The stage was set for an action-packed day of competition on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, on July 28, 2024, at the HITS Vermont Summer Festival. Elite riders donned their white breeches as they took to the Grand Prix ring to challenge for the top prize in the $30,000 Voltaire Grand Prix. After an exciting jump-off, Marylisa Leffler and Zaza Z claimed the victory.
Eighteen horse-and-rider combinations set out to contest the track set forth by Florencio Hernandez of Mexico City, Mexico. With seven duos advancing to the jump-off, Leffler and her own 14-year-old Warmblood mare Zaza Z (Zandor Z x Caretano Z) went toward the end of the returning athletes for the short course. The veteran pair laid down a speedy effort in 37.616 seconds to take over the lead, and ultimately, the win.
“I knew I could keep up the pace in the turns,” detailed Leffler of her jump-off ride. “I was still worried about the time, though, because I added a stride up one line, and knew I couldn’t leave out a stride in the last line in order to keep the delicate plank up. Zaza is so quick across the ground that luckily it worked out today.”
Leffler and Zaza paired up three years ago when top rider Samantha Schaefer told Leffler she had found the perfect horse for her in the stable of two-time U.S. Olympic team gold medalist McLain Ward. At the time, Zaza had been competing with Ward’s wife, Lauren. It turned out Schaefer’s assessment was spot on, and now Leffler and Zaza have enjoyed many successes together.
While Leffler typically would have started her week with Zaza in the $5,000 Manchester Designer Outlets Open Welcome, she was home sick. Fortunately, she started to feel better by the weekend, and after a class in the 1.30m on Friday, they were ready to rock and roll for the $30,000 Voltaire Grand Prix on Sunday.
“Zaza is amazing,” enthused Leffler, who trains out of Rolling Acres Farm in Brookville, Maryland. “She gives one hundred percent every time out.”
Finishing just fractions of a second behind Leffler in second place was David Jennings and The Follow Me Group’s 17-year-old Hanoverian gelding (For Edition x Graf Sponeck), Follow Me. They crossed the timers in 37.630 seconds. Rounding out the podium in 39.870 seconds was Irishman Kevin McCarthy and Sweet Oak Farm’s 10-year-old KWPN mare (Canabis Z x Corland), Jadina.
The Valley Classic was packed with elite jumper competition. Earlier in the week, Haley Gassel and Hambesi, her own 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding by Zambesi, took the win in the $7,500 STX Open Speed Class. In the $5,000 Horseflight Jumper Classic, Phoebe Topping and her own nine-year-old Selle Français gelding (Up To You x Numerus Clausus), For Me D’able, took home top honors.
Competition resumes Tuesday, July 30, with Equitation Tuesday and Manchester & the Mountains at HITS Vermont. For a full list of results, please visit www.showmanagementsystem.com.
