leone on his Sydney Trials
mount Legato did not qualify for the Jump-Off.
For the eight-obstacle Jump-Off, D'Ambrosio required riders to start with a
line from the oxer at Fence No. 1 to a new vertical jump, Fence No. 14, turn
left to Fence 8, turn right to the double at 5, and continue right to another
new jump, an oxer at 15, followed by an S-line to 11A and home to 13. Time
Allowed was set at 56 seconds.
Minikus was the first rider on the Jump-Off course with Oh Star. The duo had an
uncharacteristic refusal at Fence No. 8 and continued difficulty at the next
fence, the double at 5, accumulating 13 jumping and 19 time faults in 74.574,
finishing in ninth place. As owner/rider, Minikus took home $3,000. Marilyn
Little, 19, of Fredenick, Maryland, on Lassango, a horse she owns with Raylyn
Farm, went next and took the lead with a clear in 46.556, but ended up in
fourth place, taking home $8,000. Minikus returned to the ring with What Nu and
snatched the lead with a clear in 42.988, but had to settle for second place
and $20,000 for owner Amy Lefferdink. Patty Stovel of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida,
on Mont Cenis was the next rider on course and also put in a clear round, but
her time of 44.220 placed her third. Stovel, who owns Mont Cenis with Lexie
Stovel and Karen Murphy, earned $12,000 today. Laura Chapot of Neshanic
Station, New Jersey, daughter of Olympians Frank and Mary Chapot, was next in
the order of go on Sundance Kid who lowered the final fence for four faults and
finished in sixth place, taking home $5,000 for the Sundance Group.
Minikus was back again with his third horse, Gardenio, who had two fences down
for eight faults in 42.723, earning eighth place and $3,000 for owner YZ
Partners. Howard and Nick of Diamonds went next and had a clear round in
41.642, taking the lead and keeping it for the win. Anna McKnight from
Whitehall, Maryland, on Montrachet owned by Higher Ground Farm, rode a careful
clear round in 54.331, which put her in fifth place for $6,000. Minikus came
back with Conejo, his last ride and a last chance to re-gain the lead. The
stallion owned by Blair Cudmore had the last two fences down for eight faults
in 42.637, taking the seventh place spot for $4,000. Minikus earned a total of
$30,000 for his four rides.
"I thought Anthony did a super job designing this course," said
Howard. "Even though it was a $100,000, he had some younger riders and
younger horses in the class, so I think he was being cautious not to over-face
them with too much height and width. It was a moderate Grand Prix, but he did a
super job, especially for a group of young horses." Howard has a group of
students with her that will be competing at HITS Catskills IV next week, then
she and Nick of Diamonds will depart for a month in Holland and Germany where
they will compete in three shows. "He's just been a super horse for
me," said Howard. "He's won lots of nice classes for me. He's just a
great, great guy."
Minikus said he was not surprised that he qualified all four of his horses for
the jump-off. "They're all class horses," he said. He agreed with
Howard's assessment that the course was a good one for the mixed field of
veteran and green horses. "Anthony did a great job. That's a good size
ring and when you have that size ring then you have the luxury of being able to
build it a little wide open." Minikus took the blame for Oh Star's
problems today. "I took a pretty good slice at that jump and I rode it
kind of soft. It was a little bit my mistake. I just don't think he expected it
to come up like that," Minikus said. "What Nu was fabulous. He was a
little slow after the second-to-the-last jump getting turned back to the last
jump. I thought that might be fast enough to win. Then Leslie got a little
lucky at the one vertical and it stayed up."
Conejo just returned from competing in Europe and was in quarantine at nearby
Newburgh until yesterday. "That's really the first time I've ever ridden
that horse," he said. "He belongs to a good friend, Brian Cudmore,
and his wife Karen shows him generally. She just came home from showing in
Europe where she did the Developing Riders Tour. They asked, 'Would you ride
him as long as we're here?' He's a very good horse. It was fun to get the
chance to ride him."
Minikus brought 27 horses and a group of clients to HITS Catskills and plans to
compete here for two more weeks. He intends to ride the same group of horses in
the next two $100,000 Grand Prix classes. Minikus competed at HITS Catskills
for the first time in May. "Tom [Struzzieri] certainly runs an organized
and efficient show," he said. "It's nice that he has done a good job
getting the sponsorships-to be able to hold three $100,000 classes. I don't
think there's any other show manager at this point in the country that's
offering that kind of money for us. So for sure we appreciate Avis and the
other sponsors and Tom's effort in raising that kind of sponsorship. It's about
time."
