Laura Chapot and Quointreau Un Prince Win Again! Take First in $50,000 Horze Equestrian Grand Prix

Saugerties, New York (July 21, 2015): Laura Chapot and Quointreau Un Prince, owned by Chapot and McLain Ward, claimed yet another victory at HITS-on-the-Hudson, taking first place in Sunday's $50,000 Horze Equestrian Grand Prix.

The win follows their blue ribbon in Friday's $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix and Chapot's consistent stellar performance at HITS-on-the-Hudson so far this year. Seven horses made the jump-off Sunday, including two ridden by Chapot.

Chapot, of Neshanic Station, New Jersey, when first in the jump-off on ISHD Dual Star, owned by her mother, Mary Chapot, but had a rail down to finish with four faults in 36.664 seconds and place fourth. Ronan McGuigan, of Far Hills, New Jersey, on his Capall Zidane took the ring next, but retired after an unfortunate refusal at fence 12a. Brianne Goutal, of New York, New York, on Rebeca LS, owned by Remarkable Farms LP, went third and finished in a clean 38.833 seconds to take the lead and set the Great American Time to Beat.

Judy Garofalo Torres, of Dover Plains, New York, on Quattro Queen, owned by Juan Torres, went fourth but had a rail down to finish in 39.340 seconds to take fifth place.  Mauricio Guevara, of Plantation, Florida, and his Capano Z completed the next clean round and finished in a time of 42.326 to put them in third. Andrea Torres Guerreiro, of Waterford, Virginia, who won the $10,000 Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper 1.45m Classic, presented by Vetera® XP Vaccines, earlier that day, had rails at the last two fences to finish with eight faults in 39.058 seconds, placing sixth.

Chapot, on Quointreau Un Prince, went next and, like their win in Friday's $25,000 Grand Prix, cleared all the jumps in a lightning fast round to claim the top prize. She credits her horse for their victory. "He does cover the ground really well. He is fast. For him, it's not like I was running. He has such a great length of stride. He covers a lot of ground without having to race."

She said of her consistent wins, including Sunday, "I think it's key for me not to think too much about who it is that's in the lead, and to just try and put in a really good round for my horse.”

The course was designed by Bernardo Cabral, of Lisbon, Portugal.

HITS Saugerties continues this week with HITS Tuesday I and HITS-on-the-Hudson V officially kicking off on Wednesday. On Sunday, the Grand Prix prize money increases yet again with the $75,000 AIG Grand Prix at 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 26. For more information, please visit HitsShows.com.

(c) ESI Photography
Laura Chapot and Quointreau Un Prince, owned by Chapot and McLain Ward, clear a HITS Endurance jump in the $50,000 Horze Equestrian Grand Prix Sunday at HITS-on-the-Hudson IV.


(c) ESI Photography
Laura Chapot and Quointreau Un Prince, owned by Chapot and McLain Ward, are presented with a trophy and a Horze cooler for winning the $50,000 Horze Equestrian Grand Prix Sunday at HITS-on-the-Hudson IV.

Place	Horse	Owner	Rider	Prize	Rd. 1 Faults	JO Faults	Time
1	Quointreau Un Prince	Laura Chapot & McLain Ward	Laura Chapot	$15,000	0	0	36.991
2	Rebeca LS	Remarkable Farms LP	Brianne Goutal	$11,000	0	0	38.833
3	Capano Z	Mauricio Guevara	Mauricio Guevara	$6,500	0	0	42.326
4	ISHD Dual Star	Mary Chapot	Laura Chapot	$4,000	0	4	36.664
5	Quattro Queen	Juan Torres	Judy Garofalo Torres	$3,000	0	4	39.340
6	Victoria	Santa Catalina Farm	Andrea Torres Guerreiro	$2,500	0	8	39.056
7	Capall Zidane	Ronan McGuigan	Ronan McGuigan	$2,000	0	Ret.	Ret.
8	Anabella	Santa Catalina Farm	Manuel Torres	$1,500	4	*	*
9	Brando Du Rouet	Tolleshunt Investment Group	Kirk Webby	$1,500	4	*	*
10	VDL Wittinger	Amanda Flint	Amanda Flint	$1,000	4	*	*
11	Capri	David Raposa	David Raposa	$1,000	4	*	*
12	Superbad	The Coverboy Group	Amanda Flint	$1,000	8	*	*

 

Andrea Torres Guerreiro and 50 Shades Win $10,000 Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper 1.45m Classic, presented by Vetera® XP Vaccines

Andrea Torres Guerreiro and 50 Shades, owned by Santa Catalina Farm, took first place in Sunday's $10,000 Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper 1.45m Classic, presented by Vetera® XP Vaccines.

