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Caitie Hope and La Paz Gallop to Victory in $5,000 Junior/Amateur Jumper Speed Derby

at Wachovia Showplace Spring Spectacular II

June 17, 2008

Wayne, IL --- Today marked the opening day of competition for the Wachovia Showplace Spring Spectacular II Horse Show, held at the Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne, IL. The event runs from today through Sunday, June 22. The highlight jumper class of the day was the $5,000 Junior/Amateur Jumper Speed Derby, sponsored by the Hope Family. In a twist of fate, the fastest rider in the class who took victory was Caitie Hope of Barrington, IL, on La Paz.

Today’s speed derby had 22 entries. There were 11 clean rounds in the class and three eliminations. The riders competed over a multitude of interesting jumps, including natural brush, logs, a bank, and split rails. They were asked to jump out of the ring, down a grass hill, and back into the ring, and they also jumped a one stride combination that connected the two riding rings where the event was held. The speed derby was an unrated exhibition class held just for fun, and riders competed in it to do something new and exciting in the jumper ring. To add to the lively atmosphere, the horse show hosted a “Derby Day Party” sponsored by Our Day Farm and Lynn Jayne.

The early lead in the class was Hope on her first horse, Corrato, owned by Jennifer Hauser. They had the first clean round and finished in 75.117 seconds. Her lead did not last long, however, as the next horse in the ring brought the winning time down to 73.209 seconds. It was set by Julie Garrison and Little Al.

It would take another 15 trips to see the winner of the class when Hope entered the ring with her second horse La Paz, owned by Kathleen Hope. Hope and La Paz executed a smooth, quick round and blazed through the finish timers in 68.509 seconds. Hope’s time beat the leader at the time, Zaboomerang and Morgan Kennedy, by almost a half a second. Kennedy’s time was 69.021 seconds.

Hope was surprised and happy about the win in the class, especially considering her family sponsored the class. “It’s nice to win! I didn’t expect to win,” she remarked. “It was really competitive and there were a lot of good people in the class.”

Hope has been working on her relationship with La Paz, a 13-year-old gelding she has owned for two years. “Basically I just wanted to have a good round (today), not necessarily to win. I wanted to be competitive,” she explained. “I’ve just been trying to get clear rounds and gain confidence. I felt like I could really open him up today. He knows what to do, and he’s really careful. He’s just a really good boy all the time.”

The Wachovia Showplace Spring Spectacular II Horse Show continues tomorrow with jumper competition in the grand prix ring, including the $1,500 1.30m Open Jumpers, the $1,500 1.40m Open Jumpers, and Young Jumper classes. The highlight jumper event of the week is the $50,000 Wachovia Securities Grand Prix on Saturday, June 21, at 3:30 p.m.

For more information and full horse show results, please visit www.showplaceproductions.com.

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