A successful week of hunter/jumper competition at the Kentucky Summer Horse Show came to a close on Sunday, August 5. Produced by Kentucky Horse Shows LLC, the summer shows are held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. The Kentucky Summer Classic is scheduled for next week from August 8-12.

Jumper Highlights
On Wednesday, August 1, ten riders exhibited their talents in the 1.45m Open Jumper class in the famously large Sheila C. Johnson Arena. Course designer Ken Krome, of Westminster, MD, set a sizeable track in the 300'x 400' space, making use of a grass bank and open water.

With the only double-clear performance in the Table II.2(b) class, Ashley Partow piloted Cool Flood to the win with a jump-off time of 52.900 seconds. Partow, who hails from Bernardsville, NJ, has owned the 16-year-old Australian Thoroughbred for the past five years and started out their career together in the High Amateur-Owner Jumper division. "The course was great," Partow said of Krome's 10 fence track. "It was built well and was big enough as a warm up for either of the grand prix events. It also had its test points."

Prior to the highlighted 1.45m class in the Johnson Arena, 15 horses jumped around Krome's track in the 1.40m Open Jumper speed class. Taking home the blue was Aaron Vale with Copado, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Earnest Oare of Warrenton, VA. With 10 clear rounds, Vale took the blue ribbon after setting a 2 second leading time of 60.790.

On Thursday, August 2, 27 horses performed at the Kentucky Summer Horse Show in the $25,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic Grand Prix. The event was a continuation of the Hagyard Challenge Series, which features the nation's top competitors and offers $170,000 in prize money.

Debbie Stephens of Palmetto, FL, took the win on the Split Rock Farm's Quik. Stephens, the rider and trainer of Centennial Farm, was one of only five riders to return to the jump-off, and one of only two riders to finish double-clear.

"The course was really fun," beamed Stephens, who commented that Krome has "done a fabulous job this week." When asked about the bank added in the jump-off, Stephens said that it "added a dimension so that Chris had a rail." She also noted, "dimension is something that we, as Americans, don't get to jump a lot. I think it's great that [Ken Krome] used that obstacle." Talking about her strategy for the difficult track, Stephens relayed, "it rode a little harder than it walked. We walked it and thought it was a little soft, but with the heat and everything else, there was a lovely result."

Stephens plans to compete here in Kentucky next week as well, before she heads to Holland and then The Hampton Classic. "The Hagyard Challenge Series is one of my favorites, and I think we need more series," commented Stephens. "I commend Hagyard a lot because it gives you an incentive to go in the next grand prix and then the next grand prix and so on. They are a wonderful clinic, and the vendors giving back to the sport is exactly what we need."

In earlier classes on Thursday, Robert Kraut collected top honors in the $5,000 1.40m Open Jumper class aboard Meghan Moran's Quarnak de Longpre, while Rory Grant guided Betsy Green's Secret to the top position in the 1.35m Open Jumper class.

On Friday, August 3, the Johnson Arena saw the start of the High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper division. Julia Lourie of East Setauket, NY, took the win on the Spy Coast Farm's Vivaldi against a field of 14 other horse and rider combinations.

"I really liked the course. It was technical, but it rode well," beamed an elated Lourie. With Callie Bass leading the class on Zorro's Precision MBA with a second round time of 40.437 seconds and clear, Lourie knew that she and Vivaldi had to keep their tempo allegro in order to secure the top spot. Making tighter turns between the fences and carrying a more open step, Lourie cut the timers in a fast 39.473 seconds in