Big Finish for Kelley Small and Calibur in $30,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic at Kentucky Spring Classic Horse Show
Equestrian News Release

Lexington, KY – May 18, 2006 – Ottawa, Canada’s Kelley Small won her first career Grand Prix on Thursday afternoon as she toppled veterans Aaron Vale and Debbie Stephens for the win in the $30,000 Lexington Classic, the second leg of the $170,000 Hagyard Jumper Series. The afternoon Johnson Arena feature at the Kentucky Spring Classic Horse Show was graced with gorgeous sunshine at the start, heavy rains, and near hurricane force winds during the latter part of the first round, and then bright sunshine again, all in the course of the two hour competition.

Thirty-eight starters went to the post for the 1p.m. event, scored under FEI Art. 238.2.2, Time First Jump-Off. Venezuela’s Leopoldo Palacios is this week’s Course Designer. Today’s track proved troublesome for a majority of the competitors, as only three managed first round clears. Two riders came home with no jumping faults, but they were unable to clock in quick enough to beat the snug time allowed and each picked up a single time fault. Seventeen horse and rider combinations had four faults, some with additional time penalties. Six riders had two knockdowns. Ten duos had twelve or more or were eliminated.

Canada’s Kelley Small, aboard Cimmaron Farms’ Calibur, was the first to master the first round course from the seventh spot in the start order. Sixteen horses later, Debbie Stephens and her new partner All Star, owned by Daran Cohen, added their name to the dance card. The jump-off roster was filled out when Aaron Vale and Artur 28 from Millstream, Inc. became the third to qualify, three horses after Stephens.

Vale’s first round was anything but a walk in the park. Shortly after the tone sounded to signal his start, the Kentucky skies turned from beautifully blue to ominously dark. As Vale reached the halfway point of the course, the quick hitting afternoon storm struck. Fierce winds ripped down a number of the jumps, including the jump that Vale was approaching. The judge’s tone signaled a time out and the fences were reset as the winds died down. As Vale started another approach, a second burst of wind wreaked havoc once again. The course was reset, and Vale finally finished with a fault free round. To register his clear go, Vale spent nearly 8 minutes in the ring.

And just as quickly as the rain and wind appeared, the skies cleared and the sun was back for the timed tiebreaker.

In the speed round, Small returned first and came up big, producing her second clear round of the afternoon. Cruising home clear, she tripped the timers in 42.47 seconds.

As it would turn out, the clean round was all that Small needed for the win. Stephens and All Star had two rails down in the jump-off and crossed the finish line in 45.23 seconds. Vale, one of the nation’s winningest riders, appeared primed to notch career win number 134 on Thursday, but Artur 28 caught a rail coming home, finishing with four faults in a time of 42.29 seconds.

Instead of Vale adding to his long list of accomplishments, it was twenty-one year old Kelley Small of Canada posting her first ever major class victory.

“I’m so excited,” said a beaming Small following the victory gallop. “I have had Calibur for two years, and we’ve developed an unbelievable partnership. I’ve never won a grand prix ever, on any horse. So to win on Calibur, well, I’m just ecstatic. He tries so hard for me,” she said. “I was fourth here Sunday, and I picked up a third in a $75,000 Grand Prix in California this winter. So I can’t even say that I’ve come really close,” she admitted. “Top four finishes aren’t really close, so I’m just thrilled to finally get a win today.”

Small talked about being one of only three clean in round one. “I know that Leopoldo [Palacios] is always a little bit tricky. He doesn’t necessarily build really big, but I knew a couple of the tricks he had in there today because I’ve seen his courses before,” Small related. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I knew the time allowed was going to be really tight. I have a little bit of a slow horse, so I tried to make sure I picked a nice track to get home within the time allowed and leave all the jumps up,” she said.

Going first in the jump-off with two pros to follow had Small looking for a clean round first. “I was thinking that I had two very experienced, very fast riders coming behind me so I just wanted to make sure I had the most efficient track possible. You know those two are going to try their hardest, so I just tried to be clear and make them try to play a little bit of catch up,” she said.

Vale, with a bead on the lead, had Small holding her breath. “I thought it was all over when Aaron was headed home. I knew he had my time. So I guess it was just my day!”

The next two events in the Hagyard Challenge Series are July 27 and August 3 at the Kentucky Summer Horse Show and the Kentucky Summer Classic Horse Show. 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.

A full day of jumper action is on the agenda for Friday at the Kentucky Horse Park, including Junior and Amateur-Owner Jumpers. Saturday’s schedule at the Kentucky Spring Horse Show features the $20,000 Bluegrass Classic, and Sunday’s main event is the $50,000 Mary Rena Murphy Grand Prix, a member event of the (AGA) American Grand Prix Association.

Results Class 231 $30,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic-Kentucky Spring Classic-Johnson Arena -5/18/06

1 1123 KELLEY SMALL CAN CALIBUR 0.00 83.26 0.00 42.47

CIMMARON FARMS

2 548 AARON VALE USA ARTUR 28 0.00 84.02 4.00 42.29

MILLSTREAM INC

3 1427 DEBBIE STEPHENS USA ALL STAR 0.00 87.49 12.00 45.23

DARAN COHN

4 790 MARILYN LITTLE USA RARETE 1.00 88.32

RAYLYN FARMS

5 1002 CARA RAETHER USA U BLESCO 1.00 90.69

TRELAWNY FARM

6 1181 PABLO BARRIOS VEN SUN GOD 4.00 83.41

RON KRISE

7 1205 ROBIN SWEELY USA TINKA'S LAD 4.00 84.43

ACORN HILL FARM

8 1331 PETER LEONE USA ICON 4.00 84.64

LIONSHARE FARM

9 846 MARY LISA LEFFLER USA GERONA 92 4.00 85.01

ROLLING ACRES

10 1180 PABLO BARRIOS VEN WILD CAT 4.00 85.38

JUAN CARMONA

11 471 JIMMY TORANO USA ORMSBY HILL 4.00 85.87

TORANO AND SIR RULY INC

12 968 ROBERT KRAUT USA LIFE IS LIVE 4.00 86.42

POLLYRICH FARMS

PHOTO CREDIT: Kelley Small and Calibur win the $30,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic on Thursday at the Kentucky Horse Park. ©2006 Anne Gittins Photography.