Laura Bowery and Vanhattan (The Book LLC)
Second place in the class went to Wiplala and Richard Neal, who had a time of 63.692 seconds. Finishing in 64.129 seconds, Leslie Howard and Zaragoza were third.
Bowery remarked, “I took some time off; I was coaching a lot in Florida. I was flying back and forth. I focused more on training. Maybe here and there I did a practice class, like training jumpers. It feels great to be back in the saddle. When you've been out of it for a little bit, you can second guess yourself, but it felt great.”
Vanahattan had been a winner for years with junior rider Lillie Keenan, and now does the junior jumpers with new owner Kerry McCahill. Since McCahill was out of town, Bowery got the ride. “He's just coming back after some time off after Florida, so I just wanted to do some small classes with him. He feels great. He has a lot of experience, and he's shown everywhere,” Bowery stated, “so jumping on the grass, even though it was a little wet, he was a real confident horse. He's a horse who really gets confidence, his scope, from pace.”
Bowery and Vanhattan won the 1.20m class yesterday, and she set her sights on victory in the 1.30m class. “I did plan on trying to win,” she confirmed. “It's really good for his confidence. I had a bit of a plan. I didn't know if it would hold up in such a big class, and I went third. I didn't watch any go, but I walked it and made my plan. I tend to be best that way.”
Bowery described Vanhattan as a “little bit of a theatrical horse,” saying that he likes to buck and play in the schooling ring. “I know him very well, and I've been part of his fan club since Lillie was riding him. He just likes to go with that kind of pace. His confidence and his gameness is good for a junior jumper. What's a little bit tricky about him is that there is a lot of bravado with him,” she said. “In the beginning that was a little intimidating for my rider. Once you realize that's just part of his game, it's kind of funny. Everything feels like it's going really fast, and he's a real thinker, so you just have to stay pretty calm with him and just go with him. He's got a lot of character. He's very smart. He knows where his feet are all the time, and he's very balanced. He's just a really, really nice horse. I feel very lucky to be able to ride him.”
Final Results: $3,000 Open Jumper 1.30m
1 176 VANHATTAN, LAURA BOWERY, KERRY ANNE LLC: 0/62.154
2 727 WIPLALA, RICHARD NEAL, RICHARD NEAL: 0/63.692
3 735 ZARAGOZA, LESLIE HOWARD, LESLIE & PETER HOWARD: 0/64.129
4 433 U2, FRANCESCA BOLFO, FRANCESCA BOLFO: 0/65.162
5 804 BLINK, JACOB POPE, COKER FARM: 0/65.450
6 638 VIVARO B, EZEQUIEL PERALTA, BENJAMIN SIMPKINS: 0/65.924
7 784 BARLA, HANNAH SELLECK, DESCANSO FARM: 0/66.683
8 296 CAPTAIN JACK, JONATHAN MC CREA, CANDY TRIBBLE & WINDSOR SHOW STABLE: 0/69.649
9 924 CASSIUS VON NYMPHENBURG, MATTIAS TROMP, BEYAERT FARM INC.: 0/70.995
10 117 ULTRA D' ECLIPSE, MAX AMAYA, SILVER OAK FARMS LLC: 0/72.594