Devin Ryan’s Win in the $100,000 Great American Insurance Group Grand Prix Highlighted the 48th Annual Lake Placid Horse Shows

Lake Placid, NY – July 11, 2017 – A win by Devin Ryan in the $100,000 Great American Insurance Group Grand Prix provided an exciting climax to the 48th annual Lake Placid Horse Shows, presented by Sea Shore Stables, LLC and sponsored by Bainbridge Farm.

After 12  of 27 entries qualified for the jump-off by riding fault-free over the 16-effort, first-round course designed by 2016 Rio Olympic course designer Guilherme Jorge, Ryan was the first to return for the eight-effort tiebreaker on Eddie Blue. Ryan rode his 8-year-old, Dutch Warmblood gelding to a clean ride in 35.220 seconds to set the mark to beat.

After the next 10 riders failed to catch Ryan’s time, it came down to Jimmy Torano, winner of the first week’s $75,000 Devoucoux Richard M. Feldman Grand Prix of Lake Placid. Torano succeeded in riding Daydream to a clean round, but his time of 35.604 seconds left him just shy of Ryan and prevented him from joining Leslie Burr Howard, Debbie Dolan-Sweeney, Margie Goldstein Engle, Jeffrey Welles and Darragh Kenny as the only riders to sweep both Lake Placid Grand Prix in the same year.

“He’s not the fastest horse but he has such a big stride and in a big field like this I was able to take advantage of that,” Ryan said. “There were two places on course where I was able to leave out a stride and I think I finished about as fast as I could have with him today.”

Torano’s second place finish, combined with his win the previous week, earned him the Richard and Diana Feldman Trophy for the best combined finish in Lake’s two Grand Prix. The award was presented at the close of the horse show. Also presented at the end of the horse show was the Lora Schultz Award which is presented to a rider for outstanding performance in the Hunter Ring combined with excellence in turnout and sportsmanship. Winning the award for the second time was Nicole Oliynyk.

Torano also earned a win in the $15,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby presented by Eastern Hay & Purina Animal Nutrition, held just prior to the start of the Grand Prix. Torano won over a starting field of 26 horses on Exclusive. He finished the two-round competition with 373 points to top another Grand Prix rider, Amber Harte. Harte, who placed fifth in the Grand Prix on Austria 2, finished second in the Hunter Derby with 357 points on Style.

“I’m fortunate to have a lot of good horses to ride and I’m used to doing both the hunters and the jumpers,” Torano said. “Exclusive gave me two beautiful rounds and then I hustled over to the Grand Prix ring and while I wasn’t able to catch Devin at the end, it was a pretty successful day.”

Despite several days of heavy rain over the two weeks, the all-weather footing in the E. R. Mische Jumper Ring, the Kovacs-Williams Hunter Ring, the Main Hunter Ring and the Hooker Ring held up perfectly and not one class scheduled in those rings was cancelled! “The footing in the hunter rings was truly amazing,” said Nicole Oliynyk who, in addition to winning the Lora Schultz Award, rode Sea Walker to the Adult Amateur Hunter Grand Championship during the first week. “It took the rain and help up perfectly!”

Trainer Stacia Madden of Beacon Hill was also impressed with the footing. She said, “The footing here could not be better. With all the rain we got, we did not scratch one single horse because of it. This footing allowed the horse show to go on without a hitch!”

Even the natural-terrain, all-grass Richard M. Feldman Grand Prix Field survived the rain well. “There’s not a field in the country that can take the water this field can take and still ride well,” said Jimmy Torano. “There’s absolutely no question that the footing at this horse show, in all the rings, is second to none!”

The Lake Placid Horse Shows’ second week also featured the horse shows’ 25th annual Doggie Costume Contest, sponsored by the Lake Placid Lodge.Contest participants received free admission to the horse show and all canine contestants received special doggie treats! The contest was won by Caroline Desfor’s 9-year-old Corgi, Fluffy, dressed as a “Lake Placid Pool Party.”

Also featured was Horse Club Junior Day with local 4-H and other horse groups visiting for an inside look at the horse show. Children got to learn first-hand from professionals on the horse show circuit including Dr. Emily Bruschi, a veterinarian with Miller & Associates; Dave Raisor and Eric Nagy of HEART Equine Ambulance; farrier Tony Bucci; course designer Steve Stephens; and trainer Ann Braswell of Terrapin Hill Stables.

