News

Todd Minikus and Pavarotti Edge Out Leslie Howard and Youp for Win in NAL $25,000 Jumper Speed Finals

By Chrissy Lane
PhelpsSports.com
Saturday, October 27, 2007
PA National Horse Show, Farm Show Arena, Harrisburg, PA

The rails flew tonight in the North American League $25,000 Jumper Speed Finals as the top-ranked riders in the country tried their hand at Guillerme Jorge's 14-effort course. Todd Minikus took the lead as the seventh rider in the order, and his quick round on Pavarotti proved unbeatable. Leslie Howard and Beezie Madden took second and third places, respectively.

Twenty-four horses and riders attempted the track, which featured several turning options, long galloping stretches and two double combinations. Of the 24 original starters, five jumped clear rounds, five had four-fault rounds and 11 had eight or more faults. One rider was eliminated and one retired.

Kimberly Prince and Carnivale had the first clear round riding fourth in the order and took the lead with a time of 57.399 seconds. Minikus and Pavarotti, his 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood, breezed around the course in 50.379 to become the new leaders.

“I'll be honest with you: When I came out of the ring, I said to Jill, the girl who takes care Pavarotti...that there was two of the turns I didn't think we executed as well as we should have. But,  maybe, it was just good enough,” Minikus laughed. “I really didn't. I thought that it might be third or fourth place. That's what it kind of felt like.”

He continued, “I thought it was a good course for sure. It is a kind of a raw speed class, so the jumps are not very big, but (Jorge) made you extend your horse to the end of its stride and then you turned back. And he did that two or three times, and that always ends up catching up with the horses when they have to do that, so it was good course. There were not that many clear.”
 
Minikus also commented on the footing in the indoor at Harrisburg, which is new this year.

“I do think the footing started to break up a little bit. I noticed when, actually, even when I went relatively early, rolling back to the skinny jump, there were already a couple places you could see where it had cupped out. But, for the most part, I think it was good.”

Several other riders with clear rounds came close to his time, including Leslie Howard and Beezie Madden. Howard, aboard, Youp, made a bold effort to overtake Minikus's time and just barely missed it, clocking in at 51.320 seconds. Riding in her trademark style, Howard gave the crowd a thrill and had everyone cheering for her as she galloped down to the last fence. She and Youp finished in second place.

Jonathan McCrea followed with another clear round, riding Costa for the Windsor Show Stables Inc. His time, however, was 57.730 – good enough for a top-10 finish, but not fast enough to give Minikus anything to worry about. Tracy Magness aboard Richydou also rode clear and made large turns without pushing the time. She and her mount tripped the timers in 62.446 seconds.

The top-ranked American rider in the world, Madden, rode toward the end of the order with Onlight, owned by Team Onlight. She also made a bold and valiant effort to catch Minikus but, like Howard, just missed his time and finished in 51.690 seconds for third place.

Pavarotti is a relatively new mount for Minikus, having been under his tutelage for about one year. However, despite his limited experience, Pavarotti covered extensive ground this summer competing with the U.S. Samsung Super League team in Europe and in the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in July.

“He's been fantastic. He's had a great year so far. He showed fantastic in Europe this summer. He had a little bad luck in the Pan Am Games, although nobody should hold that against him. Sometimes racing luck is racing luck,” Minikus described. “We call him the 'wonder runt.' He kind of has that little bit of an attitude. He thinks he's 18 hands, not 15 hands. He thinks he's special.”

Of Pavarotti's performance tonight and his second-place finish in Friday's open jumper class, Minikus said, “I thought he was great. He showed last night in the 'Big Jump' class and he was second in that. I had to go first in the jump-off, so if I was to do it again or I would have been able to watch, I would have left the stride out to the last jump out last night. My decision kept him from winning last night.”  
At the end of the night, Minikus led the standings with Howard and Madden finishing in second and third. Kim Prince took fourth and Jonathan McCrea finished fifth. Tracy Magness rounded out the top six places.

In the earlier class on Saturday, the $15,000 Show Jumping Hall of Fame Amateur/Owner Jumper Classic, Michelle Spadone piloted her veteran mare R Mable KZ to first place. The pair bested a field of 25 in a jump-off time of 36. 739 seconds to narrowly beat out Saly Glassman and Ginger Watt and Hillary Dobbs and Cobretti.

Spadone jumped first over the shortened course, and six horses followed, unable to beat her time.

“I thought the course walked a little bit harder that it rode,” Spadone said. “I didn't think there were going to be as many clear as there was. I thought there were only going to be two or three clear – I was hoping for that!”

Mable has been under Spadone's tutelage since the mare was 6 – she is now 13. Spadone noted that their many years together helps them when it comes down to the jump-off.

“I know I can trust her. No matter what happens – I'm always nervous before I go into the ring – but I can trust her so much because I've had her so long, and I know her so well. Sometimes I think that I didn't get her quiet enough and she's going to be a little bit spook, but it's always OK,” she explained.

Glassman, who was champion in the Amateur/Owner Jumper division, made a bid for the win with Ginger Watt but just missed the winning time by less than one-tenth of a second. Glasman's time was 36.803 seconds, while Spadone clocked in at 36.739 seconds.

Melissa Rudershausen and her mount Prins finished in third place on a fault-free round in a time of 37.305 seconds, though the pair had a very dramatic bobble at the last combination of the jump-off. They came into the one stride with a very long step, and Prins came quite close to bouncing the combination. He put in a tiny stride and popped out over the second fence, jumping Rudershausen out of the tack. Fortunately, she re-seated herself to gallop through the finish timers and take third. Hillary Dobbs and Cobretti finished in fourth on their time of 40.576 seconds, and Brianne Goutal took fifth with four faults and 36.033 seconds aboard Urithmic. Cara Cheska and Game Twist finished in sixth place with one rail and a 39.664 second time.