Press release from Traverse City Spring Horse Show

Week III of the Traverse City Spring Horse Show (TCS), presented by Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel, was well underway at Flintfields Horse Park Friday, June 25. Show jumping competitors took to the $36,600 Welcome Stake CSI3* to vie for a spot in the highlight event of the week, the $137,000 STALLER Grand Prix CSI3*, set to take place Sunday, June 27. Out of 25 horse-and-athlete pairs, a competitive jump-off ultimately lended the United States’ Lindsay Archer the victory aboard Rhys Farms LLC’s Jarpur (Ogano Sitte x Warkant van't Gestelhof).

Bernardo Costa Cabral (POR) set a 12-obstacle first-round track that took advantage of the expansive Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel International Ring. A total of 15 pairs managed to navigate a clear effort in order to advance to the jump-off, including representatives from Columbia, the United States, Israel, Portugal, Canada and Australia. The shortened 8-fence jump-off course offered new challenges for competitors with plenty of chances to slice and dice their way around the arena to shave time off of the clock.

As the pathfinders for the shortened track, Alexis Sokolov (USA) and Cana Van de Blom (Kashmir van Schuttershof x Kannan) put forth the first double-clear ride to set the standard high for those to follow in 40.43 seconds. Her top spot was quickly taken by Portugal’s Luis Sabino Goncalves, who rode Argan de Beliard (Mylord Carthago*HN x Ahorn) to a clear and tactful effort in 37 seconds. The winningest rider of the 2021 Traverse City Horse Shows series thus far, Katie Laurie (AUS), entered as the eighth athlete in the order-of-go aboard her own Django II (Lordano x unknown), hopeful to notch yet another win. Laurie just narrowly took over Sabino Goncalves’ lead, stopping the clocks nearly one second faster in a time of 36.01 seconds.

Immediately after Laurie’s impressive finish, Archer took to the Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel International Ring with her longtime partner Jarpur, a 12-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding. Marking their first visit to Flintfields Horse Park, Archer and Jarpur left it all in the ring to make it a memorable one, sliding into the top spot just six-tenths of a second faster than Laurie in 35.40 seconds. Though the four horse-and-rider combinations who followed would try, they could not match Archer’s quick and clean round, ultimately earning her the first place honors. Laurie and Django II would claim second place, with Luis Sabino Goncalves rounding out the top three aboard Argan de Beliard, owned by Equivarandas LVA.

Archer’s win placed her in contention for the 2021 CaptiveOne Advisors Open Jumper Rider Bonus, however Laurie’s continuous success allowed her to keep her leading position with a total of 40 points thus far. Following a successful Week II of TCS, Canada’s Tiffany Foster currently sits in the second place position on a total of 27 points, with Israel’s Daniel Bluman claiming the third position with 24 points. Offering show jumping competitors the chance to accumulate points throughout the 12-week Traverse City Horse Shows series, the bonus is awarded to the athlete with the most points at the conclusion of the 2021 $230,000 American Gold Cup Grand Prix CSI5*, presented by CaptiveOne Advisors. The CaptiveOne Advisors Open Jumper Rider Bonus is a highly sought-after prize among the field of international competitors that attend Traverse City Horse Shows.

Show jumping competition during Week III of the Traverse City Spring Horse Show, presented by Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel, will continue Saturday, June 26, beginning at 8:00am. The week will culminate in the $137,000 STALLER Grand Prix CSI3*, set to take place Sunday, June 27.

On her win:
“[Jarpur] and I have had a little bit of bad luck with classes throughout the spring. I’ve only jumped one grand prix since [HITS Thermal]. So to be honest, walking [the course], I was a bit nervous. He got out there on that ground and felt absolutely incredible. He hasn’t felt that good probably since Spruce Meadows in 2019 so I was just thrilled. It felt like he could’ve done anything.”

On the jump-off:
“I wanted to be competitive, having not gotten to jump a lot of classes since [HITS Thermal]. I wanted to get out there and give it a little bit of a shot because I felt like we both needed a little bit of practice. It was good practice! [Jarpur] is a little deceptive because he doesn’t have a huge stride, I typically can add strides and be faster than people which throws everyone off. He was incredible.”

On Traverse City Horse Shows:
“It’s just incredible. I grew up with my family having cattle and horses, being out and gathering cows and being in nature with horses. I get some place like here where it is expansive and we have grass everywhere and I just have so much appreciation for how horse-friendly it is. I just can’t say enough good things about the facility. The footing, the vastness of it, the green grass everywhere, the horses are just so happy and relaxed and we’re thrilled to be here.”

On the trek from California to Traverse City:
“I am from Northern California and we usually show in Southern California at the Desert circuit, a little bit in southern California in the spring, and then we always go to Spruce Meadows. Obviously that hasn’t happened now for two years so we wanted to do something else fun and we heard Traverse City was a great place to go. The horses trucked out 42 hours, got here Sunday, and we’ve just been trying to gauge how they felt. We didn’t think they were quite ready for yesterday energy-wise, but clearly today [Jarpur] felt ready!”