Canadian Show Jumping Legend Captures Season Opener At Ocala

The $15,000 Friday Prix at the HITS Ocala Winter Circuit was captured by Canadian Show Jumping star Ian Millar of Perth, Ontario, with a clean ride in the jump-off aboard "Aftershock" with a time of 44.191 seconds. Graf Rossini and Mary-Lisa Leffler, of Brookville, MD, secured second place with another clean ride in 45.420. Third place belonged to Sulu Rose, Manakin, VA, aboard "Cool Waters" with a clean ride and a time of 45.616; followed by "Kargita" ridden by Elizabeth Towell, Camden, SC, with a time of 45.186.

Ken Krome, course designer, said his aim today was to give the horse and rider a warm-up for Sundays Grand Prix by providing a variety of elements. "I wanted to provide the riders a chance to see the adjustability of their horses by including scope and galloping space, getting them to think bigger and wider."

Krome, who has been a designer for 10 years, says "the course is the true judge of the horse and rider." The design of the course for Fridays Prix consisted of 13 jumps and 16 efforts, with the jump-off consisting of 8. Only four of the field of 32 managed to negotiate Kromes first-round course without any faults.

Of these, three finished the jump-off fault free. Winner Ian Millar, who took home $4,500 for his first-place effort, was very complimentary of the Kromes Friday Prix course. "It was well designed and was a very good test for Sunday." He went further to say that he had ridden many courses designed by Krome and considered him top in the business.

Millar praised the HITS management company saying "no other competition management company could have produced such a facility in a short period of time. It is a pleasure to be here and this is an excellent facility. The maturity of the trees, the location and the room makes this a pleasure. Damn good job to Tom and company!"

Results Summary (Top Four Finishers)

PLACE HORSE OWNER RIDER RD 1/RD 2/RD2 TIME/$
1 Aftershock The Pointe/Millar Brooke LTD Ian Millar 0/0/44.191/$4,500.00
2 Graf Rossini Bruce Chovnick, LLC Mary-Lisa Leffler 0/0/45.420/$3,300.00
3 Cool Waters The Galloping Field Sulu Rose 0/0/45.616/$2,250.00
4 Kargita Kargita Group Elizabeth Towell 0/4/45.186/$1,500.00

Upcoming events include:

February 10, 2002 1:00 PM $50,000 EMO Grand Prix
February 17, 2002 1:00 PM $50,000 Rio Vista Grand Prix
February 24, 2002 11AM - 2PM Community Bank Family Day presented by the City of Ocala
February 24, 2002 1:00 PM $50,000 HITS Grand Prix
March 3, 2002 1:00 PM $50,000 Cosequin Grand Prix
March 10, 2002 1:00 PM $100,00 King Shaving Grand Prix