The closing day of the Kentucky Summer Classic did not disappoint spectators as competitors returned after a long week of competition to try and claim one last victory. Many of the top Amateur-Owners and Junior Jumpers returned to the Indoor Ring to compete for top prizes in the Classics.

Each division ran over the same course designed by David Ballard. Competitors were pleasantly surprised when they realized it was nearly the same track as the previous nights $50,000 Rood and Riddle Grand Prix, simply lower heights. Obstacles included rollbacks, a skinny vertical, an oxer-vertical double combination, a liverpool fence, and a vertical-vertical-oxer triple combination. Each class was run as a Table 2 a/b format, giving riders a choice of remaining in the ring, or returning at the end of the class to ride their jump off round.

The Low Amateur-Owner/Junior Classic had such a large number of entries that each division was split into two classes. Beginning with the Low Amateur-Owner Jumper division, only five horse and rider pairs went a clean over fences to advance to the short course. Saree Kayne and Nuage were the first duo to ride clear in the jump-off setting the standard at 28.635 seconds, which was eventually good enough for third place. Ariana Wallace and her horse Vamaranta stood up to the challenge to better that time and successfully did so with a faultless 28.168 seconds, earning the second place honors overall.

Anna McWane had the third clean jump-off, but she and her mount Vincent were unable to better the fastest time with 29.964 seconds and had to settle for fourth place. Gabby Stern and Anjelica were the next to show over the short course with victory on their mind, stopping the clock in a blazing 25.439 seconds. Unfortunately the duo had one rail down at the last jump and moved into fifth place. Niki Martin and 16-year-old Hobby De La Cense was the next to try and claim the lead and tripping the wire without any rails down in 27.258 seconds was just what they needed to earn the blue ribbon.

Martin’s first round looked easy, but her strategy is what earned her a fault-free effort. “I was trying to do it with intention and keep a lot of impulsion,” she explained. “I wanted to keep his stride a little bit shorter than normal to get him to the base of the jumps. We had to do a lot of tight turns and he has a tendency to fall on his shoulder around the turns so I was trying to keep him really straight.”

During the jump-off Martin was focused on her pace. “I just kept kicking,” she noted. “There were a lot of other really fast riders out there and I never know how fast I am going compared to other people. That was as good as I could do today so I was really happy with it, I didn’t really care too much what ribbon we got, I just knew that was the best Hobby and I could do so I was really excited.”

Following the Amateur-Owners was the Low Junior Jumper Classic and setting the bar for a class of 45 juniors was Samantha Schaefer aboard Canute. The pair had a clean first round and went right on to complete a speedy, fault-free jump-off in 27.846 seconds. Schaefer’s time was in the lead until Catherine Tyree and Carinthie Z had a clear short course just a few hundredths quicker then Schaefer’s in 27.050 seconds.

This time looked to be unbeatable until 16-year-old Christina Kelly rode in on her 8-year-old Belgian Warmblood, Creata Van Ten Biesen, owned by Diamond Edge Farm. Kelly guided her mare to a clean jump-off round, choosing inside turns and galloping between fences to trip the wire in 26.745 seconds. Their effort was good enough for first place and overall champion of her the Low Junior Jumper Division.

“We just came back from Europe and we wanted to put her in the lows this week as a coming back class, and she did great,” explained Kelly. “The time allowed was very tight but I really liked the course. The jump-off was fun, and she just got better through it.”

Kelly shared her future plans saying, “We hope to move her back to the Highs, get her ready for Gold Cup and then take her down to WEF. I really like the Indoor Arena and I really like the shows here at the Horse Park.”

The last class in the Indoor Ring was the High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic and out of a class of 35 pairs, only three made it to the jump-off. The first horse and rider combination to go clear in the opening round was Jessica Springsteen and Tinsday VDL, owned by Stone Hill Farm. Springsteen looked to be clean in the jump-off until knocking one rail down in the last combination. The duo stopped the clock with four faults and a time of 28.976 seconds, good enough for third place.

The second rider to qualify for the jump-off was Chelsea Moss and her horse, Dornadoc. Moss unfortunately hit the same rail at Springsteen and crossed the wire in 28.513 seconds with four faults to take second place. The last rider to make it to the jump-off was Olivia Herbert and her 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood, Schefferkes Solo. Herbert took her time around the course and opted for the outside turns but it paid-off when the pair crossed the wire without any faults in 29.614 seconds. Their amazing effort earned them the first place ribbon in the class and overall High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Championship.

