HARRISBURG, Pa.--Laura Chapot began the week at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show with a win in the $10,000 1.40 Two Phase on Wednesday, Oct. and followed that with a second in the $30,000 1.40m Welcome Stake on Thursday.
Laura Chapot on Ginola (Photo by Andrew Ryback)Chapot is one of the Pennsylvania National Horse Show’s winningest riders, and that proved to be the case again as open jumper competition got underway at the 80th annual show.
Chapot on Ginola won the Two Phase with a clean round in the very fast time of 30.240 seconds, over five seconds faster than Adam Sklansky on Domo Z, second in 35.924 seconds, and Hillary Johnson and Christian D’Or placed third in 37.607.
Chapot has ridden Ginola since the now 10-year-old Selle Français gelding was 6, and she has been producing him up the ranks step-by-step since then.
“I’m really excited with his performance today,” said Chapot. “He was really with me everywhere. He likes to leave out strides, and it’s easy for him because he has a massive stride. That was very helpful in this course because I was able to leave one out after the combination and then to the last jump.”
JORDAN COYLE on Cordiamo won the Welcome Stake in an eight horse jump-off, clean in 30.427, while Chapot was a close second on C&C Willow, clean in 30.481.
JJ Torano on Dora du Valon (Photo by Andrew Ryback)Lzzy Traband on Rokeecobee STB was third in 32.778.
"This is a great place to finish up for the year, so I am delighted to win,” said Coyle. “We grew up in Ireland with a lot of indoor shows, so it’s quite normal for us to come indoors. We don’t get so many indoor shows here in America, but I think it’s nice for sure.”
Coyle has been competing Cordiamo since 2023, and he has been carefully developing the 10-year-old Oldenburg gelding.
“He’s very fast; he’s always been very fast,” said Coyle. “I’ve actually been trying not to go fast on him. I would like to leave that until the end. We’re kind of hoping to end up at some big grand prix with this horse, so we’re trying to just produce him along a little bit. He’s had to step up twice this year. He did it quite well, but I think a little bit more time, he’ll do it very well.”
“Harrisburg has just a great atmosphere; it’s a great place to show,” said Chapot. “The ring is very nice for the horses. It’s one of the bigger indoor rings that we have. They’ve made so many improvements to the facility. It’s a pleasure to be here now. There are plenty of places to exercise the horses; there’s lots of room to warm up, and it’s a great environment to show in, especially for indoors.”
In the 1.30m division, Samantha Schaefer on Emely van de Pluimert Z won the $10,000 1.30m Two Phase over a field of 55 entries, and JJ Torano on Dora Du Valon won the $20,000 Welcome.
Schaefer won the Two Phase with a clean round in 24.886 seconds with Lizzy Traband on Marcee W second in 25.021 seconds, and Marylisa Leffler on Zaza Z third in 25.135 seconds.
“It feels awesome to kick the week off here with a win,” said Schaefer. “I put this show on my calendar specifically with this horse. The owners, Doug and Beverly Rohrbaugh, are local to this show; they live just 20 minutes up the road. I kind of said, ‘Hey, would that be something you guys would like?’ They were super excited. She’s actually the only horse I have here this week. She’s only 7. To come and just kind of blast off with a win was pretty fun!”
Torano won the Welcome with a clean round in 25.120 with Caitlin Boyle on Tahiti van't Klavertje Vier second in 25.905 and Augusta Iwasaki on Fee des Hermines thid in 28.037.
“I watched Caitlin’s jump off from the gate; I saw the strides she did,” said Torano “There was an up in eight strides from two to three, and I think I got her from two to three. Dora is a very competitive, fast horse. She’s jumped up to the 1.50m level. I don’t think she’s ever been indoors, so I brought her here to jump just the smaller 1.30m, and then next week, we’re going to head to Washington. She’s going to jump the CSI2* division, so I just wanted to make sure she was super confident indoors, and clearly she was, so I couldn’t be happier with her.”
