Traverse City, Mich. - Aug. 19, 2016 - Mattias Tromp (USA) of Beyaert Farm Inc. led the victory gallop in Friday's highlight event, the $35,000 Welcome Stake CSI2*, at the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival (GLEF). The 21-year-old rider from North Salem, New York, piloted Avon, a mount he just acquired in April, to grab the blue ribbon and win their first FEI class together.

Course designer Jose Gamarra set a technical first round track, which required a great deal of precision on the riders' part. It consisted of a double and triple combination, a triple bar, tight rollbacks and bending lines. Thirty-four exhibitors made up the starting lineup, and only 12 jumped clear to add themselves to the good list and return for the jump-off.

"The first course I thought was almost a little equitation-y," said Tromp. "Everything was related distances and you had to be very precise about how everything went, but I didn't think it was built very big. You just had to really handle the technical parts of it."

Alma Björklund (SWE) and her own Loro Piana Ballyleck Royale were the early clear pathfinders as the first to jump-off, setting the pace to beat at 38.120 seconds.

David Beisel (USA) entered the Grand Prix Ring as third in the jump-off order-of-go with Harlow Investment Enterprises LLC's Call Me Hannes and was the next pair to produce a double clear round, besting Björklund's time by five seconds in 33.400 seconds.

Samuel Parot (CHI) and his own Dazzle White followed and laid down a speedy and faultless round, just two tenths of a second faster than Beisel, to take over the lead in 33.240 seconds.

Parot and Dazzle White, an 8-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, won the $130,000 Wellington Equestrian Realty Grand Prix CSI3* at the Tryon International Equestrian Center in July, and have been consistently producing top results since forming their partnership earlier this year.

"Dazzle White is a new horse," said Parot. "He is very young but I think he is a top, top horse. He's a super horse. I tried to go fast, but not crazy. I wanted to go clear and fast, but my horse is young. We did not go fast enough to win, but I am super happy. He made a very good turn after fence two as well as after the double combination in the jump-off. Mattias was one second faster than me on the split there but I am so happy."

Four horses and riders attempted to catch Parot's time, but it was Tromp and Avon who were able to succeed in 32.430 seconds and come out on top at the end of the day. Parot finished with second place honors, while Beisel rounded out the top three of the class.

"I didn't see David or Samuel go in the jump-off," said Tromp. "I saw the times and I knew they were fast. I kind of took a shot and tried to get there - I was a little bit lucky but it worked out!"

Even after a summer rainstorm passed through during the first round, it did not hamper the top performances during the tiebreaker. Tromp noted, "If anything I think the footing got better after the rain in the first round. The footing here is amazing!"

Avon, now owned by Beyaert Farm Inc., was previously owned by international Swedish show jumper Alexander Zetterman. The 12-year-old Swedish Warmblood stallion competed internationally in the jumpers with Zetterman up to the 5* level, but was also champion with Tori Colvin in the hunter divisions at the Winter Equestrian Festival in 2016.

"Avon is a horse I bought just after Wellington was over this year," said Tromp. "He was doing the hunters with Victoria Colvin. I did my first 2* and 3* grand prix at Princeton Show Jumping with him in May and I've been showing him consistently ever since. This is the first big win I've had on him. I've won some smaller classes with him, but no grand prix events. We're looking forward to Sunday's grand prix. We'll hand walk and do a light flat tomorrow, but otherwise we're ready."

Week Six of GLEF runs through Aug. 17-21 at the Flintfields Horse Park and will continue to welcome riders and thrill spectators over the next two weeks throughout the second series of competition, which runs Aug. 10-28. The feature jumper event for Week Six will be the $50,000 Grand Prix CSI2* on Sunday, Aug. 21.

Results: $35,000 Welcome Stake CSI2*
1 141 AVON MATTIAS TROMP 0 0.000 0 32.430
2 439 DAZZLE WHITE SAMUEL PAROT 0 0.000 0 33.240
3 352 CALL ME HANNES DAVID BEISEL 0 0.000 0 33.400
4 222 BUGATTI WILHELM GENN 0 0.000 0 35.660
5 243 LORO PIANA BALLYLECK ROYALE ALMA BJÖRKLUND 0 0.000 0 38.120
6 293 QUANTERO 2 DAVID BLAKE 0 0.000 1 45.200
7 175 VICTER FINN DH Z EUGENIO GARZA 0 0.000 4 34.790
8 297 BINKIE DAVID BLAKE 0 0.000 4 35.250
9 249 CONTESSINA DELLA CACCIA ABIGAIL MCARDLE 0 0.000 4 38.690
10 173 EMPIRE VAN WUITENSHOF EUGENIO GARZA 0 0.000 4 38.970
11 191 HITCHCOCK VD BROEKKANT ALISE OKEN 0 0.000 6 46.780
12 156 CLIMBUS NICK NOVAK 0 0.000 7 47.740

