Traverse City, Mich. - Aug. 20, 2016 - Lisa Goldman of Red Coat Farm just returned stateside a week ago after competing in Europe for five weeks as part of the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Show Jumping Development Tour. She rode her Nations Cup mount Hindsight on Saturday at the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival (GLEF), claiming the win with the 9-year-old Holsteiner gelding in the $7,500 1.40m Open Jumpers.
Eighteen horses and riders competed in Saturday's feature jumper class, and eight were able to produce clear efforts over Jose Gamarra's first round course to advance to the immediate jump-off.
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| Lisa Goldman and Hindsight |
Goldman kicked the class off aboard her first mount, Sovereign, owned by Barbara Disko, and finished double clear, setting the pace to beat at a speedy 29.300 seconds.
"Sovereign is a 10-year-old Selle Français stallion," said Goldman. "I've had him since early July of last year. The 2015 July GLEF horse shows were the first shows I did with him. He has been wonderful. This was actually going to be his first FEI week, but then we decided to just do the 1.40m this week. He'll probably do the 3* next week. I've been gone for the last five weeks so I just realized that it was probably best to have one more week of preparation before jumping the bigger fences."
The 26-year-old rider from Hawthorn Woods, Illinois, maintained her lead for the duration of the class until she returned to the Grand Prix Ring at Flintfields Horse Park twelve rounds later with her second mount, Hindsight, who she bested her own time with by one second in 28.696 seconds.
"I've had Hindsight since Ocala of last year," said Goldman. "I brought him to Europe this summer to do the Nations Cup with. We are just doing a light week of showing this week and he'll do the 3* next week. He's wonderful. He loves other horses. He loves to hang out, he likes to be itched and he's just a real sweetheart."
Michael Morrissey and Imperial Show Stables' Escobar were the only horse and rider combination to come close to Goldman's first time with Sovereign. They broke the beam in 30.235 seconds to take third place honors, while Goldman took both first and second place with her two mounts.
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| Michael Morrissey and Escobar |
"The course was a lot of fun," said Goldman. "I really liked the jump-off. I knew Hindsight would be able to walk up that first line, and then easily do the last line as well. He is just getting better and better and getting more into these jump-offs. He's really, really liking being a jumper. The bigger heights are just starting to feel really comfortable with him.
"Sovereign was really good too," continued Goldman. "I'm just taking my time getting him back in the groove of showing again so I decided to add with him on the first line, which ended up working out for us because we were able to make a really tight turn back to the in-and-out afterwards. I thought he was really good!"
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| Lisa Goldman and Sovereign |
Even after just getting back from Europe a week ago, Goldman was not going to miss her chance to compete in the all-new FEI series at GLEF.
"I've only been home a week, but I made sure I would be able to get here because these are some of my favorite horse shows," said Goldman. "I love it. It's been a little rainy this week, but you can't do much about that. The footing's been great and management's always great. I love the people here and I love these shows."
Earlier in the day, the Low Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumpers saw 17 horses and riders vying for the blue ribbon in the one-round speed class.
Only four exhibitors produced clear efforts, with Kiva Iscol and her own Cabriella Van De Kapel being the early clear pathfinders as ninth in the order-of-go in 68.404 seconds.
Taylor Reid and her own Cortina were the next to jump clear, and bested Iscol's time by eight seconds in 60.935 seconds.
Adeline Rohrbach and her own Rodrigo's Bianca were next to take over the lead as 15th in the order in 59.440 seconds, but it was the very last horse and rider combination of the class who came out on top in the end: Carly Dvorkin and Pine Hollow Farm's Catch Me Z.
"With the speed classes, I naturally just go straight - there's no changing the rhythm really," said Dvorkin. "Everything always comes up right with Catch Me Z. He's naturally balanced, always happy - he's perfect."
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| Carly Dvorkin and Catch Me Z |
Fifteen-year-old Dvorkin rode to a fast and faultless round aboard the aptly named 11-year-old Zangersheide gelding in 55.112 seconds to grab the win.
