Ali Wolff and Artemis (Mary Adelaide Brakenridge for Phelps Media Group, Inc. International)
Wolff knew that she would have to set a good mark with Artemis, an 8-year-old mare owned by John Wolff, to make it tough for later riders to beat her time. She navigated through the jump-off in a time of 31.528 seconds, just enough to hold off David Blake and Park Lane. Blake and Park Lane won Wednesday's $5,000 1.40m Open Jumper class and completed today's jump-off in 31.796 seconds, just a tick behind Wolff's time. Wolff noted that the courses, designed by Allen Rheinheimer, suited her horse well.
"The first round seemed like a nice course for her," Wolff said. "Everything was nice off the turn, kind of floating around, which is what she likes to do. The jump-off was the same way - a bunch of smooth turning, nothing abrupt. She's really great at just turning, seeing it and going. I took a little bit of a chance at the oxer going to the last line. She didn't see it until I turned, but she took it really well."
Wolff trains with Michele Grubb. She is based out of New Albany, OH, about three hours away from the Kentucky Horse Park, and has spent much of the summer training and competing in Kentucky. She was pleased with Artemis' effort after an overly enthusiastic performance on Wednesday.
"She was great today," Wolff said. "Yesterday she was wild and fresh. She did the 1.40m yesterday as well, and she had two down. Today she felt like herself again. She goes around nicely. All you do is just barely touch the reins and purr around in two-point and point and shoot, and she does the rest.
"She tries hard. She's a winner, and I guess she proved that today," Wolff concluded.
The 1.35m Open Jumper class was another highlight in the Rolex Stadium. It was run as a speed class, with the time allowed set at 85 seconds. Nabors and his own Muchacha De Uno, an 8-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare, set the early target for the field of 39, completing the course in 74.555 seconds. None came close to Nabors' time until Ortiz and Apple, a 9-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare, sped through the course in 73.648 seconds to claim first place.
Ortiz purchased Apple on Tuesday to take over the number one spot in his string after selling his top horse last week. He is just getting to know the mare, but is already excited for her future.
"I am still doing smaller classes to get to know her," he said. "She's very quick, very brave and obedient, but she is a mare, so she's opinionated, like every other woman I know. She's very hot and spicy, which I like. That is my type of ride. I don't know her that well yet, but she is already showing me good qualities."
Ortiz opted to take some risks early in the course where he saw opportunities to save time. "From number 2 to 3, the inside turn is very tight, so I did that," he explained. "And from 3 to 4 I went inside number 1, which is also a very tight turn. Those are the only two big risks I took. I was very effective in the beginning of the track so I could be conservative at the end of the track. Everything else I just rode efficiently, but I didn't take any chances so I could just continue with a clean round."
Nabors also chose the inside tracks at the beginning of the course but was just a touch too slow to beat Ortiz. "The course rode really, really nicely," Nabors, of Alva, FL, said. "There were some spots to be quicker and take some inside turns, and I knew that I had to take those. I planned to take a stride out after the triple bar, but somebody told me before, 'You might get that rail if you do that.' I know my mare, and I should have taken that stride out! But I came back and did 5 strides instead of getting down there in 4, and I ended up in second place."
Ortiz plans to test out a different bit for Apple on Friday in the 1.40m Open Jumpers, and once he has the equipment ironed out, he hopes to move her up to the grand prix the following week. His first major goal for her is the Bolivarian Games, and he has his eyes on the Central American Games, the Pan American Games and even the Olympic Games.
"The Olympics are far away, but she's young," Ortiz said. "I don't know how much scope she has, but she's done some 1.50m already. She will be the horse that could be very competitive in that circuit, so those are my goals with her."
Results
$5,000 Open Jumper 1.40m
1/367/ARTEMIS/ALI WOLFF/0/0/0/75.674/0/0/0/31.528/ /
2/1177/PARK LANE/DAVID BLAKE/0/0/0/0.000/0/0/0/31.796/ /
3/1519/UNICO/SPENCER BRITTAN/0/0/0/74.065/0/0/0/32.177/ /
4/410/ATANJA/PAULO SANTANA/0/0/0/0.000/0/0/0/32.682/ /
5/627/SILVERSTONE/HOLLY SHEPHERD/0/0/0/0.000/0/0/0/33.139/ /
6/1472/AMARETTO/DAVID BEISEL/0/0/0/0.000/0/0/0/34.360/ /
7/1487/QUINTUS 66/DANIEL DAMEN/0/0/0/0.000/4/0/4/33.952/ /
8/1144/ZUBIZERETA VDL/GEOFFREY CASE/0/0/0/73.654/ / /WITHDR/ / /
9/408/MARIBEL H/MANUEL FERNANDEZ HACHE/4/0/4/71.216/ / // / /
10/1017/DA VINCI/SPENCER SMITH/4/0/4/73.193/ / // //
Open Jumper 1.35m
1/1491/APPLE/JUAN ORTIZ/0/0/0/73.648//
2/1535/MUCHACHA DE UNO/ALLEN NABORS/0/0/0/74.555//
3/891/ZEPHIRE/HAYLEY BARNHILL/0/0/0/77.320//
4/644/COVER GIRL 27/ALISON ROBITAILLE/0/0/0/80.382//
5/597/LIFESTYLE/SHAWN CASADY/0/0/0/83.564//
6/245/ZELDENRUST/MARTIEN VAN DER HOEVEN/0/0/0/84.906//
7/967/HC BIG STAR/SAYRE HAPPY/0/3/3/87.621//
8/1262/COCO 135/DENISE WILSON/4/0/4/73.164//
9/49/UNE ETOILE DE L'ECLYPSE/MARSHALL FIELD/4/0/4/77.130//
10/816/SLF ANNIE LENNOX/JOSH DOLAN/4/0/4/80.604//