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Articles: Press Release
Laura Chapot and Bradberry Win The $25,000 NAL Open Jumper Speed Final
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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.
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