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Scott Lenkart Takes Top Two Spots in PhelpsSports.com $10,000 Welcome Prix at Horse Shows by the Bay III

Written by: Chrissy Lane
Client: Horse Sports by the Bay, Inc.
Release Date: 2007-08-02

Scott Lenkart Takes Top Two Spots in PhelpsSports.com $10,000 Welcome Prix at Horse Shows by the Bay III

Traverse City, MI - August 2, 2007 - Numerous horses and riders vied for the big prize in today's $10,000 Welcome Prix at Horse Shows by the Bay III, but Scott Lenkart dominated the top two sports and edged only himself out of the lead this afternoon.

Lenkart finished in first place with Un Prince and second with Impulsive, both owned by Bennett Sport Horses. David Beisel and Patoile finished in third place.

Today's course was designed by Tim Hott and had an original time allowed of 96 seconds, although it was adjusted to 90 seconds after the first three horses were much faster. The course, set on galloping, rolling turns, featured 12 numbered obstacles and a total of 15 jumping efforts. Of the 18 entries, seven horses and riders jumped clean to advance to the jump-off round.

Grant Field rode Vermeer first in the jump-off and had a clean round and a time of 36.405 seconds, which would not hold up for the lead. Haas followed with her first ride, Quendo, and had two rails and a time of 31.927 seconds. Lenkart rode Impulsive next in the order and jumped clean, tripping the timers in 33.975 seconds and taking the lead from Field. Although Impulsive looked fairly slow around the course, Lenkart noted that the big bay is naturally fast across the ground.

David Beisel and Patoile, one of three he piloted in today's Welcome Prix, rode next in the jump-off and put in a clean and quick round, finishing just behind Lenkart with 33.372 seconds. Haas then rode again with Chianti 67 and put in another fast round, this time clocking in at 33.520 seconds, which would be good for fourth place. Lenkart, partnered with Un Prince this time, rode the fastest time of the day, leaving out a stride between fences one and two to gain the necessary fraction of a second for the win. His final time with Un Prince was 32.316 - about a half a second faster than his time with Impulsive. Brian Shook of Hunterpointe Farm finished out the class but had an unlucky 12 faults with Courage 68.

"I really didn't think that (Un Prince) could beat (Impulsive), but he just clipped the time, just barely," Lenkart said. "He's a good boy. I don't do him in many classes, but when I do, he always gets a good ribbon. Today, he was good." Un Prince is an 11-year-old Belgian-bred gelding.

He continued, "The course was nice -a lot smoother than we had last week, for sure. You could say easier or smoother, but last week there was a lot of trappiness going on and today (Tim Hott) started off nice to one, two three, got the horse jumping good, then he made it a little bit more difficult. It was a nice Welcome course."

Haas and Chianti 67 finished in fourth place, while Field and Vermeer finished in fifth place. Partnered with Quendo, owned by North Face Farms, Haas also took sixth place, and Shook and Courage 68 finished in seventh.

For more information, please visit www.horsesportsbythebay.com. For complete results, please visit www.horseshowing.com.