Wilhelm Genn and Welcome COR win the $50,000 Grand Prix of Traverse City, sponsored by Meijer, during the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival. Pictured with Kendall Meijer (left) and Patty Genn (right). (Kendall Bierer/Phelps Media Group)
Canada's Michel Vailancourt designed a large first round track that only eight horse and rider combinations mastered. David Beisel was the first of the field to clear the course with Ammeretto, owned by Equine Holdings, earning the first spot in the return order when Genn followed consecutively with another clean round.
"I was pleased with Ammeretto's first round, as he jumped it as well as I could have asked him to. He gave me some good efforts for the back rails of the combination, which were hard," Beisel acknowledged. "I went as fast as I thought I could manage in the jump-off, knowing that there were a lot of horses behind me still to go."
Beisel laid down a blazing round, slicing the turns and keeping consistent speed across the shortened track. He knew that he would be wearing a target on his back as he broke the beam in 33.942 seconds. As he exited the ring he sighed and said, "now the hard part-waiting."
He did not have to wait long as Genn returned as the second of the eight to challenge Beisel's time. Genn used Welcome COR's natural speed to his advantage, letting her go fast for the first time in their year-and-a-half partnership. They were a hair faster than Beisel through the first three obstacles, and then stayed quick through the right turn to the double combination. He knew he was going to lose time to the liverpool when he had to steady to compensate for his mare's rideability, but he picked up the pace coming down the home stretch. The win was made even more special by the memories it brought back to the Genn family and Happy Z's first grand prix victory, as well as the fact that he was recovering from a broken fibula bone in his leg that only fractured three weeks prior.
"At first, I wasn't planning on going that fast only because I am just coming back," Genn explained. "I didn't know how good she was going to hold up going fast. When David went so fast, and he has the fastest horse in the class, I thought that I would give it a shot-I'd rather go fast than go slow and have two rails down. It worked out beautifully. She is not quiet when she goes fast, she tends to get revved up, but she held up all the way, so I am really proud of her."
He continued, "I know my mare can go fast. I know I can go for it with her. She is not an easy mare, she has the talent I saw originally, but she is much tougher than I thought she would be. She is very stubborn, but has so much talent. Today was a good test for her."
Beisel finished in the second place position, while Hayley Barnhill and Beezie, owned by the ISB Group, took the third place finish. Beth Underhill and Viggo finished out the double clear efforts with a time of 35.312 seconds and the fourth place. Tommy Brawley and Nando KLT were awarded the fifth place as the fastest of the four-fault efforts, while Barnhill and her second mount Zephire rounded out the top six.
Beisel said of his eventual second place finish, "I thought that we had a great jump-off ride. I knew that I would have to go fast with all the people behind me, and really put on the pressure. There is nothing specifically that I would do differently. He jumped fantastic today."
Genn said, "I loved the course. I think everyone was a little more ready for today because of Friday's Welcome Stake course. The courses Michel builds make us ride better and make the horses jump better. I have always liked Michel's courses, and I am one of his biggest fans. We have really enjoyed the first week of the competition. Everyone was super nice from the horse show office to management, and even Mike who does the footing, has asked us how the footing is working and adjusted based on our recommendations. It has been a very personalized experience."
The $50,000 Grand Prix of Traverse City, presented by Meijer, concluded the first week of the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival's first-week series. Next week will welcome more exhibitors and spectators to the Traverse City area, with numerous jumper classics, the $25,000 Welcome Stake sponsored by Amberway Equine, and the $50,000 Grand Prix of Michigan.
For more information on the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival please visit www.greatlakesequestrianfestival.com.
$50 000 Grand Prix of Traverse City, Sponsored by Meijer - Results
Order Entry # Horse Name Rider Name JF1 TF1 AF1 Time 1 JF2 TF2 AF2 Time 2 Purchase
1 205 WELCOME COR WILHELM GENN 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 33.076
2 132 AMMERETTO DAVID BEISEL 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 33.942
3 396 BEEZIE HAYLEY BARNHILL 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 34.837
4 370 VIGGO BETH UNDERHILL 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 35.312
5 181 NANDO KLT TOMMY BRAWLEY 0 0 0 0.000 4 0 4 35.592
6 395 ZEPHIRE HAYLEY BARNHILL 0 0 0 0.000 4 0 4 35.744
7 207 ARAMON THEO GENN 0 0 0 0.000 8 0 8 37.042
8 353 UGANO TAYLOR REID 0 0 0 0.000 8 0 8 37.939
9 412 CHANTAL JAVIER BERGANZA ANDERHUB 4 0 4 75.830
10 801 TORINO Q MICHAEL MORRISSEY 4 0 4 77.989
11 120 CALL ME HANNES DAVID BEISEL 4 0 4 79.337
12 199 COOKIE MONSTER RYAN MICHAEL GENN 4 0 4 81.104
Martha Ingram and Tenacious won the $5,000 USHJA National Derby.
By: Elaine Wessel
Martha Ingram and Tenacious won the $5,000 USHJA National Derby.
Traverse City, MI - July 5, 2015 - The Great Lakes Equestrian Festival saved the best for last as accomplished hunter riders took to the ring for a chance to end the week leading a victory gallop in one of the Junior/Amateur-Owner Classics or the $5,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby. A few select riders are going to have to make room in their tack trunks for multiple GLEF champion coolers and scrims, as more than one weekly division winner added another accolade to their résumé with a top placing today.
