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Laura Chapot wins eighth Grand Prix in Lake Placid

Laura Chapot rides Chandon Blue over a jump during the Lake Placid Grand Prix on June 30. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

LAKE PLACID — Laura Chapot rode Chandon Blue to victory in the $75,000 Richard M. Feldman Grand Prix to conclude the I Love New York Grand Prix on Sunday at the North Elba Show Grounds. Chapot’s win was her eighth Grand Prix victory in Lake Placid.

Chapot and 18-year-old Mia Bagnato were the only two to record a clean round on the 16-jump first round course, forcing a jump-off between the two.

Bagnato rode Ballyoskill Big Bucks to a clean ride over the eight-effort tiebreaker course, finishing in 36.581 seconds. Chapot followed on Chandon Blue and blazed to a clean ride in 34.286 seconds to earn the emotional win.

“With only one clean, being the last one to go is not really the best position to be in because you put a little extra pressure on yourself to go clean,” Chapot said. “I just tried to focus and put in the best round I could.

“My horse is a little tired after two weeks up here, but he tried his heart out,” she added. “He really wanted to win this class. This is the last time we’re out here on the grass which makes me really sad. He loves the grass field, we love the grass field and to win this means a little extra because of that.”

Coupled with her second-place finish in the Lake Placid Grand Prix of Lake Placid, Chapot earned the Richard and Diana Feldman Perpetual Trophy for Excellence, given to the rider with the best combined performances in Lake Placid’s two Grand Prix events, for a record fifth time.

Prior to the Grand Prix, Bagnato won both the 1.35M Junior/Amateur Jumper Classic and the 1.45M Junior/Amateur Jumper Classic. Bagnato rode Ariso to the win in the 1.35M Classic, finishing with two clean rounds and the fastest jump-off time of 34.087 seconds. Brian Sweeney placed second on Zappa, with third going to Corinne Sweeney on Tara M.

In the 1.45M Classic, Bagnato turned in the only double clear to take the win on Florida N, while also placing second with Cordiamo. She and Florida N were clean in the jump-off with a time of 39.381 seconds, and she had four faults and a time of 35.387 seconds on Cordiamo. Third went to Michael Rothpletz who had the only other clean first round on Untouched and finished the jump-off with four faults and a time of 40.209 seconds.

Also prior to the Grand Prix was the horse show’s Kathy Scholl Equitation Classic. Natalie Gannett topped a field of 10 finalists who earned their way into the Classic based on their finishes in equitation classes over the horse shows’ two weeks. Mia Frigon placed second, Bagnato took third and Emma Hakim finished fourth.

1.40M Open Stake

Bagnato rode Cordiamo to the win in the $10,000 1.40M Open Stake at the I Love New York Horse Show on Saturday.

Bagnato was one of only two entries to reach the jump-off by riding clean over the 14-effort, first-round course. She turned in the only clean ride over the eight-effort tiebreaker course, finishing in 38.643 seconds.

Chapot actually beat her time, finishing in 38.260 seconds on Ginola, but a rail down gave her four faults and a second-place finish. Bagnato also took third place on Florida N with four faults in the first round.

Stacy Cascio rode Charles Daly to the win in the 1.25M Amateur Jumper Classic. One of six to reach the jump-off, Cascio turned in the faster of the two clean jump-off rides, finishing in 43.963 seconds to take the win. Finishing second with a clean jump-off ride in 44.013 seconds was Taylor Harris on Ohio Dream.

Ella Witt took top honors in the 1.25M Junior Jumper Classic, riding Pro Diamant to the only clean round. Finishing second with just one time fault was Mia Frigon on Infuria P&P.

Jumper Classic

Chapot swept both of Friday’s feature classes at the I Love New York Horse Show on Friday.

In the $30,000 Jumper Classic, Chapot was one of four entries from the field of 15 to qualify for the jump-off by riding clean over the 15-jump effort. She was the first to return for the eight-effort tiebreaker course and piloted Chandon Blue to a clean ride in 34.474 seconds to set the mark to beat.

None of the remaining entries could catch Chapot’s score, with the closest being Brian Moggre and MTM Vivre Le Reve, winners of the Lake Placid Grand Prix, who finished clean in 35.979 seconds to take second.

David Raposa rode Lingote de Oro RFB to third place in 37.438 seconds and fourth went to Bagnato, who finished with four jump-off faults and a time of 35.567 seconds on Ballyoskill Big Bucks.

“My horse has been jumping great all last week and this,” Chapot said. “He really loves it up here. The grass ring and the cool weather really get him jumping better and higher; it just really gets him going. You never know what’s going to happen when you have fast horses following you, but sometimes I think it’s better for me to go first. That way, I just lay down my trip and not think about what everyone else is doing. I keep my fingers crossed and hope that it holds up.”

Before her win in the Classic, Chapot rode Gideon to victory in the $5,000 1.35M Jumper Stake. One of five to reach the jump-off, Chapot turned in the fastest clean ride, finishing in 37.386 seconds to take the win.

Finishing second with a clean jump-off ride in 38.531 seconds on Idal Del Maset was Caitlin Boyle, with third going to Mia Bagnato who was clean in 40.649 seconds on Ariso.

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