OCALA, Fla.--Tracy Fenney on MTM Apple won the $75,000 Grand Prix at HITS on Saturday, Feb.17, breaking the Irish winning streak as she was clean and fast in the jump-off to beat Jordan Coyle of Ireland.
Tracy Fenny on MTM AppleFrom 21 starters in the Grand Prix over a course set by Philipp Schwender of Germany, nine were clean.
Coyle was clean with all but one of his mounts, but chose to save Anthem in My Heart for another day which brought his total jump-off qualifiers to three.
Fenney had only one mount in the Grand Prix, but that was all she needed as she was just under Coyle’s time, stopping the clock in 34.47 seconds.
“Jordan is a super fast rider and his horses are very quick,” Fenney said. “Everyone thinks Apple is so slow, but she has a massive stride and she had a fantastic turn back to jump three where I think she actually did less strides than anyone, so I think that might be where we had it.”
“I really love the horses and I think they like me so they like to jump for me,” Fenney said. “They jump once a week and have a super nice life. I’m not going after any FEI points so I don’t see a need to do it when she can just continue to have her normal routine that keeps her happy.”
Coyle was second and third with Emerald Irish Cruise, clean in 34.79, and King Kannan GP, clean in 36.09.
ON SUNDAY, Dermott Lennon, with a catch ride on Keep Me With You N.C., won the $24,500 Jumper Classic.
The 10 week circuit hit its halfway mark with big turnout in the hunter, jumper, and equitation rings as well as the arrival of some new competition such as Lennon himself.
Only four were clean from the starting field of 23 .
Lennon was fresh off a flight from Ireland that landed Friday evening, and hadn’t yet sat on the 9-year-old KWPN mare.
“I ride many different horses in a day usually, and if it's a good jumper, it's just very easy,” he said. “I warm up and feel what the horse likes or doesn't like, and then I try to go towards what it likes.”
While the ever changing Florida weather deterred a number of entries from the challenge on Sunday, for Lennon it was like any other day.
“I’m from Ireland, and we get a bit of rain most days so this is very normal for me,” he said. “I thought the course was challenging but this horse jumped it excellent; he is very careful and I am glad to have had the ride on him.”
Andre Thieme on DSP Chakaria was second with a time of 39.08 seconds, and with the fastest time but a rail down in the jump off, Madison Kondracki posted a time of 35.62 seconds on Onyx for third.