“I kind of got lucky, not many horses made it to the jump-off,” smiled Herbert. “Everything else rode really nicely, I thought the liverpool was going to be hard but it went smoothly. The jump-off rode really well and I decided to stay outside on a turn just to be sure and go clean.”

Herbert added, “We were showing Childrens four months ago so winning this was such a big accomplishment. I’m going to fly back as much as I can during college to show her and we plan to take her to Florida to show in the winter.”

Today concluded the Kentucky Summer Classic but the series at the Kentucky Horse Park continues next week, August 10-15, with the 2010 USEF National Pony Finals. The following week of competition will be the Bluegrass Festival Horse Show, featuring the $50,000 Hagyard CSI-W Lexington Classic held on August 20, 2010.

For more information about the Kentucky Summer Horse Shows please visit www.KentuckyHorseShows.com

RESULTS:

Class 247, AO-JR JPR HIGH CLASSIC 1.45m II 2a/b 1 440 SCHEFFERKES SOLO OLIVIA HERBERT OLIVIA HERBERT 0 0 0 68.987 0 0 0 29.614 2 480 DORNADOC CHELSEA MOSS CHELSEA MOSS 0 0 0 68.098 4 0 4 28.513 3 13 TINSDAY VDL JESSICA SPRINGSTEEN STONE HILL FARM 0 0 0 68.827 4 0 4 28.976 4 104 AD FUNDUM ERICKA PRITZ ERICKA PRITZ 0 1 1 70.534 0 0 0.000 5 593 CLOVER KNIGHT LEAH CURTISS LEAH CURTISS 4 0 4 63.698 0 0 0.000 6 312 FLIGHT REED KESSLER REED KESSLER 4 0 4 63.923 0 0 0.000 7 189 SUGAR RAY SAMANTHA SCHAEFER SAMANTHA SCHAEFER 4 0 4 65.312 0 0 0.000 8 930 IRON MICHAEL BURNETT MICHAEL BURNETT 4 0 4 65.759 0 0 0.000

Class 437, AMATEUR-OWNER JUMPER LOW CLASSIC 1.30m II 2 a/b 1 650 HOBBY DE LA CENSE NIKI MARTIN NIKI MARTIN 0 0 0 65.992 0 0 0 27.258 2 1642 VAMARANTA ARIANA WALLACE ARIANA WALLACE 0 0 0 64.748 0 0 0 28.168 3 97 NUAGE SAREE KAYNE SAREE KAYNE 0 0 0 64.069 0 0 0 28.635 4 539 VINCENT ANNA MCWANE ANNA MCWANE 0 0 0 66.550 0 0 0 29.964 5 318 ANJELICA GABBY STERN GABBY STERN 0 0 0 65.098 4 0 4 25.439 6 95 LA PAZ CAITLIN HOPE KATHLEEN HOPE 0 1 1 70.592 0 0 0.000 7 309 SWISS FRANC TERRI KESSLER TERRI KESSLER 0 1 1 70.653 0 0 0.000 8 1033 OLYMPIC LAD LISA KENT LISA KENT 0 1 1 70.998 0 0 0.000

Class 237, JR JPR LOW CLASSIC 1.15m-1.30m II 2a/b 1 1774 CREATA VAN TEN BIESEN CHRISTINA KELLY DIAMOND EDGE FARM 0 0 0 66.842 0 0 0 26.745 2 1095 CARINTHIE Z CATHERINE TYREE CATHERINE TYREE 0 0 0 65.300 0 0 0 27.050 3 188 CANUTE SAMANTHA SCHAEFER SAMANTHA SCHAEFER 0 0 0 68.207 0 0 0 27.846 4 88 MTM LESTER TAYLOR ADAMS TAYLOR ADAMS 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 30.081 5 255 KARDIGAN NOIR LUCAS PORTER THE KARDIGAN CORPORATION 0 0 0 69.048 0 0 0 30.630 6 347 CYPRIA 6 LEAH DEMARTINI ELM ROCK LLC 0 0 0 67.834 0 0 0 30.631 7 356 INSIGNIA II JORDAN SANTI TULLAMORE FARMS LLC 0 0 0 67.858 4 0 4 27.888 8 1079 SALEM DU BOSQUETIAU ABIGAIL MCARDLE FIRST PARTNERS INC 0 0 0 69.427 4 0 4 29.085