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Traverse City, MI - August 4, 2008 - The highlight class of the third week at Horse Shows by the Bay was the $25,000 D-BRAIDER Cherry Capital Classic Grand Prix, which was held on Saturday, August 2. The class was generously sponsored by Karin Flint and D-BRAIDER. The grand prix was run according Table II 2.2a.

Inside the VIP tent there was a catered dinner and the always popular silent auction. Items available for bid included halters worn by famous racing thoroughbred's like Storm Cat, portraits of horses like Barbaro, a ticket package for the US Open, and much more.

The loudest cheer of the night was when Scott Lenkart galloped through the finish timers with double clear rounds. A crowd favorite, he was awarded top honors for the second consecutive week in a row. He won aboard Impulsive, a flashy bay gelding out of Impulse. Impulsive and Lenkart handled the course brilliantly, which was designed by Brazilian Guilherme Jorge.

"I feel great right now. I had to work a little bit harder today. The first round was great, I thought he did a great job," said Lenkart. "He didn't set it too large, but there were definitely some places where rails were coming down where he made it a little tricky. I was more worried about the first line in the first round. I thought the combination was a little difficult and the liver pool came down a bunch."

In the jump-off Lenkart was a little nervous about his plan because of the angles he planned to take. The other riders put in some quick times, so Lenkart had to rise to the challenge.

"I made up the most time to the second jump and then to the last jump. I was a little worried about the angle, but I saw it early and he was slick around after bridge as well," said Lenkart. "He is just really fast, he basically just lands and goes where everyone else kinds of land and figures out what they are going to do. He lands running."

Jumper Highlights- Wednesday through Sunday

Several jumper classes were held on Wednesday, including Level 5, 6 and the NAL Open Speed class. The course designer for the grand prix ring is Guilherme Jorge from Brazil.

The first class of the day was $750 Level 5 Jumpers, sponsored by Buckeye Nutrition. The class was run according to Table II, Sec. 2(b), and the time allowed was 78 seconds. With the course spread out over the large ring, riders really had to be aware of the clock.

Winning this morning in the $750 Level 5 Jumpers for the second week in a row was David Beisel. Aboard Rockstar, a Selle Francais gelding, the pair had a blazing first round time of 69.15 seconds, followed by a jump-off time of 32.015 seconds.

The $1,000 Level 6 Jumpers followed Level 5. Running off the same requirements as the previous class, it used Table II 2(b).

Most of the riders in the class made it to the jump-off, so the times had to be quick. Winning the class was Lisa Goldman and Centurion B. The horse is owned by Mary Goldman.

Goldman and Centurion B handled the course well. Even though they were the first in the class, they managed to hold the lead the entire time. "Nothing was very tricky; I think I made up the most time because my horse has such a big step. Also, we can really turn over a fence, so that makes it nice," said Goldman.

After the Level 6 Jumpers finished their class, the $3,000 NAL Open Speed class began. This class was the first to use the grassy bank built into the far corner of the ring. Riders has to jump a fence onto it, gallop up the hill and back down, then jump a fence back into the ring.

This class used a time allowed of 89 seconds and riders were making up time wherever they could since they didn't know how the bank would ride. Winning the class was Henry Pfeiffer on Sister.

In the Children's Jumpers on Friday, one of the classes was a speed class. It was run according to Table II Sec. 2b There was no shortage of talented riders in the class, making it the most intense and exciting of the day.

Coming out on top was junior rider Rebecca Hudson and her aptly named 12-year-old Thoroughbred, Playboy. The pair comes from Clarkston, Michigan and rides with Tara Golaszewski of Hidden Hollow Farm in White Lake, Michigan. Hidden Hollow Farm has a long history of producing top horses and riders. Hudson came to Horse Shows by the Bay with jumper rider and trainer Michelle Freidman while Golaszewski manages another horse show. Friedman's facility is Dragonfly Farm out of Northville, MI.

The class to watch on Sunday was the North Face Farm $10,000 NAL/WIHS Child/Adult Jumper Classic. The class was intense, and the course, designed by Guilherme Jorge, was tough for many riders. The class had close to 40 entries. Out of those in the class, only nine managed to go clear and made it to the jump-off. With a time of 74 seconds there were many riders who accrued time faults, including four who were clean in the first round.

Run according to Table II 2.2a, the course was extremely technical and cost many riders' rails. The combination was tricky for many and required a waiting ride; there were not many places to open up and gallop. Lisa Baker and her Horse King Tobias were awarded to blue ribbon in the $10,000 NAL/WIHS Child/Adult Jumper Classic sponsored by North Face Farm of Maple City, MI.

Hunter Highlights- Thursday through Sunday

Week three continued at Horse Shows by the Bay equestrian festival with a very successful day for rider and trainer Peter Pletcher today. Pletcher, of Magnolia, TX, was named the Ovation Leading Professional Hunter Rider after three weeks of competition and had a day full of championship wins today, including: Grand Green Conformation Hunter Champion with As Always, owned by Becky Gochman of New York, NY; Grand Green Working Hunter Champion with Argentum owned by Alta Basaldua, of Kingwood, TX; Division Champion of Green Conformation Hunters with As Always; and Division Champion of Green Working Hunters with Argentum.