Torres Guerreiro and 50 shades went last in the five-horse jump-off to claim the top prize, finishing clean in 39.943 seconds. "He's just a 7-year-old. He's very strong, so sometimes it's hard to hold him back. I was a little concerned about the first turn -- that was an inside turn, but he did it great," she said. "I lost a little bit of time in the turns, but then I saw a shot to the last jump...I saw it a little bit long but I kept going. Luckily it worked out."

Torres said she just started riding the 7-year-old Westphalian gelding this January. "It's my first real six months with him," she said. "He's been really, really great."

Third-place finisher Hannah Patten on her Filou VD Wateringhoeve went first in the jump-off and finished clean in 43.069 seconds. Stephanie Gallucci and her Chellou went third, finishing clean in 42.378 seconds. They held the Great American Time to Beat until Torres Guerreiro and 50 Shades took their turn in the ring and shaved 2.4 seconds off their time to claim the blue ribbon.

(c) ESI Photography
Andrea Torres Guerreiro and 50 Shades clear a Vetera® Vaccines jump in the $10,000 Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper 1.45m Classic, presented by Vetera XP Vaccines Sunday at HITS-on-the-Hudson IV.

(c) ESI Photography
Andrea Torres Guerreiro and 50 Shades are presented with a blue ribbon and a Horze cooler after winning the $10,000 Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper 1.45m Classic, presented by Vetera® XP Vaccines at HITS-on-the-Hudson IV.

Place	Horse	Owner	Rider	Prize	Rd. 1 Faults	JO Faults	Time
1	Fifty Shades	Santa Catalina Farm	Andrea Torres Guerreiro	$2,800	0	0	39.943
2	Chellou	Stephanie Gallucci	Stephanie Gallucci	$1,800	0	0	42.378
3	Filou VD Wateringhoeve	Hannah Patten	Hannah Patten	$1,250	0	0	43.069
4	Romance de Kuliven	Rose Hill Farm	Cloe Hymowitz	$900	0	4	43.350
5	Crossfire 10	McLain Ward	Lauren Ward	$800	0	4	43.498
6	Fineman	Rose Hill Farm	Cloe Hymowitz	$700	4	*	*
7	Baritchov DBT	Rose Hill Farm	Cloe Hymowitz	$600	4	*	*
8	Velin du Houssoit	Siekmann Equestrian LLC	Camilla Siekmann	$400	4	*	*
9	Laspari	Adrienne Marciano	Adrienne Marciano	$375	4	*	*
10	Carany	Hannah Patten	Hannah Patten	$375	4	*	*
11	Canoso	Adrienne Marciano	Adrienne Marciano	*	8	*	*
12	Chellini	Marlee Dichter	Marlee Dichter	*	8	*	*

 

Dean Dignelli and Redefin Win $10,000 Marshall & Sterling TuffRider/Equine Couture Child/Adult Jumper Classic

Dean Dignelli and Redefin, owned by Heritage Farm, Inc. claimed first place in Saturday's $10,000 Marshall & Sterling TuffRider/Equine Couture Child/Adult Jumper Classic.

The pair topped a 15-horse jump-off to win the class. They went 12th on the shortened course and shaved nearly a second off the time of second-place finisher Rosalie Biedron on Lady B Lucky, owned by Ann Scher, who had gone third and held onto her winning time through eight rounds. Kendal Milkey and Valencia, who went sixth in the jump-off, finished third in a clean 40.269 seconds.

Dean Dignelli and Redefin, owned by Heritage Farm, Inc. claimed first place in Saturday's $10,000 Marshall & Sterling TuffRider/Equine Couture Child/Adult Jumper Classic.

