Lexington, KY – August 24, 2010 – After five exciting Hagyard Lexington Classic Grand Prix classes at the Kentucky Horse Shows, Pablo Barrios earned the 2010 $50,000 Hagyard Challenge Series Leading Rider Award. Barrios began the series by winning the May 13th Hagyard Lexington Classic grand prix at the Kentucky Spring Horse Show. Barrios claimed the blue ribbon with G&C Sinatra, the second place ribbon with G&C Blanchee Z, and also placed with G&C Napoleon. During the next Hagyard Lexington Classic he finished only tenths of a second behind the winner aboard G&C LaGran. His top finishes would keep him in the lead during the Kentucky Summer Horse Shows while Barrios competed in Europe on the Global Champions Tour. This win for Barrios is another exciting finish for himself and G&C Farm owned by Gustavo and Carolina Mirabal.
Barrios noted, “Winning the Hagyard Leading Rider Award was exciting and surprising. Since WEG is coming up I decided to take the horse to Europe for a little more experience instead of showing at Kentucky like I normally have. It surprised me a lot to win this award because last year I did the entire series and ended up second overall and this year I only was able to show in two of the classes.”
He continued, “I would like to thank Hagyard for doing a great job and supporting the riders with this award. Usually the winnings go to the owners and it was nice to have an award that went to the riders. This series has been really nice to show in especially because of the wonderful facilities that the Kentucky Horse Park has.”
The series included the May 13th $30,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic, the May 20th $30,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic, CSI 2*, the July 29th $25,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic, the August 5th $25,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic, and finally ended with the $50,000 Hagyard Lexington Grand Prix which was a CSI World Cup Qualifier.
Dr. Andrew Clark, CEO of Hagyard Equine Medical Institute noted, “We would like to show our appreciation and congratulate all of the riders who competed in each of the Hagyard grand prix classes. In particular, we would like to congratulate Pablo for his exciting win this year.”
Dr. Clark continued, “Hagyard is very proud of the Leading Rider Award program. More and more trainers and riders travel to Lexington each summer to compete at the Kentucky Horse Park. We like to think that the Hagyard Challenge Series and the Leading Rider Award have something to do with the ever-increasing popularity of the summer shows here in Lexington.”
The Hagyard Challenge Series is a series of grand prix events that are part of the Kentucky Horse Shows at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY. Each week competitors raced to accumulate the most points for the final prize of the $50,000 Leading Rider Award. This award would not have been possible without many generous sponsors including presenting sponsor Adequan; Dean Dorton Ford; Pfizer Animal Health; Hagyard Flex-Tra 200; Kathleen Sullivan, CIMA, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney; Turf Town Properties; Audi of Lexington; and The Spa at Griffin Gate Resort.
Results of the 2010 Hagyard Challenge Series Leading Rider Award
1 610 PABLO BARRIOS
2 560 REED KESSLER
3 520 MARGIE ENGLE
4 500 LAUREN CROOKS
5 290 DEBBIE STEPHENS
6 250 MARILYN LITTLE-MEREDITH
7 240 MAURICE BEATSON
8 190 PAIGE JOHNSON
9 170 DIEGO VIVERO
10 150 CHRISTINE MCCREA
11 130 CANDICE KING
12 120 KATIE DINAN
120 KENT FARRINGTON
120 MICHELLE SPADONE
15 110 LAUREN TISBO
About Hagyard Equine Medical Institute:
Hagyard Equine Medical Institute of Lexington, KY, was founded in 1876. The practice, which is located directly across from the Kentucky Horse Park, is one of the oldest and largest equine veterinary practices in the world and is known for its excellence in veterinary medicine. The Hagyard Sport Horse Program, a specialized department at the practice, serves the nation’s top sport horse athletes and brings the same level of excellent care to high performance horses that the institute has provided for the race horse and breeding industries for decades. The facility at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute offers 13 Digital Radiology systems, 1.5 Tesla Siemens Open MRI, Nuclear Scintigraphy, a high speed treadmill, an on-site laboratory, an on-site pharmacy, full surgical services, 24-hour ambulance and emergency services, and Hyperbaric Medicine. The practice has performed veterinary medicine for more than 134 years and is currently composed of over 60 experienced veterinarians, with 12 board certifications in specialty areas of Medicine, Surgery, Critical Care, and Theriogenology.
For more information on the practice at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, please go to www.hagyard.com.
For more information on the Kentucky Horse Shows, please go to www.kentuckyhorseshows.com.
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