October 11, 2013–Madeline Thatcher of Bluffdale, Utah, took top honors tonight in the $7,500 Randolph College/USEF National Junior Jumper Championship Phase One in the main arena at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show.
Riding LICAPO, owned by Pony Lane Farm, Thatcher was 23rd to start and put in a fast round crossing the timers in 63.698 seconds to secure first place and a place in the winner’s circle.
Michael Hughes, of Allendale, NJ, and LUXINA, stopped the clocks in 64.504 seconds to finish second place, while Lillie Keenan of New York, NY, and LONDINIUM finished only fractions of a second behind them to complete the course in 64.723 seconds. Fellow New York rider Charlotte Jacobs took fourth place with KACHINA in 66.650 seconds, thus giving the ‘local’ Zone 2 a strong advantage.
Out of the 33 starters, 30 completed and 3 were eliminated.
The Pennsylvania National Horse Show, the 2011 National Show Hunter Hall of Fame Horse Show of the Year and the sixth ranked horse show in North America in the 2012 North American Riders Group (NARG) annual rankings, is one of the largest indoor horse shows in the U.S.? It hosts horses and competitors from across the country with 10,000 spectators attending from the Mid-Atlantic region.
With over 1,400 qualified horses competing for $450,000 in prize money, the show features Hunter and Jumper competition and is the site of the Pessoa/US National Hunter Seat Medal Final Presented by Randolph College, the Randolph College/USEF National Junior Jumper Championships, North American League (NAL) National Finals and the $85,000 Grand Prix de Penn National.
In addition to world-class equestrian competition, the horse show offers a unique shopping environment with boutique vendors that offer everything from fine art to custom jewelry, clothing, accessories and horse show memorabilia.
Proceeds from the event benefit community equine and youth programs. Since its inception in 1945, the Pennsylvania National Horse Show Foundation has donated over $1.5 million to charitable entities.
Horse show competition can be viewed live free of charge at www.usefnetwork.com and live scoring and results are available at www.Ryegate.com.
