Garden State Grand Prix goes to Goutal again, this time with Pinto

AUGUSTA - Piloting her Mon Gamin, Brianne Goutal shaved more than two seconds off her opponent’s jump-off time to take the $50,000 Junior Essex Troup Garden State Grand Prix for the second consecutive year. Laura Chapot and Samantha’s battled Goutal and “Pinto” to the bitter end. Mon Gamin, her former Low Junior Jumper, won over skeptics that he would go no farther. The pair starred in that division, winning 11 Classics in a row in 2006. After graduating from the junior ranks, Goutal graciously passed Pinto, as he is known for obvious reasons, to her younger sister, Clementine. “She showed him a little, but they just didn’t click. You have to let him poke his neck out like a pony and that was hard for Clementine to get used to,” explained Goutal. Not wanting to part with Mon Gamin, Goutal took him back and started showing again. This past season at WEF, she showed him very successfully in the Meter 40 Acorn Hill series and in some speed classes. “We love to come to Garden State; the footing and stabling are great, there’s actually grass to graze horses on, the money is good, and I really wanted to do the Grand Prix again,” she said.. Onira, the horse she rode to the Grand Prix win last year, is preparing for a busy summer campaign and was not showing at Garden State. “It was kind of on a whim that I decided to bring Pinto. He’s fast and careful and gives his all every time,” she added. Co-trainer, Stacia Madden, describes Mon Gamin as “a great crowd pleaser because of his color and jumping style.” She added that Goutal knows the 11 year-old Selle Francais, “like the back of her hand.” Thirteen-year-old Clarice Davey of Maplewood and Rico took the $2,500 Jack Fritz Challenge Class. The two-phase class, which is open to any horse and rider competing in under Level 4 jumper classes, drew 89 entries this year. A qualifier round is held on Friday; from which up to 30 horses are invited to the Grand Prix ring return to compete in the Finals on Sunday. Ten clean rounds made for an exciting jump-off with some long gallops opening the door for cutting time. Although Rico didn’t appear to be really fast, Davey feels that his huge stride makes up for his speed. “He doesn’t spend much time in the air,” she said, adding that riding the jump-off first on her other horse, Lucifer, who finished in 6th place, was a big advantage. Davey, who rides at The Ridge, just recently bought Rico as a Children’s Jumper with hopes of moving him up to the Junior Jumpers in the near future. The Duva Family presents a bronze trophy entitled “Trooper of the Plains” in honor of the Garden State Horse Show’s heritage, each year to the winner as well as the trainer of the Jack Fritz Challenge. Melissa Rudershausen, Unionville, PA, just got home from college a week ago and found out all three of her Amateur Owner Jumpers had qualified for Devon. None of them had been jumped since Florida, so she hacked them a couple of days, packed the truck and headed to Garden State with her regular team n mother, Andra and boyfriend, Andrew Koussouris. Rudershausen found herself in an unusual situation after the first round of the $10,000 High Junior/Amateur Prix. Both her horses, Cowboy and Prins, were clean n but they were the only ones! “It was not an overly technical course,” clarifies Rudershausen, “but the time was tight and the fences were big and wide. There were a lot of time faults.” As she felt both her horses jumped extremely well in the first round, Rudershausen elected not to jump-off against herself. When the points were tallied, Rudershausen’s Cowboy, a 15.2 h Dutch Warmblood, was champion in the division. Prins was tied for reserve champion with Andrew Ross on his Electra.