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‘Generation-D’ is on the rise

Doddridge and Davis push leaders in open hunters, jumpers

From Horsetrader staff reports - June 3rd, 2010 - Show & Event News

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Melissa Doddridge takes Best Man to reserve in the $10,000 Chronicle Of The Horse Hunter Derby May 14 at the Blenheim Ranch and Coast Tournament at Showpark.

DEL MAR — The afternoon event opened with a polo demonstration provided by four riders from the San Diego Polo Club. With a fabulous location just across the street from the Del Mar Horse Park, the polo season begins this month.

Fifty-one horse and rider combinations went for the win in the $50,000 Grand Prix of California presented by Mary’s Tack and Feed on a cool Saturday afternoon. The early rider got the prize, as Canadian John Pearce galloped on the field third in the order and was the first to ride clean on his 14-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding, Chianto. Next clean in the first round was New Zealand rider Guy Thomas and 13-year-old Holsteiner gelding, Carino. Riding seventh in the class, Thomas navigated the course smoothly and accurately. A handful tried to master the course without success until two talented and gutsy young women, Lucy Davis on Old Oak Farm’s Nemo 119 and Ashlee Bond on Little Valley Farm’s GZS Cassir Z, went sixteenth and seventeenth in the order and clean.

Of the thirty-four horses remaining, including Gold Medalist Will Simpson on Archie Bunker (Linda Smith, owner), Rich Fellers on the famous Flexible (Harry and Mollie Chapman, owners), Susie Hutchison aboard El Dorado 29’s Cantano, Joie Gatlin riding Camaron Hills Quick Dollar, and other well-known competitors, only the final entry in the ring went clean, S.F. Shakira and Michael Endicott. Happy to have him join the elusive four, the crowd burst into an exuberant cheer as he completed the course.

In a jump off of five, three men and two women, the first to go set the pace as Pearce and Chianto stopped the clock in a speedy 35.138 and clean. Thomas made a gallant effort aboard Carino, cruising in at 35.781 with no faults, just over a half of a second slower. Davis, only seventeen years old, also rode for the win coming in clean with a time of 36.846, just a bit too slow but good enough for third. Bond had a rail early on and ended up fifth. Endicott gave the big-strided S.F. Shakira a confident and slightly conservative ride, and they were clean in 38.164.
John Pearce and Chianto

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Lucy Davis continued her rise in the jumping ranks, taking third on Nemo 119 in the $50,000 Grand Prix of California May 15 at Showpark.

Post victory, Pearce praised the course designer and his competition: “A really typical Leopoldo course today – careful, technical, perfect on the time allowed, keeping everybody on their toes. You had to ride accurately. Guy and I were so close, he was smooth and slick.”

Placing sixth through twelfth were riders who didn’t have a fault over the jumps but accrued time faults and those with just one jump down within the time allowed. It was a heartbreaker for Ali Nilforushan who had three entries, with four faults and time faults on the first two mounts, Warco Van De Halhoeve and Pegasus, and a mere single time fault on his final ride, Undiamo. Chris Pratt rode G5 without lowering a jump but finished with two time faults. Nilforushan and Pratt were sixth and seventh. The fastest ride with just one rail down was Rich Fellers on Flexible who picked up the eighth place ribbon. Venezuela’s Leopoldo Palacios designed the course, which tested the stamina of the horse and the rider’s ability to negotiate the horse’s stride while shaving off time in tight turns. The first round featured 13 numbered jumps and 16 efforts, and among its challenges were several short lines and also a tight time allowed.

Blenheim competitions will continue at the Del Mar Horsepark the first weekend of June, for the Showpark June Jamboree Festival. Blenheim EquiSports offers consecutive Grand Prix events during the month of June and into July. The first will take place Sunday, June 13th in San Juan Capistrano, the $30,000 Blenheim Classic Grand Prix presented by Royal Champion.

Blenheim EquiSports, an equestrian event management company based in San Juan Capistrano, CA, produces over thirty events per year in three locations: San Juan Capistrano, Del Mar and Las Vegas, NV. The events include 18 USEF “A” or “AA” rated hunter-jumper shows featuring several World Cup Qualifying Grand Prix, USHJA International Hunter Derbies, Pony Finals, Medal Finals and more. Visit showpark.com for more details.

RESULTS
$50,000 Grand Prix of California presented by Mary’s Tack and Feed
1. Chianto – John Pearce (Forest View Farm) 0/78.618, 0/35.138
2. Carino – Guy Thomas (Willow Tree Farm, Inc.) 0/78.024, 0/35.781
3. Nemo 119 – Lucy Davis (Old Oak Farm) 0/78.802, 0/36.846
4. SF Shakira – Michael Endicott (David Robinson) 0/78.917, 0/38.164
5. GZS Cassir Z – Ashlee Bond (Little Valley Farms) 0/77.296, 4/37.282
6. Undiamo – Ali Nilforushan (Ali Nilforushan) 1/79.434
7. G5 – Chris Pratt (Indigo Farms, LLC) 2/80.315
8. Flexible – Rich Fellers – (Harry & Mollie Chapman) 4/75.564
9. Cantano – Susan Hutchison (El Dorado 29) 4/77.586
10. Cadett 7 – Ashlee Bond (Little Valley Farms) 4/77.608
11. Son of a Gun – John Pearce (Forest View Farm) 4/77.703
12. Archie Bunker – Will Simpson (Linda Smith) 4/78.361

More results: http://bit.ly/blenheimtourney

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