Molly Ashe and Neuville Take Top Honors in the $100,000 Lexus National Horse Show Jumper Championship, Presented by Chesapeake Petroleum

Wellington, FL– December 2, 2005 – On a cold night in South Florida, Molly Ashe and Jane Clark’s Neuville were on fire, racing to victory in the $100,000 Lexus National Horse Show Jumper Championship, presented by Chesapeake Petroleum, at the 122nd National Horse Show and Family Festival in Wellington, Florida.

The Friday night class, part of the “Jumping Under the Stars” presentation and was the big money event of an Open Jumper Division that offers over $366,000 in total prize money. The $100,000 Lexus National Horse Show Jumper Championship, CSI-W presented by Chesapeake Petroleum, a World Cup Qualifier, was scored FEI Art. 238.2.2, Time First Jump-Off.

Jose “Pepe” Gamarra of La Paz, Bolivia, designed the course for Friday night’s main event.

Thirty-seven starters went to the post for the 8pm class. Of the thirty-seven starters, five mastered the first round track to advance to the tiebreaker. Two horse and rider combinations had a single time fault, while seven had a single knockdown for four faults. An additional six riders had five faults, one had six and six had eight faults. Seven had more than eight and three retired or were eliminated.

Chris Kappler and VDL Oranta, owned by M & K Oranta, were the first to return for the encounter against the clock. Kappler toured the jump-off track in a speedy time of 43.31 seconds, to set the pace.

David Raposa was second to go aboard the Shalamar Farm’s Audi’s Fanny de Latour. Raposa, whose first round was almost rub-free, ran into trouble in the double combination in the jump-off and finished with 8 jumping and 22 time faults. Raposa’s time was 68.33 seconds.

Molly Ashe, and Neuville, owned by Jane Clark, entered the fray next. In only their second jump-off together, Ashe and Neuville left out a stride from the first to second fence and never looked back. Ashe galloped across the finish line fault free in 42.71 seconds, knocking 6/10ths of a second off of Kappler’s top time.

Promised Land, owned by the Windsor Show Stables and ridden by Christine McCrea, had two rails down in the tiebreaker, coming home with eight faults in 46.21 seconds.

Lisa Silverman was the last challenger on her Obelix R. Early on, it appeared Silverman had a bead on the lead, but a quick cut to the double combination at 9a and 9b proved to be her downfall. Obelix R almost went down, but at the last minute, was able to gain his balance and the duo was able to finish their jump-off ride. They finished with eight faults in a time of 46.09 seconds, good enough to grab third place honors.

Ashe talked about her ride aboard her new partner, Neuville. “It was great. It was my first time riding this horse in this kind of environment and I think he handled it brilliantly,” she said. “It was a lot of fun.”

Ashe knew that in order to catch Kappler she would have to take a chance right out of the starting gate. “I thought I had to do the seven from one to two,” she revealed, “and then I had to catch everything from there, on the go. Chris had to set his horse up a couple of times, so I thought that was the only chance I had to catch him.”

Kappler, following the class, said that he’s still adjusting to his new mount, VDL Oranta. “I did eight from one to two,” he admitted. “I haven’t done that many jump-offs with her. She really tends to go left a little bit and I was trying to make a good turn to the third liverpool and keep her rate-able at that angle. She’s gotten away from me a couple of times in past jump-offs, so I just kind of inched her up a little as I went along tonight,” he said with a laugh.

Ashe was thrilled to get to the winner’s circle so early in her partnership with Neuville. “It’s my first win with Neuville,” she said. “Jane Clark bought him at the World Cup Finals from McLain and Barney Ward. So, it’s a bit of a transition from McLain’s style of riding to my style of riding. In fact, McLain told me that my whole body equals his left thigh,” laughed Ashe. “We’ve been close though. But it’s been four faults here, four faults there. I haven’t done many jump-offs with him,” she said. “This was my second one. So I didn’t know if I had shot or not, but I just thought I’d do the best I could. I thought, he’s got enough experience, so I just trusted his bravery.”

Kappler, who lost his Olympic partner Royal Kaliber following the Olympic Games at Athens, Greece, was thrilled to be back in the middle of the action. “I was so happy when I left the ring, I really didn’t care where I ended up. For me, it’s just nice to have a really good horse again and be back in the ring. It’s a lot of fun for me to be out there,” he said smiling. “I’ve shown her indoors. I’ve shown her outdoors. And now I’ve shown her under lights and she’s been super under each circumstance.”

Silverman described her harrowing experience in the jump-off. “I came in a little deep, didn’t get his eye on the second element, didn’t use enough leg,” she chuckled. “Then that second element was so far away. He just kind of tripped over the back rail of the B coming out. I ended up nearly on his ears, but the kind, four legged friend that he is, he just sort of lifted his head up and said, ‘get in the saddle and let’s keep going,’ so I gathered my stirrup and we finished up nicely,” she said. “In those moments, it happens in slow motion.”

Winner Molly Ashe is looking forward to a bright future with tonight’s champion. “He’s a consistent horse day in and day out. That’s what he’s shown me so far. And, he’s a powerhouse,” she said. “He’s scopey, scopey, scopey. Maybe not the fastest horse day in and day out, but he’s got super power.”

And she added, “It’s always nice when you have a new horse, and you have high expectations for him, and then he comes through for you.”

Official Results #1003 -$100,000 Lexus NHS Jumper Championship CSI-W-122nd National Horse Show-FEI Art. 238.2.2 – 12/2/05-International Arena

• 1-597-Molly Ashe–USA-Neuville 0-0 /42.71-$30,000
• 2-549-Chris Kappler–USA-Vdl Oranta 0-0 /43.31-$22,000
• 3-570-Lisa Silverman–USA-Obelix R 0-8/46.09-$13,000
• 4-47-Christine Mccrea-USA-Promised Land 0-8/46.21-$8,000
• 5-552-David Raposa–USA-Audi's Fanny De Latour 0-30/68.33-$6,000
• 6-19- Cara Raether–USA-Quilano De Kalvarie 1.00 -85.69-$5,000
• 7-419-Danielle Torano–USA-Gibson 1.00 -87.05-$4,000
• 8-545-Mclain Ward –USA-Goldika 559 4.00 -77.08-$3,000
• 9-7-Kent Farrington–USA-Madison 4.00 -80.42-$3,000
• 10-34-Todd Minikus–USA-Flier 4.00 -81.87-$2,000
• 11-378-Mary Lisa Leffler–USA-Gerona 92 4.00- 82.61-$2,000
• 12-608-Judy Garofalo Torres–USA-Oliver III 4.00 -82.67-$2,000

PHOTO CREDIT: Molly Ashe and Neuville at the 122nd National Horse Show. Photo by Randi Muster.