Pletcher, who is currently the reigning Professional World Championship Hunter Rider, was thrilled with all of his wins. With about 18 clients, over 40 horses here during the 3 weeks of competition, and around 25 horses that he rode himself, Pletcher has been a very busy man at Horse Shows by the Bay this year.

"I love it here," Pletcher said of the show. "This is the greatest place to show during the summer or probably anytime for that matter. They do such a good job here and they try so hard. The trophies, the ribbons, the presentations, everything is really well done. It is just really nice that they go out of their way to make everything special."

Also among today's award presentations was the award for the Ovation Leading Junior Hunter Rider, which went to young rider Katherine Newman of Wellington, FL. With numerous champion and reserve champion wins, Newman was the junior rider who accumulated the most points out of anyone in all three weeks of junior competition.

Following the leading rider awards, Tim Goguen and his Green Conformation Hunter horse Classified were honored with the Susan Wallace Memorial Trophy after accumulating the most overall points in the Green Conformation Hunter division. Top Call Farm and Greg Crolick donated the trophy and proudly presented it in loving memory of Susan Wallace.

Prior to presenting the award, Greg Crolick was the Green Conformation Hunter reserve champion today with the horse Quite Simply, owned by Kiki VanAcker of Bloomfield Hills, MI. The pair came in close behind the division champions, Peter Pletcher and As Always, owned by Becky Gochman of New York, NY. Pletcher and As Always took a clean sweep of the division in both today's and yesterday's competition and were named the Grand Green Conformation Hunter Champions.

Other division championships in the Polk Family Hunter ring this morning included the Green Working Hunters and Regular Working Hunters.

It was Peter Pletcher and Argentum who were named champions of the Green Working Hunters division. The pair also accumulated enough points to become the Green Working Hunter Grand Champions. Casey Hodges and Capitol Z, owned by Olivia Hellman of Kenfield, CA were Green Working Hunter reserve champions, just two points behind Pletcher and Argentum.

The Regular Working Hunter championship, sponsored by CHFarms, went to Further to Fly and Hallie Lundell of Wayzata, MN. Reserve champion of that division was Blackie and Laura Pfeiffer of Fox Meadow Farm in Temperance, MI.

English Riding Supply of Scranton, PA sponsored all leading rider awards for Horse Shows by the Bay. Fox Meadow Farm of Temperance, MI sponsored the Week 3 champion coolers, and Mr. and Mrs. Forrest Shook sponsored the grand hunter champions. The winners can thank these generous sponsors for their awards.

The Pessoa/USEF Hunter Seat Medal class, sponsored by English Riding Supply of Scranton, PA, was won by Emily Reynolds of Glen Ellyn, IL, with Wendy Arndt-Hodges' newly imported German horse, Darius. This was Emily's second time winning the class since also winning it during series I of Horse Shows by the Bay on another one of Wendy Arndt-Hodges' horses, Grimaldi 54. Reynolds just turned fourteen-years-old.

The top four horses and riders were tested in the Pessoa/USEF Hunter Seat Medal class and it was Emily and Darius who executed the win. At the conclusion of the test, For Fun and Erin Geller of Birmingham, MI placed second just behind them. Third place in the class went to Above and Beyond with Emily Merlo of Clarkston, MI. Riding and rounding out the top four were Amorette and Lexie Berger of Novi, MI.

Next up on the agenda for the Polk Family Main Hunter Ring was the ASPCA Maclay Horsemanship class, sponsored by Shadyside Farm of Magnolia, TX. After placing second in the previous class, it was For Fun and Erin Geller who were victorious in this one.

Coming in close behind Geller and For Fun in the ASPCA Maclay Horsemanship class was Erin Hickey of Cincinnati, OH with R. Adermie 4. Third place went to Emily Reynolds with Darius. Kendall Meijer of Ada, MI and her horse Dawson were fourth.

After 3 weeks at Flintfields Horse Park in Traverse City, MI Horse Shows by the Bay wrapped up its final day of competition on Sunday. In the Polk Family Main Hunter Ring the $1,000 NAL/WIHS Adult Hunter Classic competed for final honors. It was Jennifer Hauser and Ideal who came out one top.

The Adult Hunter Classic had only ten entries for the second round of competition. Jennifer Hauser and Ideal were the last to go in the class, but had a great round, which, combined with their first round gave them a total score of 169 to win the class.

Hauser is from Indiana and is currently a junior in college at Purdue University. She trains with Erin McCabe and was very happy about her win in the classic stating, "I am really excited. I was kind of surprised to win, but it is great."