The pair topped a 15-horse jump-off to win the class. They went 12th on the shortened course and shaved nearly a second off the time of second-place finisher Rosalie Biedron on Lady B Lucky, owned by Ann Scher, who had gone third and held onto her winning time through eight rounds. Kendal Milkey and Valencia, who went sixth in the jump-off, finished third in a clean 40.269 seconds.

(c) ESI Photography
Dean Dignelli and Redefin, owned by Heritage Farm Inc., jump clear to top a 15-horse jump off and win the $10,000 Marshall & Sterling TuffRider/Equine Couture Child/Adult Jumper Classic Saturday at HITS-on-the-Hudson IV.

(c) ESI Photography
Dean Dignelli and Redefin, owned by Heritage Farm Inc., are presented with a trophy and a Horze cooler after winning the $10,000 Marshall & Sterling TuffRider/Equine Couture Child/Adult Jumper Classic Saturday at HITS-on-the-Hudson IV.

Place	Horse	Owner	Rider	Prize	Rd. 1 Faults	JO Faults	JO Time
1	Redefin	Heritage Farm, Inc.	Dean Dignelli	$2,800	0	0	36.131
2	Lady B Lucky	Ann Scher	Rosalie Biedron	$1,800	0	0	37.068
3	Valencia	Kendall Milkey	Kendal Milkey	$1,250	0	0	40.269
4	Abitibi Blues	Annie Friedman	Annie Friedman	$900	0	0	40.569
5	Boston	Katelyn Felts	Katelyn Felts	$800	0	0	42.226
6	Oak Park Clover	Haley Cassidy	Haley Cassidy	$700	0	0	43.049
7	Bob	Elizabeth Toomey	Elizabeth Toomey	$600	0	0	43.443
8	EV Armani	Ridgeway Stables	Taryn Fall	$400	0	0	44.189
9	Grisset	Alissa Kinsey	Alissa Kinsey	$375	0	4	37.863
10	Cachaca 4	Marker's Mark LLC	Maggie McCormack	$375	0	4	38.062

 

Endeavor Therapy Horses and Special Needs Children Give Riding Demonstration at HITS

Just prior to Sunday's $50,000 Horze Equestrian Grand Prix, several horses, ponies and children with Endeavor Therapeutic Horsemanship, a non-profit based in Bedford, Westchester County, that serves special needs children, gave a riding demonstration in the Grand Prix Ring at HITS-on-the-Hudson.

The Endeavor program, which began in 2014, is seeking donations, including horses or ponies that would be appropriate for special needs children to ride, lightly used tack and riding apparel, as well as volunteer hours.

"I think most of the horse people here know about the therapeutic benefits of just being around (horses), at any level," said Kate Oliver, an Endeavor Board Member who was at the presentation Sunday. "We've had some tremendous breakthroughs with special needs kids, and wanted to bring a little more awareness to our program."

For more information on Endeavor, visit endeavorth.org or call 858.342.1397.

(c) ESI Photography
Several children and therapy horses with Endeavor gave a riding demonstration just prior to the Grand Prix Sunday at HITS. Endeavor is a non-profit that provides therapeutic horsemanship lessons for special needs children.


(c) ESI Photography
Top riders at HITS signed a saddle pad for kids at Endeavor, a non-profit that provides therapeutic horsemanship lessons for special needs children, based in Bedford, Westchester County.  

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About HITS, Inc.
HITS, Inc. produces high quality, international-level hunter/jumper horse shows. Based in Saugerties, New York, HITS has been producing shows since 1982 and is now a nationwide company with world-class circuits in California, Florida, Arizona, New York, and Virginia.

While hosting the Richest Weekend in Show Jumping at HITS-on-the-Hudson, HITS also formed the HITS Triple Crown of Show Jumping. This includes the AIG $1 Million Grand Prix, presented by Mortgage Call, in Thermal, California, the Great American $1 Million Grand Prix in Ocala, Florida, and Saugerties $1 Million Grand Prix, presented by Wells Fargo, in Saugerties, New York.

For more information and a complete schedule of classes and events, visit www.HitsShows.com. Stay connected with HITS, join us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. Media should contact the HITS Media Team at 845.246.8833 or e-mail Media_Info@HitsShows.com.