SAUGERTIES, N.Y.--Laura Chapot on Chandon Blue won the $75,000 Grand Prix on Saturday, June 8 during the third week of HITS-on-the-Hudson.

Laura Chapot on Chandon Blue (Photo by ESI Photography)Chapot won over a starting field of 20 in the Douglas Elliman Grand Prix Stadium.

Mark McGowan of Great Britain set the intricate first round course that resulted in five going clean.

Chapot and the 19-year-old Oldenburg gelding, who has won many times in Saugerties, were the most seasoned pair by far, and Chapot used her years of experience to score yet another win.

“Actually, the jump-off was probably not his best type of jump-off because it had a lot of turns,” said Chapot. “He was really there for me today and he was looking and turning really well. That’s really nice when something is maybe not set perfectly for you and you end up doing it as well as you can.”

Chapot finished just fractions of a second ahead of the second place finisher with a time of 40.64 seconds.

“He very much tells you what he wants to do, and today he was just jumping incredibly,” said Chapot. “All week he has felt like he was really into it and like he is excited to be here.”

 

“I THOUGHT it was fortunate actually that I got to go first in the jump-off today, because I just had to focus on riding the correct ride and not overdoing it by trying to chase somebody,” she said. “I honestly thought I left a few gaps where I could have been caught, but he has such a big stride and covers the ground so quickly that even when we are not trying, he can be naturally quite a bit faster.”

Just slightly off the Chapot's blazing pace, Philip McGuane of Ireland on Paso Doble SCF, a 9-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare, placed second in 40.93 seconds.

As the only other clean in the jump-off, Katie Eppinger on, Chacco’s Cherry PS, was third in 44.88 seconds.

In the $15,000 Open Speed Series on Friday, June 7, Diego Perez Bilbao of Spain on Dialuna won in 61.93 seconds.