Lexington, KY – May 19, 2012 – It was a very exciting night for Ireland’s Richie Moloney as he captured his first international grand prix victory, riding Slieveanorra during the $75,000 Mary Rena Murphy Grand Prix at the Kentucky Spring Classic. The talented duo have been runner up on numerous occasions, even placing third during Thursday’s $32,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic, but tonight the luck was on their side. Six horses advanced to the jump-off, but only three were double clear, with Moloney landing at the top of the leader board, while Margie Engle took second aboard Royce, and Egypt’s Nayel Nassar rode Raging Bull Vangelis S to third.
Germany’s Olaf Petersen Jr. created a very technical course for tonight’s main event in the Rolex Stadium. With a tight time allowed, riders had to show over a triple bar, an open water obstacle, a vertical-oxer double combination, and finally an oxer-vertical-oxer triple combination, which caused errors for many of the competitors. Only six of the 31 entries were able to master the initial track and advance to jump-off, where they had to jump the double combination again while also making tight rollbacks and then galloping across the ring to reach the final oxer.
Bonheiden, Belgium – A team of four American riders took to the course in Young Rider Nations Cup competition at the CSIOYJ Bonheiden Saturday afternoon and jumped their way into a tie for fourth place. The U.S. Team’s top performer of the day was Alise Oken (Charlotte, NC) & Hi Hopes Farm’s Kaid Du Ry. They offered one of the strongest showings of the day and jumped two clear efforts over both rounds of competition. Oken & Kaid Du Ry was one of only two pairs to produce double clear rounds Saturday.
