What has been hailed as the best innovation in hunter competition in many years - the $75,000 East Meets West Hunter Challenge Presented by The Chronicle of the Horse - will be even bigger and better in 2000. On March 12, 2000, the first-ever three-way simulcast hunter competition will take place as the top 10 hunter horses in Indio, Ocala, and Wellington face off against each other from HITS Desert Circuit VI in California, HITS Ocala V in Florida, and the WEF Palm Beach Finale in Florida.

"We were very pleased to be joined in this competition by the Cosequin Winter Equestrian Festival," noted HITS president Tom Struzzieri. "There is no doubt that this will be the talk of the three winter circuits," he added.

Gene Mische, President of Stadium Jumping, Incorporated and organizer of the WEF is equally enthusiastic about the partnership. "We are pleased to join HITS Desert Circuit and HITS Ocala in the simulcast of the East Meets West Hunter Challenge," stated Mishe. "We feel that this event will offer some added exposure to the already ambitious World Championship Hunter Rider Foundation."

The East Meets West Hunter Challenge Presented by The Chronicle of the Horse will use state-of-the-art satellite television technology to link the three show sites the morning of March 12. The course designers at each venue will have set an identical course at each site and then, shortly after dawn, the satellite link trucks will be moved into place so that the panels of judges in Indio, Ocala, and Wellington can all watch every round from each venue.

The plan is to alternate rounds from venue to venue, with judges watching the competition only on TV monitors, so as to equalize the judging experience. Although heavy rain in Ocala in 1999 made judging difficult, the bi-coastal panel was still able to successfully judge the first ever East Meets West Hunter Challenge last March. Eva Gonda on El Campeon Farms' Doubletake won the '99 Challenge from Indio with a grand total score of 443.0. Second place went to another Indio rider Leslie Steele aboard Lyle. Jennifer Jones (pictured here) on More than Words was the highest-placed Florida rider with 426 points.

The East Meets West Hunter Challenge Presented by The Chronicle of the Horse is open to hunters showing in Junior, Amateur-Owner, First-Year Green, Second-Year Green, Green Conformation, Regular, and Regular Conformation Hunter sections at any of the three venues. Although horses may enter more than one section at any venue, they will accumulate scores only in one Hunter Challenge section (to be specified on the entry form). Each venue has four weeks of eligible Hunter Challenge qualifying sections, and the final qualifying score for each horse will consist of the total of the top three scores from the four Preliminary Rounds. The scores of the Final Round (on March 12) will count double and will be added to the sum of the top-three preliminary round scores to determine the final placing in the 2000 Challenge. Full details of the East Meets West Hunter Challenge Presented by the Chronicle of the Horse can be found in the prize lists for each of the three venues.

For more information,
contact HITS
24 Closs Drive, Rhinebeck, NY 12572
tel: 914-876-3666; fax 914.876.5538,
or Indio Desert Horse Park, Phone 760.775.7731, Fax 760.775.7752
www.hitsshows.com