Winner of the $25,000 Charlotte Welcome Stakes
Judgement,
ridden by Beezie Madden, owned by Iron Spring Farm
Photo
Credit: Randi Muster
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Beezie
Madden And Judgement Win $25,000 Charlotte Welcome Stake
CHARLOTTE,
NC – April 10, 2004 – Beezie Madden, 40, of Cazenovia,
NY, riding Judgement for Iron Spring Farm topped a field of
22 horses to win the $25,000 Charlotte Welcome Stake, the
featured event of the evening show at the Charlotte Jumper
Classic CSI**** tonight at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte,
NC. Nine horses went clean over the Round One course and qualified
for the Jump-Off. Four horses produced double clear performances
tonight, but Madden was the fastest by more than a second
to claim victory. Laura Kraut of Oconomowoc, WI, riding Anthem
for the Summit Syndicate placed second. Aaron Vale of Aiken,
SC, aboard Cortino 27 for Town Creek Investments placed third.
Steve
Stephens designed the 13-effort Round One track with Time
Allowed set at 69 seconds. “I thought it was a very nice
course,” said Madden. “For most of the horses, it
was their first time in, so it was a nice introduction to
the ring. He had two double combinations and no triple, so
there wasn’t any place where you were really going to
get in trouble, yet there were enough tricky lines just because
of the size of the arena. Some of the new fences made it tricky
enough. He had a nice number clean. It made for a good jump-off.”
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In
the eight-effort tiebreaker with Time Allowed set at 43 seconds,
Candice King of Wellington, FL, riding Gosse D’Orion for Louiseberg
Farm set the pace as rider number two on course, clocking in with
the first clear in 38.176, but she ended up fourth. Her lead held
up for two more riders when Kraut and Anthem took to the field,
taking over the top slot with a clean trip in 36.149, but it proved
to be only good enough for second place. Vale followed Kraut into
the ring and also went clean but slower in 36.330 and had to settle
for third. Madden was the seventh rider in the jump-off and blazed
around the short course in 35.16, which proved to be unbeatable
for the next two riders, and she claimed victory and $7,500.
In
the Jump-Off, Madden performed a spectator-thrilling turn back to
the Charlotte Bobcats fence, which none of the other riders could
match and also captured the crowd’s attention when she flew
at the final fence. “Judgement has tremendous jumping ability
so I don’t have to be so perfectly set up to every fence for
him to be able to make it over,” said Madden. “I thought
I was a little slow the first three or four fences so my only chance
was to make it up on the turn there. I just turned him and he had
to figure it out himself to get over the vertical. Down the last
line, he has so much scope and so much stride that I said, ‘well
I’m just going to do one less stride than everybody and if
I’m a little long to the oxer he’s going to make it anyway’.
I have a lot of faith in him that way.”
That
final fence was near the end of the arena heading out of the ingate,
so the dash to the fence was a bold strategy – Madden said
that she went all out. “He has quite a bit of experience. I
think of him as a seasoned horse. He knew how too handle that. They
do amazing things in the paddock on their own. When you see them
flying at a fence and you see them stop and spin the other way,
it’s amazing what they can do when they know what they’re
doing.”
Judgement
is a 13-year-old, black Dutch stallion that Madden intends to compete
in the Athens Olympic Selection Trials in May.
The
Charlotte Jumper Classic CSI**** produced by Eugene R. Mische and
Stadium Jumping, Inc. runs from April 9 -11 in the Charlotte Coliseum
in Charlotte, NC, with a total purse of $260,000. The featured event
is the $150,000 Grand Prix of Charlotte For the Charlotte Bobcats
Cup, Member Event of the AGA Grand Prix Series of Show Jumping,
on Sunday, April 11.
Net
proceeds from the horse show will benefit the Bobcats Charitable
Fund, the organization’s philanthropic giving arm.
General
Admission
To
order tickets for the Charlotte Jumper Classic, visit www.ticketmaster.com
or to order by phone, call 704-522-6500. Tickets are also available
at the Charlotte Coliseum Box Office Monday through Friday, 10:00
am-5:00 pm.
Three
levels of tickets are available: Level One (Season Boxes) or Level
Two and Level Three (Reserved Seats). Prices range from Level Three
single tickets at $15 to Level One five-show packages at $220.
For
more information, and a complete listing of the weekend’s events,
log on to www.charlottejumperclassic.com
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