OCALA, Fla.--Tom Foley placed first and second in the $25,000 Grand Prix at HITS Ocala on Friday, March 10.

Tom Foley with Ibalius SMH and IdalgoFoley on Ibalius SMH had the only clean round in the jump-off for the win, and also had the only four fault round in the jump-off with Idalgo to also place second and now looks forward to Sunday’s $100,000 Grand Prix.

“Ibalius is pretty new to me,” said Foley. “I've only done a handful of classes on him. I showed him here last week and he was fifth on Sunday. He’s stepping up to this level, to the 1.50m, so it was a great result for him and the owner was here too, so it was great for both horses.”

Only four were clean over the first round course set by Jamie Morillo, and Dominique Damico opted to save Chatinus for another day to place fourth.

 

 

PAUL HALPERN on Esra placed third after going inside the timers during the short course, which caused his elimination in the jump-off.

“The time allowed was a little on the snug side, so you had to think about that all the way around,” said Foley of the first round. “Some of the lines were set up where we could do seven or eight and you had to think about that along with the time allowed, which made it a little bit tricky. For my horses, obviously it suited them both, so for me, it worked out pretty well!”

Foley returned first in the jump-off on Ibalius SMH and finished clean in 44.318 seconds., then on Idalgo had a rail for 4 faults and second place.

“I knew I was going to win either way, and Idalgo was getting a little fast at the jumps for me,” said Foley. “So I jumped him around the second round and let him learn to back up a little bit himself. He just felt a little fresh too, so another round just before Sunday was good for him.”