Corina and Chris Cauley Race to the Top in the $10,000 NAL Beacon Hill Speed Derby

Colts Neck, NJ – One of the classes that make the Beacon Hill Equestrian Grand Prix weekend special is the $10,000 NAL Beacon Hill Speed Derby held on Saturday afternoon.  The course is a true derby with banks, double liverpools, live water and a grob.  A true derby horse proved that experience makes a difference.

Corina, a ten-year-old Dutch mare, has competed on the field at the Hampton Classic as well as at Spruce Meadows.  Going sixth in the order, Corina and rider Chris Cauley of Wellington, FL, kept to the inside turns and galloped around the course over nineteen obstacles fault-free in a winning time of 97.334 seconds.  

“She is just a super fast horse. She’s a derby horse,” said Cauley. “Honestly all the pressure was on me just to be smooth.” He added, “My plan was to stay as smooth as possible and to not ride at her too much because she gets a little undone if I ask her to go too fast and she’s already fast on her own.”

Cauley, 33, rode Corina in the Derby to get her ready for owner Olivia Jack to show the mare at Lake Placid in the low junior jumper division.

The second open jumper class, held prior to the Speed Derby on Saturday afternoon, was the 1.35 Meter and the last proved to be the best as Lisa Jacquin and Amis De Kannan posted a clean round in a winning 36.403 seconds.

Earlier on Saturday the children’s jumpers drew 28 in the $500 qualifier. Fanny David rode Kelso over the long course in 68.795 seconds, and held the lead until Olivia Clancy of Colts Neck, NJ, entered the ring. As the 27th in the order Clancy and Casper posted a clean round in 65.943 – a score good enough to take the lead. One final rider could have ousted her from the top spot but Meg O’Mara on Raya De La Cour posted eight faults, leaving Clancy to take the blue. The top 25 in the qualifier will continue on to compete in Sunday’s $2500 Children’s Jumper Classic.

In the $500 Adult Jumper qualifier the blue ribbon was awarded to Anne Hyman of New York, NY, riding Galant Dream. The pair finished clean in 66.303 seconds, less than a second faster than Jane Leone on San Mateo who earned second place with a time of 67.179.

The $2500 Junior/Amateur-Owner qualifier drew 39 entries creating an exciting speed class. The blue went to Andrew Ross who rode Electra to the win in a blistering 69.297 seconds.  The only one to come close to Ross was Catherine Pasmore who finished clean on Haddon House in 71.508.

The Beacon Hill Equestrian Grand Prix presented by Mackenzie Keck will run through Sunday. The main event of the show is the $50,000 Budweiser Grand Prix presented by Wachovia.  The class will take place at 3pm in the grass arena at the Beacon Hill Show Stables.

Tickets for the show will be available at the gate for $5 per person per day. If you can’t attend be sure to log on to www.equestriansport.tv and catch the action live through streaming video.   For more information please visit the official Beacon Hill Equestrian Grand Prix web site:  www.bhegp.com or call the Gleneayre Equestrian Program at (609) 267-4104.  Show results can be found on www.ryegate.com.