Jennifer Nadalin Claims Performance Hunter Championship and Reserve Rosettes at GLEF Week Six
Hillary Johnson and Vienna Capture Treesdale Farms Performance Hunter Championship

The Performance Hunters kicked off the third day of competition at the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival (GLEF) on Friday. Jennifer Nadalin did not let her grip slip on her first day lead aboard Westeros, returning on the second day to clinch the championship and move Catango V into the reserve champion position.

"Westeros was great," Nadalin said. "It has been a long week, and he has shown all six weeks of competition. We didn't want to do too much with him, I just did a quick warm-up and we went in-he couldn't have been better."

Westeros, owned by Katie Jordan, is a 9-year-old chestnut gelding who has proven himself time and time again in the First Year Working Green Hunters. Nadalin entered him into the Performance Hunter division during the sixth week of competition, and was thrilled to see that he did not put one hoof out of place. He earned the first and second place over fences on the second day to finish out the division with the clear lead from his two-day combined collection of ribbons. Nadalin also nabbed the reserve championship for the Performance Hunter division with Catango V, owned by Samantha Gajoch.

"Catango also did a great job," Nadalin said. "Samantha showed him last week, but this week she returned to school, so he is only doing the Performance Hunters and then hopefully we will do the National Hunter Derby on Sunday."

Nadalin continued, "The courses were very nice for the second day. The footing was really good, and the courses rode really nicely. It was a very busy morning for us, a lot of hustling between rings with all the different divisions, but it all worked out really well, and the horses were wonderful."

During the Treesdale Farms Pre-Green Hunters, it was Hillary Johnson and Vienna, owned by Altair Farms, who broke their reserve championship streak, finally claiming the Pre-Green Hunter Championship. They sealed their claim on the tricolor with two additional first place finishes over fences, as well as the top spot in the under saddle for a second day sweep.

"She has been really good; we have been here for six weeks. It was nice to get in a different ring. She went in there, and was happy to be in there with some different jumps and scenery," Johnson said of the move into the main hunter ring for the Pre-Green Hunter division. "She doesn't school on Tuesdays, she just gets ridden Wednesday and competes in the division. We are hoping to do the derby this week, it will be her first one."

Johnson continued, "She is a very soft ride, she is a mare after all," Johnson laughed. "She likes you to sit pretty quiet. She has a good engine and a good mouth. She is fairly straightforward."

Owner, Starr Humphries of Altair Farms, was onsite to see Vienna compete, "She is here almost every time the horses show. She is an absolutely wonderful owner. She loves seeing her horses do well, and she never puts any pressure on me. We are excited to have finally broken our streak of reserve championships."
The reserve championship was awarded to Tamara Provost and Salt for their first and second place finishes Thursday, as well as dual second place finishes over fences Friday.

Series Two kicked off on Aug. 10 and will run through Aug. 28, featuring three weeks of hunter and jumper competition with a FEI CSI2* rating Week Five and Six and a FEI CSI3* rating during Week Seven, culminating in the $100,000 Grand Traverse Grand Prix CSI3* on Sunday, Aug. 28. Hunter highlights include the Glory Days Farm, LLC USHJA National Hunter Derby, which will take place each Sunday through the end of the second series.

Horses are not the only form of entertainment lined up for this year's Great Lakes Equestrian Festival. The festival has teamed up with top musicians and entertainers from around the country to offer fun-filled evenings for this year's concert and dinner series.

Week Six hosted the Kari Lynch Band and farm BBQ dinner by www.PorterhousePresents.com on Friday, Aug. 19, at 6 p.m. at the Flintfields Horse Park, while Week Seven will headline the Billy Strings Bluegrass Closing Party by www.PorterhousePresents.com at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 28.

The Great Lakes Equestrian Festival is set on 88 beautiful acres and showcases five world-class competition rings in addition to spacious schooling rings. The property features don't stop there as the park offers convenient onsite campgrounds and weekly nights of entertainment for a truly unique attendee experience.

For more information or to view schedules, please visit mmg.management or www.greatlakesequestrianfestival.com.

To view the competition schedule, please click here.

For travel and housing information, please click here.

For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Brook Berganza at [email protected].

For questions and comments, contact [email protected].