OCALA, FL (February 19, 2010)–The winner of Thursday’s $25,000 HITS Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, was HITS veteran Lacy Morrone-Cramer on Ulysses Van De Krekebeke.
“He’s [Ulysses Van De Krekebeke] right at home,” said an excited Morrone-Cramer of Pittstown, New Jersey, standing next to her husband and trainer Adam Cramer, who also competed in the class.
“From the triple bar to the triple combination everyone was jumping the line in the eight,” explained Morrone-Cramer. “When I was out there it was a last-second decision, but I decided to do the seven and it worked!” she exclaimed, as her instinct paid off.
Morrone-Cramer finished in 11th place last Sunday in the $50,000 EMO Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, and looks to continue her success this Sunday in the $50,000 Charles Owen Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health.
International Course Designer Bernardo Cabral of Lisbon, Portugal set the course for Thursday’s feature class which saw an outstanding 36 horse and rider pairs in the order — a clear indication that many high-performance riders are looking to make HITS Ocala a memorable circuit on their road to the Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix that will take place on September 12 in Saugerties, New York.
This is Cabral’s first time in Ocala and already he’s a fan. “I’m very impressed with the show grounds. It’s lovely here and the footing is absolutely perfect!”, said Cabral.
Things were looking good in the first round as the first three pairs, Kate Levy (Wellington, FL) and Starlight, David Beisel (Goshen, OH) and Patoile and Tracy Magness (Baltimore, MD) and Tarco Van Ter Moude, all went clear within the 81 seconds allowed. It was a game of ‘catch me if you can’, as the Great American Time to Beat was set four different times during the first round with Morrone-Cramer posting the fastest clean round in 75.10, making her one of 10 riders to return for the jump-off.
This is Cabral’s first time in Ocala and already he’s a fan. “I’m very impressed with the show grounds. It’s lovely here and the footing is absolutely perfect!”, said Cabral.Things were looking good in the first round as the first three pairs, Kate Levy (Wellington, FL) and Starlight, David Beisel (Goshen, OH) and Patoile and Tracy Magness (Baltimore, MD) and Tarco Van Ter Moude, all went clear in the 81 seconds allowed. It was a game of ‘catch me if you can’, as the Great American Time to Beat was set four different times during the first round with Morrone-Cramer posting the fastest clean round in 75.10, making her one of 10 riders to return for the jump-off.
“Today’s class was a very big field and I was surprised at how they took to the course with ease,” Cabral said. “It speaks volumes to the quality of horses and riders here in Ocala. With 10 clear rounds they made a very good job of the first round, so I put it up a bit in the jump-off to give them more of a challenge.”
A challenge it was, Morrone-Cramer and Ulysses Van De Krekebeke had the only clean round of the jump-off and raced to the win in a fast 35.509 seconds.
“They risked it a bit too much,” said Cabral. “Lacy was perfect! She had a plan and stuck to it. She was able to be very fast but clean. She was spot on.”
“It was such an inviting course,” said Adam Cramer, of Belgium. “We do the HITS shows here, in Culpeper, and in Saugerties, and we love the show grounds here. The footing was absolutely amazing today.” Standing next to Adam was a proud Johan Lenssens and his wife Sharon of Belgium, who sold them the horse.
Taking second place was Kristen VanderVeen of St. Charles, Illinois, riding Bulls Run Jumper Inc.’s Alpha & Omega. VanDerveen was last to go in the jump-off and ready for the win out of the gate with the fastest time of the group, but an unlucky rail down cost her the first place spot.
“I knew I had the fastest time in there and I thought I had it,” said VanderVeen, who’s ready to win this Sunday. “It happens – I still did a really good job, though.” VanderVeen has had an impressive career thus far and was the inaugural winner of the Devoucoux Hunter Derby during the HITS Ocala Pre-Circuit.
Taking third in the class was Andre Thieme of Germany, riding Cesar.
Catching the last two trips in the jump-off of the Grand Prix was the Equine Event Planning class from Central Florida Community College. The students took a tour of the show grounds and spoke to key management figures on how a horse show is run.
“This was my first time going around the show grounds and it was really great to see how everything works,” said Dr. Marsha Pidherney, professor of Equine Event Planning. “I think the students enjoyed themselves and got to see how much is involved in how a real horse show is run.”