Articles: Press Release

Contact:
Jennifer Wood of Phelps Media Group, Inc.
at (561) 753-3389 or at pmginfo@phelpsmediagroup.com

Wayne, IL - June 11, 2009 - It was a family affair today in the $10,000 Open Welcome Stake, sponsored by Canterbury Farm and Greg Franklin. Chantal and Wilhelm Genn of Lebanon, OH, won the highlight jumper class of the day at the second week of the Showplace Spring Spectacular. The show runs through Sunday, June 14, at the Lamplight Equestrian Center.

Genn and his son Theo won five of the top ten ribbons in today's class, and this was Genn's second Welcome Stake win in a row with Chantal, a 10-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned by Laura Ryan-Barnaclo. Kate Reuter of Oconomowoc, WI, was second with On Line.

There were 25 entries in the Welcome Stake, and six were clear to advance to the jump-off. The week's course designer is Hector Loyola ("I") of Puerto Rico. The first to go clear was Lauren Tisbo on Sansierra. They pulled the plank at jump 14 for four faults and finished with a time of 42.233 seconds. Three trips later, Reuter and Online went double clear and posted a jump-off time of 41.196 seconds to take the lead. That would hold up for another eight trips until Genn and Chantal took on the course.

Genn was neat and efficient, to just nip Reuter's time in the jump-off. They were clear in 40.274 seconds for the win. Genn also finished third with Loredo, owned by Micaela Kennedy, in 41.514 seconds.

"Loredo is nine, but he's a big, heavy horse," Genn noted. "He's done a lot of good things this year. He still gets a little green sometimes. It's amazing to think that a nine-year-old can still get so green out there. I was very happy with Loredo today because I was not happy with him on Saturday. I changed the ride a little bit and that helped a lot."

With three top grand prix horses, Genn said that it was the years of hard work put into the horses that has led to his great recent success. "When I see that Chantal is 10 and Happy is 11 and how much progress they've made over the past three years, it's amazing," he said. "I think that Happy is just now starting to understand what she's doing out there. Chantal won his first 10 grand prix, and he didn't know what he was doing out there. I think now he's figuring it out. It shows that if you give them time and do things right, it pays off. Chantal was just nice today, and he's getting so efficient."

Genn was pleased with today's stout course. "I thought it was fairly big to what we are used to here in the area, but I don't think it was overly big if you look at it on a national level. It was a little bit of a scope test; you couldn't be half-hearted out there," he remarked. "You had to make decisions and ride hard, and the horses had to be on. The outcome was perfect with six in the jump-off."

Genn went on to say, "For some reason, a lot of people still have the opinion that if you go to the Midwest, it is easier there. I think that is not true anymore. I compete all over the country, and many times it is harder here than somewhere else. I thought it was a good course, but I think people need to step it up. They should not take it lightly to go into a Welcome or a grand prix. It should be something special."

Today was another special class for Genn since he and his son Theo placed five horses in the top ten. Genn said that competing against his son is "the best." He added, "I can't wait to have my other son Ryan in the grand prix too. It's nice to have three riders to choose from. Not every horse works for everybody."

Both Theo, who is 19, and Ryan, who is 17, plan to become professionals. Genn feels that they will be very successful in the industry. "They're good riders, and they're good with people," he explained. "I think they both have a lot of talent, good work ethic, and I think they have the smarts and attitude to do well in this business."

The Genns will be part of a full field of show jumpers that will compete in Saturday's $50,000 Showplace Productions Grand Prix, which will run at 3:30 p.m. The show continues tomorrow with jumper classes, including the $1,500 WIHS Children's Jumper Classic sponsored by Mill Run at Wedgewood Farm, the $1,5000 WIHS Adult Jupmer Classic, the $5,000 Low Junior/Amateur Jumper Gambler's Choice sponsored by Vermeer Equipment, the $5,000 High Junior/Amateur Jumper Gambler's Choice sponsored by Turtle Rock Farm, and the $5,000 Gentlemen's Invitational, presented by True North Farm.

For further information on Showplace Productions and the Showplace Spring Spectacular, please visit www.showplaceproductions.com.