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Harrisburg, PA - October 17, 2008 - Tonight the old adage "saving the best for last" was true as Laura Chapot of Neshanic Station, NJ and Bradberry, owned by Harold Vogel, were the last horse and rider combination to enter the ring and a minute later exited with the win in the $25,000 North American League Open Jumper Speed Final at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in Harrisburg, PA.

Chapot has been on top of the standings in the NAL for three consecutive years, but has been denied the win in the Finals. This year she changed that statistic. "It was so exciting to actually win this class", said a beaming Chapot. "It seems like I have been second a dozen times. The horse went great- it was one of those rides where everything works out the way you want it to."

Michel Vaillancourt's twisting course of 15 jumping efforts took its toll on many of the country's top riders. Five-time Olympian Anne Kursinski was the first rider to post a clear round aboard Lorenzo, a rangy bay gelding owned by Market Street, Inc., in a time of 63.385 seconds. Callan Solem riding VDL Torlando for his owners the Torlando Group was clear over the jumps but had a time fault, completing the course in 74.272. The crowd had to wait until the last ride to see another fault free performance.

"The course ended up being a lot tougher than I expected it to be", Chapot offered. "When you are trying to go fast and clean it is not so easy and everything comes up so quickly indoors. The faults on course were coming in all different places. People were trying to make the inside cuts, a lot of bending lines with lots of opportunity to change the lines just by jumping in at the wrong angle. Many had trouble in the triple because they were trying to make the inside cut after fence 8 which made the triple come up so short and you came in with less power, and in the triple you had vertical to oxer to oxer and it is a very challenging scope test to jump that oxer to oxer combination."

As the order of go was determined by the point standings going into the Final, Chapot, as the point leader was last. While explaining the course to the crowd, her father, Frank Chapot, joked that as the class progressed the times would get faster and to root for his daughter who just might leave a stride out to the final fence. The crowd did cheer as Chapot crossed the timers in 60.211 seconds with every fence still standing and without leaving out a stride to the final oxer. "I could have very easily done that on this horse", said Chapot. "But I knew what Anne had done and I knew what I had to do to beat her. My horse is very fast and it was a major advantage going last. If I had to go first I would have had to go a lot faster."

The NAL runs season-long series in six hunter-jumper divisions - Adult Hunter, presented by Practical Horseman, Children's Hunter, Open Jumper Speed, Adult Jumper, Children's Jumper and Pony Jumper. All horses competing in the NAL finals earn U.S. Equestrian Federation Horse-of-the-Year points. The NAL qualifying period started September 1, 2007 and ended August 31, 2008. While riders did not need to be members of the NAL to compete in any qualifying classes, only current members earned points toward year-end finals.

The NAL series is sponsored by horsetrader.com. Horsetrader.com reaches horse people coast to coast looking to find, buy, or sell that perfect mount, select the perfect stallion, locate a dream ranch, find a great trainer, or load up with a trailer for show season. Horsetrader.com works for more buyers and sellers, faster than any other equine website, delivering both online and in print with horsetrader.com's alliance publications. Find, buy, or sell anything from A to Z, apparel to zebras, on horsetrader.com with 56 categories to search. Horsetrader.com's founder is the publisher of California Horsetrader, the voice of the horse industry in the West since 1979, a twice-monthly all-breed, all-discipline news and classified publication.

For more information on the North American League, please visit the Ryegate Show Services website at www.Ryegate.com.