Laura Chapot Cleans Up in 7 & 8 Year Old Jumpers and Acorn Hill 1.40m Speed Challenge at Tournament of Champions

Tampa, FL – The final week of the 2007 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) is the Tournament of Champions, CSI. Today’s classes in the covered arena ranged from young jumpers to more experienced horses in the Acorn Hill 1.40m Speed Challenge class. In the 7&8 Year Old Young Jumpers, Laura Chapot of Neshanic Station, NJ, took first through third places. In the Acorn Hill class, Chapot was first and second.

Today’s courses were designed by Stephen Renouard of Great Britain. The 7&8 Year Old class was a Time First Jump-off format. Chapot had three of the ten clear rounds and was able to speed around in the jump-off with all three to take the top spots.

Chapot was fastest on Silver Lining, who finished the shortened course in 31.301 seconds. She was just off the winning pace with Capri, who stopped the clocks in 31.320 seconds. With Chili Pepper, Chapot was third in 31.607 seconds.

Silver Lining, an eight-year-old mare out of Thoroughbred mare by Abdullah, is owned by Harold Vogel. She was the 6 Year Old Young Jumper WEF circuit champion and was circuit champion last year in the 7&8 Year Old Young Jumper division. She has been in the Chapots’ barn since she was two-years-old, so Chapot feels she has the greatest bond with her.

“We broke her and have had her the whole time. It’s great because I’ve believed in her the whole way,” Chapot expressed. “It wasn’t really the owner’s type of horse, so when she decided she wanted to sell her, I found someone else in our barn to buy her. Since he bought her, she’s been winning everything. That’s been really exciting.”

Chapot was second in today’s class with Capri, a seven-year-old mare that is owned by her mother, Mary Chapot. The Chapots received Capri halfway through the WEF circuit. “She was a trade for a horse that I had a couple years ago that went back to Ireland. Capri is probably the greenest one, but she’s really catching on fast,” Chapot acknowledged. “I’ve only had her for a few weeks, and she’s already right there, knocking on the door to win one.”

The WEF circuit champion and third in today’s class was Chili Pepper, an eight-year-old Holsteiner gelding that Chapot has owned herself for a year and a half. “Chili Pepper is really, really fast and has a huge stride. He covers the ground faster than a lot of horses without even trying. He loves to turn and go fast – almost too much. Sometimes in the first round I have to hold him back a little bit,” she said with a smile. Chapot was also the fastest four-faulter in the first round with Face Value, owned by Chado Farms Inc.

Having four such competitive horses in the division is fun for Chapot. “You have to go in and try with each one of them the same. They’re all great, and they all have a good shot of winning. It’s so exciting to have the others do so well in addition to Silver Lining because I think they’re all great horses, and hopefully they have a bright future.”

Chapot and one of her most successful horses, Sprite, won the final Acorn Hill 1.40m Speed Challenge class today. Their lightning-fast time of 70.272 seconds and a clear round held up for the win over Chapot’s other mount, Cilthe Z, who finished in 70.538 seconds. Margie Engle and Hidden Creek’s Calippo 12 were third in 71.718 seconds.

Sprite’s win today puts her at the top of the list in the 1.40m Jumper division. It will be her fourth WEF circuit championship in a row in the division.

The Tournament of Champions continues tomorrow with the Show Jumping Hall of Fame High Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic at 8 a.m. and the 1.50m Jumper Classic later in the afternoon.

The grand finale of the Winter Equestrian Festival is the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational, which will be held in Raymond James Stadium on Saturday, April 7, at 7 p.m. General admission tickets, which range from $25 to $40 for advance purchase, are still available by calling 877-909-9436. The final list of qualifiers for the class will be available after declarations on this evening.

Results of Class 1023 $1500 YJC 7 & 8 Year Olds II, Sec 2b T/A: 78.00 T/A: 43.00

• 1 323 SILVER LINING LAURA CHAPOT 0.00 70.810 0.00 31.301 $300 HAROLD VOGEL
• 2 313 CAPRI LAURA CHAPOT 0.00 70.200 0.00 31.320 $220 MARY CHAPOT
• 3 317 CHILI PEPPER LAURA CHAPOT 0.00 71.010 0.00 31.607 $165 LAURA CHAPOT
• 4 342 SHANE LAUREN HOUGH 0.00 74.763 0.00 32.285 $150 TEQUESTRIAN FARMS
• 5 485 Q'S CHARM RAMIRO QUINTANA 0.00 75.581 0.00 33.310 $100 KATHRYN QUIRK
• 6 381 ESO DAVID JENNINGS 0.00 76.921 0.00 33.996 $100 AMY LEFFERDINK
• 7 26 SKYS THE LIMIT LISA JACQUIN 0.00 75.214 0.00 34.756 $80 FLINTWOODE FMS LLC
• 8 1028 ARDECHE VAN DEZELM LISA SILVERMAN 0.00 75.045 0.00 37.671 $80 LISA SILVERMAN
• 9 448 ALLAIN Z EZEQUIEL PERALTA 0.00 75.265 4.00 31.398 $80 WENDY PERALTA
• 10 950 COLONIA LEANN KELLY 0.00 75.012 4.00 32.329 $75 BYNUM FARMS
• 11 337 COEUR'S LIGHT DARRAGH KERINS 3.00 80.059 $75 DOUBLE H FARM
• 12 319 FACE VALUE LAURA CHAPOT 4.00 70.285 $75 CHADO FARMS INC

Results of Class 1005 $6000 1.40M Acorn Hill Farm Challenge T/A: 82.00

• 1 316 SPRITE LAURA CHAPOT 0.00 70.272 $1850 LAURA CHAPOT
• 2 322 CILTHE Z LAURA CHAPOT 0.00 70.538 $1200 MARY CHAPOT
• 3 879 HC CALIPPO 12 MARGIE ENGLE 0.00 71.718 $635 HIDDEN CREEK FARM
• 4 354 ACCORDIAN ROBERT KRAUT 0.00 71.782 $400 HAPPY HILL FARM
• 5 888 TOM BOY LOUISE WHITAKER 0.00 73.134 $325 FREEDOM GROUP
• 6 288 G FORCE AMY MILLAR 0.00 73.306 $275 VICTORIA PITTMAN SMITH
• 7 152 RALVESTHER BRIANNE GOUTAL 0.00 73.941 $275 CLOVERLEAF FARM
• 8 75 HOLIDAY SARAH SEGAL 0.00 74.461 $250 ROBERT SEGAL
• 9 138 PLENTY ELIZA SHUFORD 1.00 82.256 $250 ELIZA SHUFORD
• 10 151 MON GAMIN BRIANNE GOUTAL 4.00 69.109 $180 CLOVERLEAF FARM
• 11 378 SANTANA NICOLE SIMPSON 4.00 75.228 $180 ALL SEASONS FARM
• 12 739 LADY IN RED 4 LESLIE HOWARD 4.00 75.288 $180 PETER HOWARD

Photo Credit: Sprite and Laura Chapot, winners of the Acorn Hill 1.40m Speed Challenge at the Tournament of Champions. Photo © 2007 Randi Muster.