Riders in today's Grand Prix were all given a dark green Romfh Coolmax®
polo shirt embroidered with the HITS Catskills and Romfh logos to wear in the
class. They were also given navy brushed nylon wind shirts in case the weather
turned inclement. The wind shirts were sponsored by Avis and embroidered with
HITS Catskills and Avis logos. Minikus acknowledged that the coat and tie were
part of the tradition of horse shorts but also shared his thoughts on the
changes in riders' attire for competition. "I don't see too many other
professional athletes wearing a coat and a tie doing their sport. This is more
comfortable. I think we could even make it a little better, a little more
colorful for the general public if we stole a little something from the racing
industry and we wore racing silks. We all looked the same here today and I
think we need to give some individuality to each rider and/or owner. Why not?
The owners are a big, big, big part of this and ultimately the owners and the
sponsors get the least amount of recognition. Why don't we give the owners the
chance to have their recognition? I rode four horses for four different owners.
I could have worn four different colored racing silks. Isn't that why people go
to Saratoga in the summer time, for the color of racing?"
Course Designer D'Ambrosio summed up today's Grand Prix, "The best riders
came to the top. They had to jump enough without really taxing their horses too
much. There's two more $100,000 classes coming up, so I'm sure that they
appreciate the fact that I didn't take so much out of them today that they
couldn't consider doing the two remaining $100,000 classes. We had nine clean
which is a pretty large percentage of the starting field but a nice number to
make the jump-off interesting and have it develop a little bit and be
entertaining."
$100,000 Avis Grand Prix, July 22, 2001
HITS Catskills III, Ellenville, New York
Course Designer: Anthony D'Ambrosio
Pl#/Horse/Rider/Owner/Prize Money/Rd 1 Faults/J-O Faults & Time
Number of horses who competed in this class: 22
Class Prize Money: $100,000
1/Nick of Diamonds/Leslie Howard/S'Blieft Group/$30,000/0/0-41.642
2/What Nu/Todd Minikus/Amy Lefferdink/$20,000/0/0-42.988
3/Mont Cenis/Patricia Stovel/Patty & Lexie Stovel & Karen
Murphy/$12,000/0/0-44.220
4/Lassango/Marilyn Little/Raylyn Farm & Marilyn Little/$8,000/0/0-46.556
5/Montrachet/Anna McKnight/Higher Ground Farm/$6,000/0/0-54.331
6/Sundance Kid/Laura Chapot/Sundance Group/$5,000/0/4-48.087
7/Conejo/Todd Minikus/Blair Cudmore/$4,000/0/8/42.637
8/Gardenio/Todd Minikus/YZ Partners/0/8/42.723
9/Oh Star/Todd Minikus/Todd Minikus Ltd/$3,000/0/32-74.574
10/Hennesey/Judy Garofalo/Higher Ground Farm/$2,000/ ½ /NA
11/Rhythmical/Nona Garson/Kamine Family & Nona Garson/$2,000/4/NA
12/Pico de Gallo/Marilyn Little/Raylyn Farm & Marilyn Little/$2,000/4/NA
13/Brave Ally/Ian Silitch/November Hill Farm/$1,500/4/NA
14/Concerto/Molly Ashe/Jane F. Clark/$1,500/4/NA
HITS CATSKILLS 2001 SHOW JUMPING ACTION:
HITS Catskills I, May 23-27
HITS Catskills II, May 30-June 3
HITS Catskills III, July 18-22
HITS Catskills IV, July 25-29
HITS Catskills V, August 1-5
HITS Catskills VI, August 29-September 2
FEATURED EVENTS:
May 27 $100,000 EMO Grand Prix 1pm
June 3 $100,000 Nevele Grande Grand Prix 1pm
July 22 $100,000 Avis Grand Prix 1pm
July 29 $100,000 Cosequin® Grand Prix 1pm
August 5 $100,000 Nevele Grande Grand Prix 1pm
September 2 $100,000 Rio Vista Grand Prix 1pm
SPECIAL EVENTS:
July 22 Taste of the Hudson Valley For Exhibitors Only 2pm-4pm
July 29 Kids Day 11am-1pm
www.HitsShows.com
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