FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Cheryll Frank for Young Jumper Championships
MEDIA CONTACT: Cheryll Frank of Young Jumper Championships at 502-535-6787 or at cmfrank@qx.net.
Results Show that Young Jumper Graduates are Top Earners at Grand Prix
Georgetown, KY-- January 22, 2007 -- USEF year-end rankings indicate that graduates of the Young Jumper Championship program are above average performers when they graduate to the grand prix level. For the second year running, former YJC horses were named Farnam Platform-USEF Horse of the Year Champion and Reserve Champion in the Grand Prix ($25,000+) division. Overall, graduates of the Young Jumper Championships earned $1,992,724 in grand prix prize money during 2006, averaging $14,761 per horse--over $3,000 more than the average grand prix earnings of $11,617 for non-YJC horses!
Chamionship honors went to Laura Chapot's Little Big Man (Topas / Creeol) as the top winning Grand Prix Jumper of 2006. Little Big Man earned over $150,000 in prize money last season while winning four grand prix, including the New Albany Classic Invitational, and back-to-back wins in the Grand Prix de Penn National. Little Big Man competed as a 5-year-old at the first Young Jumper Championship Eastern League Finals in 1999--hosted by the American Gold Cup at Devon--and finished 9th after three rounds of careful jumping.
Chapot also piloted Harold Vogel's American-bred mare Silver Lining (Saluut II / Abdullah) to the top of the 7/8-year-old standings for USEF Young Jumpers. Bred by Loriel Hogan, Silver Lining is by Saluut II--who set a grand prix earnings record for a single season--out of the jumper mare Night Flight, a daughter of Olympic Individual Silver and Team Gold Medalist, Abdullah. 'Lucy' is Harold Vogel's first young jumper, but she's turned him into an enthusiastic supporter of the program.
"I like this division. It really moves us ahead and will catch us up to the Europeans. The young horses are going into the jumper ring and learning from the get-go and they are being ridden correctly. It is a wonderful program and I would not have known about it if I had not bought Silver Lining. Laura will always ride her. They love each other and have trust in each other like I have never seen."
Alexa Weeks' Madison (Liberato / Equador) who has already earned two American Grandprix Association Horse of the Year titles, was Reserve Champion for the second year in a row. Madison began her 2006 season with an early win in the $150,000 US Open Jumping Championship at the CSIO 5* in Wellington and ended it with another in the Ariat Congressional Cup Grand Prix in October. Madison was one of the top ranked Young Jumpers of 2002.
Last year's USEF Champion, YJC graduate McGuinness (Cavalier Royale), finished in the top ten again this year with four grand prix wins, including the $75,000 Footings Unlimited Grand Prix at Desert Circuit.
Finishing in the top 10 of the USEF rankings is Wilhelm Genn's 8-year-old (of 2006) mare Happy Z (High Valley Z / Alme). Genn points to the success of some of his YJC graduates as proof of the value of the program. Happy Z was purchased as a five year old, and placed 3rd in the $30,000 YJC Eastern League Finals at the Hampton Classic as a 6-year old and again as a 7-year-old. In 2006, the Zangersheide mare has won six Grand Prix in her first grand prix season, including the $30,000 Dark Dog Grand Prix.
Genn has some other rising stars in the barnin fact, he won two divisions of the inaugural YJC Midwestern League Finals with Chantal and Cohiba, both by Calido I. Genn praised the Midwest Finals, judging them a big success. The courses were outstanding; my compliments to Conrad Homfeld. They were challenging but fair and rode nicely. You needed horses that had been properly prepared, but you could see the horses with talent and preparation. He went on to praise Kentucky Horse Park itself. The Horse Park has great management; they always do a very professional job. The rings and jumps were beautiful. The footing is always good. It is always enjoyable to go there.