DEVON, Pa.— Laura Chapot of Neshanic Station, N.J., not only placed first and second in the afternoon Open Jumper, faults converted into seconds class, she did it again, first and second din thelast class of the evening, the Gambler’s Choice.
In the afternoon speed class, she placed first with Cilthe Z, owned by her Mother, Mary and Harold Vogel, and second on her Sprite. Chapot went tenth in the class on Sprite, and her time of 57.204 looked unbeatable, but she came in 10 horses later on Cilthe to beat Sprite by five-tenths of a second. “Sprite just jumped a little too high over the last few fences,” said Chapot. “Sprite has a much bigger stride, and she left out a stride between every fence, but Cilthe doesn’t spend very much time in the air over the fences.”
Chapot and McLain Ward, who was shut out of the class yesterday afternoon, have traded Open Jumper Championships and the Leading Rider title back and forth. Chapot has ridden the Open Jumper Champion for four of the past five years, when Ward rode the champion, and each has been Leading rider twice in the last five years. “Being Leading Rider at Devon is obviously an enormous honor, but there are a lot of very good riders here and a lot of classes,” said Chapot. “I just try to do the best I can in each class. I try not to think about the Leading rider title much.”
She didn’t have to try to ignore the title for long.
Her win in the Gambler’s Choice made her uncatchable for Leading Rider, even though only the points for the rider’s highest scoring horse in each class counted, and despite the fact that the Idle Dice Stake tonight carries double points. Chapot went first in the Gambler’s Choice on Sprite to earn 1040 points in 57.093. Next in the ring was Ward on Galant, who equaled the 1040 points but in a slightly slower time, 57.434. Then came Chapot on Samantha, second to last in the class, to beat her own time, thus finishing first and second.
Lara Gay of Ridgefield, Conn., won both Amateur Owner classes, a time first jump-off and a Hit & Hurry, on her Campesino. “I’ve had him for four years,” said Gay of her 16-year-old mount. “He is fabulous. He stays very limber and despite his age is young feeling. It takes 45 minutes to prepare him before a class.”
“I went last in the first class, and in the jump-off I tried to be as aggressive as possible an dleave out strides,” said Gay. “I left out two strides to thelast fence, and it worked.”
“The afternoon strategy was to cut corners as much as possible, and I left out a stride between the first and second fences,” said Gay. “I showed here as a junior, but since then I’ve been in college and got married. It’s my first time showing here as an amateur, and I’m happy to be back.”
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