Continued Rain Postpones Hagyard Lexington Classic;
Aaron Vale Continues to Reign at Kentucky Spring Horse Show

Lexington, KY – May 11, 2006 –

The heavy rains and blustery conditions that continued in Lexington on Thursday forced the postponement of the inaugural event in the $170,000 Hagyard Challenge Series. The $30,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic, originally scheduled for noon, will be contested in the Johnson Arena at 9 a.m. on Friday morning.

The spring storm has dumped over three inches of rain on the Kentucky Horse Park in the past 24 hours, and mixed with today’s wind and cold weather, made for miserable conditions. “I just wanted to do what was best for the competitors,” said Show Manager Hugh Kincannon. “The footing in the Johnson Arena was sloppy, but it really holds up well under these conditions, and the class could have gone this afternoon without a problem. But it was just such an ugly day, and with time available on tomorrow’s schedule, I thought it would be best to postpone until the morning.” Although showers and cold temperatures are forecast through the balance of the weekend, the heaviest of the rain should move through the Lexington area by Thursday evening.

Following the first two events, tomorrow and next Thursday, the Hagyard Challenge Series will run throughout the summer at the Horse Park. The final event, the $50,000 CSI-W Lexington at the Kentucky National Indoor Horse Show on September 22, 2006, is a U.S. East Coast League World Cup Qualifier.

The Sunday feature at this week’s Kentucky Spring Horse Show is the $50,000 Commonwealth Grand Prix.

In other jumper action on Thursday, Aaron Vale continued to pour it on, finishing first and second in the 1.35m Jumpers at the Walnut Ring. This follows a first through fifth place finish yesterday. Vale rode Serval, owned by the Serval Group, to the win, cruising home clean in the jump-off with a winning time of 27.540 seconds. Vale, riding Leone, owned by Millstream, Inc., was two seconds off of that pace for second. Leone’s finish time was 29.573 seconds. Lorrie Canady finished third with Galway Farm’s Audi’s Classic Pleasure. Canady was clear in 31.790 seconds. Twenty-three starters went to the post and nine advanced to the tiebreaker with clean rounds. Six competitors went on to be double clear.

In the 1.30m Jumpers, also scored under Table II, Sec 2 (b), forty-five horse and rider combinations lined up for the start. Twenty-one went clean and advanced to the speed phase, with Mary Lisa Leffler emerging victorious. Leffler piloted Rolling Acres’ Kartousch to the win, crossing the finish line in 29.549 seconds. She was 1.4 seconds faster than second place finisher, Debbie Stephens and Chappie, owned by the Centennial Farms. Stephens tripped the timers in 30.970 seconds. Ariana Wallace and Clitschko finished third in 31.731 seconds.

In the only Johnson Arena action on Thursday, Todd Minikus piloted Tracy Topping’s Polaris to the win in the 1.40m Jumpers. It was Minikus’ first time on the horse, and he commented about how much he enjoys the challenge of an unfamiliar mount. “Well, it’s not my first day at the rodeo going in on horses I’ve never ridden before,” he laughed. “I kind of enjoy that. Not that it’s not enough of a challenge riding horses you know, but to ride horses that you don’t know adds a little extra something to your day.”

Todd talked about this new partnership. “We’re off to a good start. It was a nice course with a lot of the natural obstacles in it, and they told me he was good at all that stuff. So I took their word for it, and we were off like the wind,” he said with a smile. “He’s a pure winner. He came with the reputation that he was very competitive. They warned me of that, so I tried not to screw it up.”

When asked about the lousy weather Minikus stated simply, “I know it will get better soon or later.”

The Kentucky Spring Horse Show is the first of two weeks of action at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. The shows, two of the nation’s finest and most popular spring equestrian competitions, feature a $30,000 and a $50,000 Grand Prix each week. Week two’s main event, the $50,000 Mary Rena Murphy Grand Prix CSI 3*, is a member event of the $3 million dollar American Grand Prix Association (AGA) Series. The shows play host to the highly praised and innovative Legacy Cup of the American Hunter and Jumper Foundation. In addition, the first week is a World Championship Hunter Rider sanctioned event.

Results – Class 223 – 1.35m Jumpers – Table II, Sec 2(b) –Walnut Ring – Kentucky Spring Horse Show – 5/11/-06
1-Serval - Aaron Vale-0-0/27.540 Serval Group
2-Leone - Aaron Vale-0-0/29.573 Millstream, Inc.
3-Audi’s Classic Pleasure-Lorrie Canady-0-0/31.790 Galway Farm
4-Chappie-Debbie Stephens-0-0/32.323 Centennial Frm
5-Huippy-Mark Leone-0-0/33.466 Meghan Moran & WEC LLC
6-Olarome-Rory Grant-0-0/34.917 Betsy Green
7-Lagato-AaronVale-0-4/30.277 Fairway Farm
8-Ingaletta-Joe Fargis-0-4/33.102 Sandron

Results – Class 220 -1.30m Jumpers –Table II, Sec 2(b) – Walnut Ring - Kentucky Spring Horse Show – 5/11/06
1-Kartousch-Mary Lisa Leffler-0-0/29.549 Rolling Acres
2-Melinga-Debbie Stephens-0-0/30.970 ADBF, Inc.
3-Clitschko-Ariana Wallace-0-0/31.731 Ariana Wallace
4-Hibiscus II-Alejandro Cespedes-0-0/32.007 Daniela’s Stable
5-Holy Ghost-Patty Stoval-0-0/33.006 Providence Hill Farm
6-Don Cesar-Aaron Vale-0-0/33.132 Gotham Enterprizes
7-UN Prince-Scott Lenkart-0-0/33.481 Martha Bennett
8-Ravel-Niall Grimes-0-0/34.104 Melissa Malkin

THE KENTUCKY SPRING HORSE SHOWS: http://www.kentuckyhorseshows.com/