Both the $3,000 Junior/Amateur-Owner 3'6" Hunter Classic and the $2,500 Junior/Amateur-Owner 3'3" Hunter Classic consisted of two rounds over designer Dean Battaglia's natural track. The 3'6" horses and riders were the first to go for the blue, with numerous grand champions from the prior days of competition hoping to continue their winning streaks Sunday morning.
Headed into the second phase of the Classic, two riders were neck-and-neck at the top of the standings. Martha Ingram and John and Stephanie Ingram, LLC's Absolut scored an initial 88, followed closely by Emma Wujek and Claire Azar's Lucky Times' score of 86. In the third position with an 82 was Boggs Hill Farm's Anytime, with Vivian Yowan aboard, and Cole Battershall and her own Wayfarer rounded out the top four with a score of 76.
Ultimately it was Wujek and the grey gelding who came away with the highest cumulative score, earning a second trip tally of 88, boosting their score to a 174, two points ahead of Ingram and Absolut, who earned a second-round score of 84 for a total of 172.
The champion impressively just picked up the ride this week on Azar's horse, as the owner was unable to attend the first week of the series. Still, that didn't seem to slow them down any; the pair also rode to the champion tricolors earlier in the week in the Junior 3'6" Hunters.
"He is very trustworthy and a lot of fun to take into the show ring," Wujek noted of her ride, claiming that their focus on producing two fluid rounds helped them to the top of the judges' cards.
Michigan-native Wujek has made the trip to Flintfields Horse Park five times in the past, and had kind words for the new management of Stadium Jumping, Inc.
"This is one of the best management companies around, and they're doing a great job with this beautiful show, especially considering they had such short notice that they were taking over this show," she complimented.
Wujek will remain in Traverse City for one more week, followed by an appearance at the North American Junior Young Rider Championship in Lexington, Kentucky, as a member of the Junior Show Jumping Team for the United States.
Yowan retained third place with Anytime, while Battershall also held on to fourth with her mount Wayfarer.
The 3'3" entrants were invited to the Polk Family Main Hunter Ring next, again with weekly winners vying for the largest share of the prize money. In the end, it seemed as if the results could have been pegged after only the first phase, as all of the top four riders earned scored that maintained their position after their second trips. Just Magic and owner-rider Lindsay Lyden, champions yesterday in the Amateur-Owner Hunter division, bested the field to earn the blue ribbon, followed by Kandis Wrigley's Friend Request and Helen Voss, champions in the Junior 3'3" Hunters earlier in the week.
Bocelli, with owner Marianne Giovenco in the irons, clinched the third position with two strong performances, while Isabel Hermelin and Gg Equine Holdings, LLC's Zekiel claimed fourth.
Next on the agenda was the highlight of the day, the $5,000 USHJA National Derby, attracting 18 eager competitors. Formatted slightly differently than the morning's Classics, the Derby still entailed two rounds, but only the top 12 highest-placing pairs were invited to return for the handy phase.
Battaglia's creation presented riders with a number of inside track opportunities, as well as four high options that allotted for the potential of up to four extra points to be added to the handy score. Most riders took the higher fence options, but spectators were treated to a variety of differing turns taken by the competitors.
It was still anyone's class to win as the handy phase got underway, with 10 of the top 12 riders garnering scores of 80 or above. Greg Crolick and Lugano, owned by Courtney Schwabauer, led the class with the high score of 90. Tied for the second spot was Hillary Johnson and Copper Fox LLC's Voyager and Martha Ingram and her family's own Tenacious, both awarded score of 88 from the judges. J'Adore, owned by Team Rasakowsky and navigated by Geoffrey Hesslink, sat in the next spot with an 86-score, with Addison Piper and Cory Olson's Billy the Kid and Tiffany Morrissey and East Wind Farms' Belucci close behind with scores of 85 and 84, respectively.
With the points so close, the handy round opened the door for competitors to either gain ground on their counterparts or falter to mistakes. Taking advantage of the opportunity better than the rest, with only a few trips remaining, Ingram and Tenacious earned the highest second-round score of 90 to take over the lead. Two more riders would enter the ring hoping to take control of the class, but their efforts would prove fruitless.
The champion horse Tenacious has been owned by the Ingram family for nearly four years, and the horse has proved to be versatile as both a hunter derby winner and a successful equitation horse. Ingram rode the gelding in the WIHS Equitation class, the Pessoa US Hunt Seat Medal, and the ASPCA/NHSAA Maclay earlier in the week, never placing lower than third.
"Greg [Crolick] and I were the only ones to ride between the trot jump and the island, as well as take all the inside turns and high options. Our trips were very smooth; that was the main thing that helped us. We didn't have any rubs, either, which sometimes is a challenge with this horse," the champion commented of her rounds.
This is Ingram's first show back in the saddle after a hand injury thwarted her riding plans, and it was "exciting to get off to such a great start this summer," according to the rider. Even more fitting is the fact that Ingram's first show of the season is in Traverse City, where she has been coming every summer, since she was a small pony rider, to compete. The pair will once again be on the showgrounds next week, later travelling to the Blowing Rock Charity Horse Show in North Carolina and then the Hampton Classic.
The first week of the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival came to a close today, but three more weeks of competition still remain. The action resumes again this Wednesday in the hunter ring, with the Professional Hunter divisions taking center stage.