Lake Placid, N.Y.—June 29
Jeffery Welles wasn’t sure he was going to win the $75,000 Devoucoux Grand Prix of Lake Placid at the 45th annual Lake Placid Horse Show.
“I really didn’t think my time would hold up,” said Welles. He’d ridden Prem’ Dollar Boy, an 11-year-old French-bred gelding owned by Mary-Kate Olsen, as the first of five to jump off. He set the mark to beat with a clean ride in 40.60 seconds. “I thought that both Laura [Chapot] and Tori [Colvin] would be faster. Fortunately, this time they weren’t,” Welles said.
None of the remaining entries could catch Welles, giving him his third win in the class following wins in 2000 on S&L Riviera and 2006 on Armani. The closest was Chapot of Neshanic Station, N.J., who finished the jump-off clean in 42.77 seconds on Quointreau Un Prince to take second place.
Third place went to Todd Minikus of Loxahatchee, Fla., on Macoemba while Colvin placed fourth on Chanel B2. Rounding out the top five was Margie Engle and Royce
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The win marked a clean sweep of the grand prix classes for the week for Welles and Prem’ Dollar Boy. On June 27, they’d won the $30,000 Brook Ledge Open Jumper Classic. “He’s a little bit quirky, but he’s a real trier,” Welles said of Prem’ Dollar Boy. Erica Quinn had the ride on the Selle Francais (Dollars Boy—De Va Hurie) throughout the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (Fla.) and showed him at the 1.35- and 1.40-meter level.
Welles took over the ride for the Old Salem horse shows (N.Y.) in May and stepped him up to the grand prix level at HITS-on-the-Hudson (N.Y.) in June, where they were second in a $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix.
Prior to the grand prix, Colvin and Don Juan won the $10,000 Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort Junior Jumper Classic. Michael Hughes placed second and third on Luxina and Cool Z respectively. The win earned Colvin and Don Juan the horse show’s high junior jumper championship.
Also, Catherine Tyree and Don’t Go won the $10,000 Mirror Lake Inn Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic. Charlie Jacobs placed second on Cassinja S to earn the high amateur-owner championship.
