Lexington, KY – August 5, 2011 – There was nothing but sunshine at the Kentucky Horse Park for the third day of the Kentucky Summer Classic. Today, talented horse and rider combinations competed at the Rolex Stadium during the High and Low Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper classes. Taking home the blue ribbon in the High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper class was Christina Kelly aboard Creata Van Ten Biesen, posting the target time for the jump-off as the first duo to compete in the class. Michael Murphy mirrored her success aboard Ultrafox in the Low Junior Jumper class, claiming the blue with no pair coming near his jump-off time.
Leopoldo Palacios of Venezuela used the many of the same obstacles from last night’s $25,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic in the High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper class today in the Rolex Stadium. The obstacles included a liverpool, two vertical-oxer double combinations, and a vertical-vertical double combination. For the jump-off, riders began with a single vertical bending to a single oxer bending to the vertical with a turn to a single oxer. Riders then faced the vertical-oxer combination with a left rollback to the single oxer finishing the jump-off with the yellow-and-white-striped vertical.
Twenty-four horse and rider combinations attempted the first round in the High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumpers; however, sixteen succeeded into the jump-off with an amazing eleven riders going double clean. Christina Kelly was the first to do so with Creata Van Ten Biesen, owned by Diamond Edge Farm of Nicholasville, KY, setting the jump-off target time from the start at 36.864 seconds.
“It felt great to be the first one in, I was hoping she would get into the jump-off, and once she did, we just went fast and clear,” described Kelly. “It was intense watching everyone try and get our time; one girl was really close and I was a little bit nervous, but it worked out and I was so happy to win!”
