PrintHe chalks up his third grand prix win in as many weeks aboard Ultimo Van Ter Moude.
Todd Minikus knew he didn’t have to go flat-out to win the $50,000 Budweiser Beacon Hill Grand Prix. But that didn’t stop the speed demon from shaving 3 seconds off the leading time to take the top check on Ultimo Van Ter Moude.
Just three qualified for the jump-off in the headline event of the Beacon Hill Classic, June 19-22 in Colts Neck, N.J. Lara Gay, a student of Kent Farrington and a recent graduate of Brigham Young University (Utah), who was competing in her first grand prix with her new horse, Nairobi, kicked things off. But she had a rail at the first jump to end on 4 faults in 35.17 seconds.
Laura Bowery knew that Minikus would go fast, so she tried for a careful clean round and hoped for the best.
Her time of 36.32 seconds was beatable, and Minikus made short work of blazing around the course to finish clean and more than 3 seconds faster, even with a slip before the final fence. Bowery had to settle for second.
“I know he’s such a fast rider; I would have loved to go after him. My horse is quite a fast horse. But I didn’t want to risk having one down,” Bowery explained.
Minikus has been on quite a roll lately, winning the $100,000 Budweiser/ Upperville Jumper Classic (Va.) on Pavarotti on June 8 and the $25,000 Ariat Grand Prix in Saugerties, N.Y., on Ultimo Van Ter Moude on June 12. “If you don’t have three or four horses, you have to pick and choose, because it’s a long summer. I have three or four I can rotate, and that’s been a plus for me,” he said.
Minikus started showing Ultimo at the Hampton Classic (N.Y.) in September last year. “He’s gone through a few growing pains, if you will, moving into the grand prix. I kind of threw him into the deep end of the pool a little bit and he survived that,” Minikus said.
Bowery has been riding Indy Star, a son of Quick Star, for most of his 12 years. While he was backed and broken by someone else, she has done the training from that point on and knows him well.
But even with such an advantage, the fact that she went before Minikus, Bowery said, meant she really had no choice but to play it safe.
A total of 22 horses and riders jumped in the grand prix. After the first two starters over the first round of the class didn’t finish the course, the spectators lining the arena wondered if Richard Jeffery’s course might be too difficult for this group. But then Gay came into the ring and proved otherwise.
Her perfect trip was followed immediately by clear rounds from Bowery and Minikus, so sentiment on the sidelines shifted toward wondering whether it was too easy. But as is usually the case with Jeffery’s courses, it was just the right challenge.
Making the time allowed posed problems for several riders. It kept Alister Gatherum out of the jump-off. Gatherum wound up fourth with a single time penalty on Santana.
Todd Minikus knew he didn’t have to go flat-out to win the $50,000 Budweiser Beacon Hill Grand Prix. But that didn’t stop the speed demon from shaving 3 seconds off the leading time to take the top check on Ultimo Van Ter Moude.
Just three qualified for the jump-off in the headline event of the Beacon Hill Classic, June 19-22 in Colts Neck, N.J. Lara Gay, a student of Kent Farrington and a recent graduate of Brigham Young University (Utah), who was competing in her first grand prix with her new horse, Nairobi, kicked things off. But she had a rail at the first jump to end on 4 faults in 35.17 seconds.
Laura Bowery knew that Minikus would go fast, so she tried for a careful clean round and hoped for the best.Her time of 36.32 seconds was beatable, and Minikus made short work of blazing around the course to finish clean and more than 3 seconds faster, even with a slip before the final fence. Bowery had to settle for second.
“I know he’s such a fast rider; I would have loved to go after him. My horse is quite a fast horse. But I didn’t want to risk having one down,” Bowery explained.
Minikus has been on quite a roll lately, winning the $100,000 Budweiser/ Upperville Jumper Classic (Va.) on Pavarotti on June 8 and the $25,000 Ariat Grand Prix in Saugerties, N.Y., on Ultimo Van Ter Moude on June 12. “If you don’t have three or four horses, you have to pick and choose, because it’s a long summer. I have three or four I can rotate, and that’s been a plus for me,” he said.
Minikus started showing Ultimo at the Hampton Classic (N.Y.) in September last year. “He’s gone through a few growing pains, if you will, moving into the grand prix. I kind of threw him into the deep end of the pool a little bit and he survived that,” Minikus said.
Bowery has been riding Indy Star, a son of Quick Star, for most of his 12 years. While he was backed and broken by someone else, she has done the training from that point on and knows him well.
But even with such an advantage, the fact that she went before Minikus, Bowery said, meant she really had no choice but to play it safe.
A total of 22 horses and riders jumped in the grand prix. After the first two starters over the first round of the class didn’t finish the course, the spectators lining the arena wondered if Richard Jeffery’s course might be too difficult for this group. But then Gay came into the ring and proved otherwise.
Her perfect trip was followed immediately by clear rounds from Bowery and Minikus, so sentiment on the sidelines shifted toward wondering whether it was too easy. But as is usually the case with Jeffery’s courses, it was just the right challenge.
Making the time allowed posed problems for several riders. It kept Alister Gatherum out of the jump-off. Gatherum wound up fourth with a single time penalty on Santana.
