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Manhattan Mortgage Company’s Opening Day to Showcase Local Singers and Equine Demonstrations

August 15, 2025

WLIU Contest Winner to Perform the National Anthem and Natural Horsemanship Trainer Sonny Garguilo to Demonstrate Techniques

Bridgehampton, NY-August 15, 2008- The $20,000 Nicolock Time Challenge and the WLIU 88.3 FM National Anthem Singing Contest will headline Manhattan Mortgage Company’s Opening Day activities at the 33rd annual Hampton Classic Horse Show on Sunday, August 24.

The Hampton Classic Horse Show, one of the nation’s premier show jumping competitions, returns to Bridgehampton, NY, August 24-31. The Classic hosts hunter/jumper competition for riders ranging from the youngest competitors in Leadline and Short Stirrup classes all the way up to Olympic level riders in the open jumper division including the Classic’s feature event, the $200,000 FTI Grand Prix and World Cup™ Qualifier.

On Manhattan Mortgage Company’s Opening Day, the eight finalists in the WLIU Radio National Anthem Singing Contest will compete in a live “sing-off” for the right to perform the national anthem in the Grand Prix ring prior to the $20,000 Nicolock Time Challenge, the day’s feature jumping competition. The winner will also be interviewed live on WLIU by the station’s popular host Bonnie Grice, emcee of the singing contest, and receive a gift certificate to the Hampton Classic souvenir booth as well as a collection of CDs from bluhammock music. All eight finalists will receive a $50 Ameriprise gift card and four week-passes to the horse show.

The singing contest judges are Jaylaan Llewellyn, president of bluhammock music, and Helen Rattray, Publisher of the East Hampton Star and member of the Board of Directors of the Choral Society of the Hamptons. The sing-off is scheduled for 10:00 a.m.

Natural Horsemanship trainer Sonny Garguilo will also be on hand to perform during the opening day ceremonies that begin in the Grand Prix ring at 12:00 noon. Garguilo, of Elmont, NY, has been practicing natural horsemanship for 8 years, and is a popular instructor and clinician throughout New York and all over the east coast. His gentle and non-aggressive training methods concentrate on the harmony of horse and rider.

Garguilo gets his horse to perform a series of amazing tricks, none of which is unnatural to a horse. He does it, he says, is by “working with the horse as a partner. Ask, don’t use force,” he says. “The key is to develop an understanding of how the horse thinks. If I speak to a horse in his language, he’ll understand me. If I do it in a non-aggressive way, he’ll do anything for me.”

Opening Day also features hundreds of Long Island competitors, and is highlighted by the popular Leadline competition in the Grand Prix ring, where approximately 100 youngsters under the age of 8 hold center stage in the morning before giving way to the Opening Day Ceremony at noon.

Headlining Opening Day is the $20,000 Nicolock Time Challenge, a competition that debuted at the Classic in 2003, beginning at 1:00 p.m. More than thirty top show jumping riders and horses are expected to compete in the sixth annual running of this popular speed jumping class. Last year, 2004 Olympic Team Gold Medalist Peter Wylde won the class on Gael Force, a horse that he was riding for the first time.

Those unable to attend the Hampton Classic will have ample opportunity to hear the anthem contest on WLIU 88.3 FM, who will also broadcast live programming on Saturday, August 30 and Sunday August 31. WVVH-TV, the official Long Island television station of the Hampton Classic, will broadcast up to five hours of competition and highlights each day during the Classic. These broadcasts can also be seen online at www.wvvh.tv. The “FTI Hampton Classic Grand Prix” will also air on Animal Planet on October 4 at 3:00 p.m.

Written by Classic Communications · Filed Under Hampton Classic, Press Releases 
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