Terri Dandino and Foreign Encounter came in second place behind Hauser and Ideal in the Adult Hunter Classic, just two points behind them with a total score of 167. Third place was Carrie Henderson and Manitou with a total score of 165. Fourth place went to Nicole Jeffries and All About Me with 160. Fifth place was Francesca Senor and Sundance with a score of 156 and sixth place honors went to Sue Hehl and Something's Cookin' with a score of 152.

Dressage and Polo Highlights

The first day of dressage competition got underway on Wednesday morning with the breed classes, which were sponsored by Hampton Green Farm and Kimberly Van Kampen Boyer. Kimberly is the owner of Hampton Green Farm, which is a breeding and training facility based out of Fruitport, MI and Wellington, FL. The farm specializes in the promotion of the Pure Spanish Horse (PRE).

Kimberly has been involved with Horse Shows by the Bay since its second year. "It is just great," she said. "I like the whole team here and I have a lot of respect for how hard they have worked."

"I am just happy to be a part of it," she continued. "I feel that this show has all of the potential to grow into a big summer equestrian festival. It is a nice vacation area, beautiful land, good prices and all of the good things that Michigan brings. The weather is so perfect here."

Kimberly, originally from the Chicago area, spent a lot of time in Michigan with her family during the summers. She first got involved with Dressage by the Bay because she was thrilled to have a show so close to them that was run at such a professional level.

"We like going to shows that involve the hunters and jumpers because they bring a lot of excitement," Kimberly said. "Alex (Rheinheimer) asked me a couple of years ago if I would get involved in some of the construction here and I thought that it would be a nice tribute to my father who loved Michigan and loved horses, so that is why I got involved the way that I did."

Both the Robert D. Van Kampen Arena and the Robert D. Van Kampen Pavilion were built on the horse show grounds in tribute to Kimberly's father, thanks to her generous contributions.

Kimberly looks forward to a successful week of dressage competition here at Horse Shows by the Bay in this, its final week. She also looks forward to the show continuing to improve and grow as it goes on in the future.

"I would like it to go all the way," she said. "I would like to see dressage offered on two weekends and maybe eventually become a CDI (Concours de Dressage International) event, which would be fabulous for Michigan. I think that there are a ton of Canadian riders that would come down for the dressage, and I think this horse show has the potential to become a major circuit."

The FEI Prix St. Georges was the first of the two classes to go in the Van Kampen ring on Sunday. The class was won in the open division by Colleen Haveman on her 14 year-old Hanoverian, Warello. Carolyn Kotila and Leonardo were first place in the class in the Adult Amateur division. Haveman and her handsome chestnut performed their test skillfully and made their way to the top of the class with a score of 66.000.

Haveman has been doing dressage for just over 15 years and has a farm just 20 minutes from the show in Traverse City. She was previously in the North American Young Rider Program and received a USDF bronze and silver medal. She is also a recent graduate of the USDF "L" Program of distinction.

Just behind Haveman and Warello and Kotila and Leonardo were Brad Cutshall and Pedro with a score of 65.250 in the open division and Barbara J. Butman and Falkland Dragonfly with a score of 61.750 in the Adult Amateur division.

The FEI Grand Prix de Dressage followed shortly after the Prix St. Georges with just 3 entries in the class. After beautifully executing the test, open rider Brad Cutshall and Pointjack were the class winners with a score of 67.084. Second place was Tonya Grant-Barber on Kevekko with a score of 57.50 and third place went to Dorothy Mueller on her horse Prinz Mero with a 49.792. Brad Cutshall, from Kalamazoo, MI, started riding when he was 14 years old. The horse that Cutshall won on today, Pointjack is a 13 year-old Swedish stallion.

Horse Shows by the Bay in beautiful Traverse City, MI hosted its first-ever polo match on Thursday night between the co-ed polo teams of University of Michigan and Michigan State University. The match, held in the brand new Team Elmer's grand prix ring at Flintfields Horse Park, ended in a tie. Both teams finished with ten points each.

Approximately 5,000 polo enthusiasts crowded into the V.I.P. tents and grassy hills surrounding the grand prix ring to watch the competition. Spectators dressed up to support their favorite teams and came with blankets, flags and college gear of all kinds. Everyone was in good spirits and cheered on their teams even when a short burst of rain blew through.

Along with the polo match, the show also hosted its first-ever hat contest sponsored by Meadowview Farm and The Johnson Family of Grand Rapids. The contest awarded a total of $500 in prize money to the following winners: Carrie Gunst of Hartford, WI for Most Over the Top, Lauren Gonzales of Traverse City, MI for Best Team Spirit MSU, Mark Shyman of Miami Beach, FL for Best Team Spirit U of M, and young Justin Edick of Traverse City, MI for Silliest.

Kathy Johnson of Meadowview Farm was very proud to have helped sponsor such a great event. "We were just so happy to be involved," she said. "Whatever we can do to make things happen is great."

For more information on Horse Shows by the Bay, please visit www.horsesportsbythebay.com