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Articles: Press Release
55th Annual Pennsylvania National Horse Show
Wednesday October 18, 2000
Contact:
Heidi Hill 717-230-8833
WHO WANTS TO JUMP THE JOKER
Open Jumping is a breed apart, an extreme of equine performance
sports. Tonight's $7,500 Gambler's Choice, sponsored by L.B. Smith Jaguar,
was enjoyably representative. The ring is filled with colorful fences, each
numbered with a playing card placard giving its value. Riders choose their
own course to accrue the highest point count. Only fences jumped cleanly
count, it was cunning and chaos for 50 seconds. Then, the moment of
truth: Jump the 200 point Joker-- pounce on the lead! Or, drop the top rail
and slink back to the pack? The Joker is the highest fence, at 5'3" and
it's value is deducted if missed. Twenty short seconds, accompanied by the
Jeopardy theme, for the rider to do the math and decide if the Joker was a
good bet!
First on course was True Grit with Laura Chapot calling the shots. With
graceful intensity, they chased around the course, focused on high value
fences, jumping forwards and back. Their finish over the Joker set the
standard high at 1090 points. Margie Engle and Laura Kraut, both on this
year's Olympic team, tried the Joker. Engle's effort kept Reggae in the
running, but Zmax rolled that rail and dropped out of contention. Despite
the height, most competitors gambled on the Joker successfully, for two it
was a bad choice. The audience loved it either way.
McLain Ward riding his horse, Four Seasons, won by the simplest margins.
Following a similar track to True Grit, he had enough time at the end to
jump
the cheapest fence on the course, a 20 pointer. That 20 plus the 200 gave
him a total of 1110.
For most time didn't seem as important as points, but a three-way tie
for
second place was broken by time. Leslie Howard on Wichita in spite of
bouncing the Joker's top rail in its cups, matched Chapot's score, but
stopped the clock at 4 seconds faster. Third place went to True Grit. Pico
De Gallo with Lynne Little up, was fourth only about a tenth of a second
behind Chapot.
The Open Jumper Speed High Score Championship went to McLain Ward and
Four Seasons for his combined performances in the Keystone Speed Challenge
Tuesday and the Gambler's Choice. Wichita and Pandora, ridden by Todd
Minikus, tied for the Reserve honors.
The tension of high stakes jumping gave way to the nostalgic grace of
Ladies sidesaddle Hunter Hack, followed by a variety of equine disciplines,
roadsters, Saddlebreds, and western pleasure. Competition took a turn at
Polo in an exhibition chukker as the multi-breed nature of the Penn National
Horse Show begins to show.
The Horse Show continues through Saturday and the $50,000 Budweiser Prix
de Penn National and nightly exhibitions by the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police.
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