Lane Clarke and Semira de Saulieu (McCool)
With a tighter time allowed, Cecilia Galvin of Mexico designed a forward track well-suited for a national grand prix. Rails fell and time faults accrued for a number of riders, especially jump 10, a white skinny gate with a rail, and 12, a blue oxer-liverpool.
Susan Hutchison and SIG Zuleika were first to go clear, followed by Michelle Parker on Cross Creek Farm's Clintord. Next, Clarke and Semira, Friday's winners, joined the jump-off. Rounding out the four clean were John French on Danielle Walker's Casco Junior.
Of his first round plan, Clarke said, "I really galloped her hard in the Friday class that she won. I knew she would be a little bit quick and eager to the jumps. So my plan was to school her in the warm-up ring and remind her that in this round we would back up a little bit. In the ring I planned to give her distances that I could leg her to but not get her anxious. She was rideable and let me do what I wanted, and it worked!"
Clarke and the wonderful Semira de Saulieu, who has won or been second in four of the last five grand prix classes she competed in, were the only double clean today. Hutchison had four faults, Parker had eight and French ended up with fourteen.
"I had a good draw in the jump-off. After both Michelle and Susie had rails, my plan was just to make sure I gave room to the jump that came down twice, which was jump 10 - it was the gate with a rail on top. Seemed like that was the bogey jump. And Semira did what she does - she jumped clean," Clarke explained. He went on to thank everyone involved, from FarmVet to the show management, to his team and especially his horse, Semira.
RESULTS
$30,000 Blenheim Grand Prix, presented by FarmVet
Place - Number - Horse - Rider - Owner - Faults/Time
1 - 445 - Semira de Saulieu - Lane Clarke - Charlotte Gadbois - 0/0/40.896
2 - 259 - SIG Zuleika - Susan Hutchison - SIG International - 0/4/38.416
3 - 286 - Clintord - Michelle Parker - Cross Creek Farms, Inc. - 0/8/41.412
4 - 211 - Casco Junior - John French - Danielle Walker - 0/14/55.051
5 - 460 - Bull Run's Holy Smokes - Kristen Vanderveen - Bull Run Jumpers, Inc. - 4/77.780
6 - 113 - Zamiro - Susan Artes - Alix Fargo - 4/82.676
7 - 523 - Chello Z - Josephina Nor Lantzman - Josephina Nor Stables, LLC - 4/82.997
8 - 308 - Alhaurin de la Nancy - Michelle Rodal - Morgan Hill Partners - 4/86.544
9 - 428 - Acer - Hap Hansen - Geraldine Bidwell - 4/86.902
10 - 606 - Cassiato - Harley Brown - Oak Park Group, LLC - 4(time)/90.329
11 - 555 - Unlimited - Gabriella Mizrachi - Rebecca Matalon - 6/88.064
12 - 299 - Paloma - Keri Potter - Melanie Brooks - 6/88.582