Tory Van Uithoven and Heather Zuber Earn Victories in the Low and High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper divisions at Lamplight Equestrian Center

Press release Lamplight Equestrian Center – Ashley Shaw Rides to the Top in $1,000 Junior Hunter Classic at Chicago Festival of the Horse
Wayne, Ill. – August 5, 2016 –  Competitors may have faced challenges navigating through the Leopoldo Palacios-designed course on Friday, but a select few claimed victories in the SmartPak Grand Prix arena at the Chicago Festival of the Horse. The victors of the Low and High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper divisions did not allow obstacles come between them and a blue ribbon.

Tory Van Uithoven was the first to claim victory in the Low Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper division. The young athlete defeated a three-way tie to claim the win aboard her 8-year-old Hanoverian, Cricket.

Van Uithoven, Grace Knox and Ashley Shaw all incurred 4 faults during the first round,, creating a tie for the top spot. During the jump-off, Van Uithoven went clear in a time of 45.333 seconds to secure the win, while Knox settled for second place and Shaw earned third.

„I liked the course, but with Cricket I was nervous to do the bank,“ Van Uithoven explained about the new obstacle that was just introduced at Chicago Festival of the Horse on Friday. „We had never done the bank with him before. He gets spooked by everything, so I was a little nervous about going up into it, but he did fine. The fence we had down was the one that I think a lot people struggled with. It was the tight rollback. I let him slow down too much. I needed to keep the pace going.“

Van Uithoven has been working with Shannon Hicks over the last five years. Within that time, she acquired Cricket. Her mother found him on the ExchangeHunterJumper.com website about three years ago, and the rest is history.

„I always call him a goofball,“ Van Uithoven joked. „He’s really big, but he’s a goofball. He spooks at everything – jumps, flowers, anything that’s around. Lately, Shannon has told me to just keep going after the jumps and not to try to steady him too much. I need to keep the pace and the flow. I think that’s been working for us. I just keep going around my turns and move up a little bit more when I approach the jump.“

The duo competed at Lamplight Equestrian Center’s Spring Spectacular for the first time this year, but have enjoyed attending the Chicago Festival of the Horse for several summers. She smiled, „It’s a beautiful place, we love it here.“

Heather Zuber, winner of the High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumpers, shared similar sentiments noting, „We love this place. My uncle is the manager and helps run everything. We compete to show our support. It’s beautiful here.“

Zuber was tasked with the same course design as the Low Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper division. Zuber and Brian Moggre were the only two competitors to keep all the rails intact, but each incurred a single time fault as they traversed the track.

After Moggre and MTM Erkle took a slower route and incurred six time faults, Zuber knew she just needed to be a little faster and leave all the fences intact with Phoenix to win. The pair added two time faults to their score, but crossed the finish like ahead of Moggre to take home the victory.

„I actually just got Phoenix a year ago,“ Zuber said. „It was here at Lamplight, actually. I bought him from Mike McCormick and MTM Farm. I tried him here last year and loved him. I bought him and have been showing him throughout the year. This is actually the first show that we’ve competed in the High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper division.“

She continued, „He likes a forward ride with balance. He doesn’t like to go too slow, so you have to keep a good gallop around the course. He really likes that.“

Earlier in the day, Nicole Noland and Hyperion B had the sole double-clear round in the Modified Junior/Amateur Jumper division, and earned the victory in 44.367 seconds.

Lamplight Equestrian Center and the Chicago Festival of the Horse will be hosting the highly anticipated $75,000 Grand Prix on Saturday, Aug. 6. Spectators will also be able to enjoy the $25,000 Jumper Derby on Sunday, Aug. 7.

For more information on Lamplight Equestrian Center’s Chicago Festival of the Horse Equifest show series, please visit www.lamplightequestriancenter.com. A downloadable prize list is accessible online.

Ashley Shaw Rides to the Top in $1,000 Junior Hunter Classic at Chicago Festival of the Horse

World Championship Hunter Rider Week (WCHR) is well underway at the Chicago Festival of the Horse at the Lamplight Equestrian Center. During day four of the second week in the Equifest show series, riders took to the Main Hunter ring to kick off their divisions and compete in the $1,000 Junior Hunter Classic and the $1,000 Amateur-Owner Hunter Classic.

Ashley Shaw and Primera, owned by Helen Gilbert, came out on top in the $1,000 Junior Hunter Classic after earning a total score of 137. While this may have only been Shaw’s second show on the Holsteiner gelding, the pair’s partnership impressed the judges enough to earn them the blue.

„He’s super fun to ride and super straightforward,“ Shaw said of Primera. „He used to do International Hunter Derbies, but now he’s in his teens and has just been doing the Junior Hunters. He’s absolutely perfect and makes everything decently easy!“

Shaw trains with Shannon Hicks out of St. Louis, Missouri, and has been with her for almost eight years. Shaw commented, „She can be tough on you sometimes, but she always sets you up for success which is what I love about riding with her!“

Shaw has been coming to the Lamplight Equestrian Center with Hicks for three years, and enjoys the chance to compete each year. She commented, „I really love the facility and how beautiful the landscaping is. I absolutely love riding in the Grand Prix ring!“

Natalie Jayne and Outlook took home the second place ribbon in the $1,000 Junior Hunter Classic with a total score of 160, while Ella Zimbrick and Clever received the third place award after earning a total classic score of 159.

In the $1,000 Amateur-Owner Hunter Classic, it was Theresa Peck riding MTM Passport that rode away with top honors. Peck and MTM Passport earned a total score of 158 to best the field of 12 riders. Rounding out the top three in the division were Lesley Quillen riding Timeless in second place, and Lindsey Black on Lacroix taking home the third place.

Riders also had the chance to compete in the WIHS Equitation Hunter phase in the Main Hunter ring, and this time Isabella Baxter took home the blue ribbon. Baxter was riding her own horse Chief, and rode to a score of 85 to best the field of 13 riders to win the class.

Chief, Baxter’s mount, is usually a slow and steady gelding, but a little bit of extra energy helped send the pair to the top of the leaderboard. Baxter said, „Today [Chief] went really well. He was really smooth and he was jumping well. Normally he’s a little bit more dull then he was today, so I think the extra energy he had really helped me find the more forward distance.“

Second place in the WIHS Equitation Hunter phase went to Amanda Shaw on Contemporary with a score of 75. Giavanna Rinaldi and Caretina III received the third place and a score of 72.

Baxter will also be riding Chief in one of this week’s feature classes on Sunday, August 7, the $5,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby. She said, „For that class I’m just looking to have fun because I love doing the derbies, and then just a nice solid round!“

This week will also feature the $25,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby on Sunday, August 7, beginning at 8:00 a.m. World Championship Hunter Rider Week (WCHR) continues Saturday, August 6, at 8:00 a.m.

The second week of competition, Equifest II, will have several prominent events to watch, beginning with the $25,000 Welcome Stake on Thursday. Friday will be the second National Hunter Derby of the competition, and Saturday will feature the highly anticipated $75,000 Grand Prix. On Sunday the Hunter and Jumper divisions will partake in a $25,000 Derby.

Equifest III will round out the Chicago Festival of the Horse, August 10-14. Lamplight Equestrian Center will host a $15,000 Welcome Stake on Thursday, followed by the final $5,000 Hunter Derby of the competition. The exciting $50,000 Grand Prix will take place on Saturday, while the final Equifest classes close out the Chicago Festival of the Horse on Sunday.

For more information on Lamplight Equestrian Center’s Chicago Festival of the Horse Equifest Show Series, please visit www.lamplightequestriancenter.com. A downloadable prize list is accessible online.

Source: Press release