The horse show also announced the winners of its “Best Dressed Barns” contest for week two. Taking top honors was North Run with second place going to Deeridge Farms. Third place went to Affari Farm and Honorable Mention went to Beacon Hill/Stonehenge Stables and Beechwood Stables.

The Lake Placid Horse Shows offer over $535,000 in prize money and feature the nation’s best horses and riders competing in four show rings. The horse shows offers more than 100 classes of competition each week for all levels of competition ranging from young children on ponies to grand prix competitors and Olympic competitors and medalists. Each show is USEF ‘AA’ rated for hunters and 6* rated for Jumpers.

Other feature class winners during Lake Placid’s I Love New York Horse Show included:

Wednesday, July 5 – Laura Chapot on Out of Ireland in the$5,000 Lake Placid CVB 1.40m Jumper Class; Laura Chapot on Umberto in the $1,500 Pepsi Beverage Company 1.35m Jumper Class; Oliver Ritter on SonQuaprice Valette in the $1,200 NBC 5 1.30m Jumper Class;

Thursday, July 6 – Devin Ryan on Eddie Blue in the $30,000 FarmVet Jumper Classic; Laura Chapot on Out of Ireland in the$5,000 Hollow Brook Wealth Management 1.40m Jumper Class;

Friday, July 7 – Laura Chapot on Out of Ireland in the $20,000 Deeridge Farms 1.40m Open Jumper Stake; Matthew Boddy on Widny in the $1,500 Milagro Tequila 1.35m Jumper Class;

Saturday, July 8 – Alexandra Pielet on Helene Ve in the $10,000 Crowne Plaza Resort & Golf Club Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic; Ava Ellis on Quickley 3 in the $5,000 The Wild Center Children’s Jumper Classic;

Sunday, July 9 – Kendra Gierkink on Freestyler in the $7,500 Taylor Rental & New Holland Low Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic; Paige Kouimanis on Lexus in the $5,000 J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines Adult Jumper Classic; Taylor St. Jacques in the Kathy Scholl Equitation Championship presented by Kate Levy & Family.

Thank you to this year’s list of generous sponsors including 17 Hands Gallery, Adirondack Life, Bainbridge Farm, Beacon Hill Horse Transportation, Inc., Michael & Barbara Bitterman, Debbie & Jim Burrows, C.M. Hadfield’s Saddlery, Inc., Carolina Arena Equipment, Casella Waste Management, Jane Forbes Clark, Clifton Park Rental, CMJ Sporthorse, Community Bank NA, Crowne Plaza Resort & Golf Club, Dartbrook Rustic Goods, David R. Fowler Custom Tack Trunks, Deeridge Farms, Der Dau Custom Made Boots, Devoucoux, Inc., Eastern Hay & Grain, Equestrian Connect, FarmVet, Inc., Featherlite Coaches, Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort, Great American Insurance Group, Hampton Inn, High Peaks Resort, Milagro Tequila/Empire Merchants North, Hollow Brook Wealth Management, LLC, Hooker Family, Horse Watch, Horseshoe Trail Farm, LLC, Hunt, Ltd., iEquine Media Inc., J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines, Juliam Farm, Kate Levy & Family, Lake Placid CVB / Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST), Lake Placid Lodge, The Morrissey Family, Morrissey Management Group , Mirror Lake Inn / The Cottage Cafe, NBC 5, North Star, On A Fence Designs, Pepsi Beverages Company, Prevost, Pure Placid, Purina Animal Nutrition, RobinsonRidge, Ruthies Run, Sagamore Farm, Sage Hill Farm, Michael Schultz, Sea Shore Stables, LLC, Dennis Sisco & Alexine Lesko, ShowNet, Storm Ridge Capital, LLC, Stretton Enterprises, Inc., Taylor Rental/New Holland, The Clothes Horse, The Wild Center, Town of North Elba Park District, Village of Lake Placid, The Whiteface Lodge, and Woodlea Farms.

Additional information on the Lake Placid Horse Shows is available by calling the Lake Placid Horse Show Association at 518-523-9625 or visit online at www.lakeplacidhorseshow.com.