"I got Catch Me Z at the start of this year," said Dvorkin. "He's the best Low Juniors horse I could ever ask for. He's just a goofball and is honestly my best friend. He's so smooth and speed rounds are my favorite with him. He's naturally so balanced and good about staying in the same rhythm.
"We go to the American Gold Cup after GLEF and then the Rolex Central Park Horse Show," continued Dvorkin. "He will be for sale after Central Park, but he's the best thing that's ever happened to me. Whenever I have a bad day, I just go to him and I snuggle with him. Overall he's just an incredible horse and anybody would be lucky to have him. I'm just so thankful for him, the amazing team behind me and for my trainer David Blake. We've come a long way. Catch Me Z has taught me so much in such a short amount of time and I'm so blessed and lucky to have him."
Immediately following the Low Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumpers was the $1,500 Young Jumper Championship (YJC) 7-Year-Old Qualifier, where seven horses and riders went head-to-head for the top spot on the leaderboard. Only two of the three that advanced to the jump-off were able to finish double clear, with Theo Genn and Nina Moore's Colora taking the first place prize in 31.239 seconds. David Beisel and Patrice Schreiber's EOS M finished in second place in 31.305 seconds, just one tenth of a second behind Genn, while Genn also rounded out the top three with 4 faults in 29.470 seconds aboard Eduardo Leon's Enigma.
Week Six of GLEF runs through Aug. 17-21 at the Flintfields Horse Park and will continue to welcome riders and thrill spectators over the next two weeks throughout the second series of competition, which runs Aug. 10-28. The feature jumper event for Week Six will be the $50,000 Grand Prix CSI2* on Sunday, Aug. 21, at 2 p.m. in the Grand Prix Ring.
Results: $7,500 1.40m Open Jumpers
1 456 HINDSIGHT LISA GOLDMAN 0 0.000 0 28.696
2 455 SOVEREIGN LISA GOLDMAN 0 0.000 0 29.300
3 384 ESCOBAR MICHAEL MORRISSEY 0 0.000 0 30.235
4 411 ILAN DARRAGH KERINS 0 0.000 0 30.538
5 308 BLUE MOON 22 DAVID JENNINGS 0 0.000 0 31.505
6 417 SILTEPLAIT DE CIRCEE DARRAGH KERINS 0 0.000 0 34.004
7 405 WIRMA ALISE OKEN 0 0.000 0 35.051
8 272 ALUNA NICHOLAS DELLO JOIO 0 0.000 8 31.850
9 298 DEAVANTUS DAVID BLAKE 4 66.565
10 235 VAN GOGH THEO GENN 4 68.999
Results: Low Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumpers
1 295 CATCH ME Z CARLY DVORKIN 0 55.112
2 460 RODRIGO'S BIANCA ADELINE ROHRBACH 0 59.440
3 421 CORTINA TAYLOR REID 0 60.935
4 416 CABRIELLA VAN DE KAPEL KIVA ISCOL 0 68.404
5 270 STARKKO ALLISON STAWARZ 4 52.685
6 459 CHASINTA HANNAH BILTON 4 56.528
7 273 BACCARAT ALLISON STAWARZ 4 56.792
8 101 IN OUR TIME DUNCAN PETERS 4 63.678
9 225 QUAX TAYLOR REID 4 63.777
10 279 ALAIKA KATHERINE BENARD 8 55.980
Results: $1,500 YJC 7-Year-Old Qualifier
1 241 COLORA THEO GENN 0 0.000 0 31.239
2 348 EOS M DAVID BEISEL 0 0.000 0 31.305
3 229 ENIGMA THEO GENN 0 0.000 4 29.470
4 444 PERFORMANCE EP SARAH SEGAL 2 72.360
5 253 MARCHELLO Z ADAM PRUDENT 4 68.347
6 372 LADY MARGARET ZF NICHOLAS DELLO JOIO 8 67.951
7 447 FIVE STAR DAVID BEISEL Refuse
