HITS Saugerties: Santa Maspane Wastes Little Time in the Hunter Ring

Source: News Release

Santa Maspane Wastes Little Time in the Hunter Ring

SAUGERTIES, NY – After only one year riding hunters, Santa Maspane of Jelgava, Latvia has found her rhythm aboard Kathryn Haefner’s Columbus. Together they rode to the top in this weekend’s $5,000 Devoucoux Hunter Prix at HITS Saugerties. After riding jumper sale horses in Germany for four years, Maspane is learning to love the hunter ring.

“It’s all so new, but it is such an elegant discipline and I really like the change that I have made,” said Maspane. “This horse [Columbus] certainly has more experience than I do and I am still learning so much after riding jumpers for years.”

Maspane and Columbus topped a field of 37 over a course designed by Rain Beals of Saugerties, New York on the popular Outside Course at HITS-on-the-Hudson. She pocketed the top score in the first round with an 88 and returned to mirror her efforts with another 88 in the second round, picking up the win.

“He is such a strong horse,” said Maspane of Columbus, a six-year-old Westphalian imported from Germany by Stewart Moran. “He can do so much in the ring, and has a huge heart. He will try so hard for you.”

Eleven more top riders joined Maspane in the second round and second place was only two points behind her. Alish Cunniffe of South Salem, New York piloted Good Times, owned by Jennifer Gates, to a pair of 87s to pick up the red ribbon. Adding an in-the-money hunter ride to her list of weekend successes, Lillie Keenan of New York, New York also sat atop an entry of Jennifer Gates and rode Parkland to third before winning the $125,000 Purina Animal Nutrition Grand Prix, presented by Zoetis. With Parkland, Keenan jumped to an 86 in round one and an 85.5 in round two.

Kristen Bumpus of Concord, Massachusetts rode Elsa Kania’s Sky’s the Limit to fourth with a first round score of 85 and a second round score of 84.5. Patricia Griffith and Madeline Placey’s Brodeur scored an 83.5 in the first round and answered in the second round with an 84 to cap the top five.

Maspane and Columbus captured the final Diamond Mills Hunter Prix Final qualifier of the spring circuit. HITS Saugerties will continue to offer Devoucoux Hunter Prix weekly before the popular Diamond Mills $500,000 Hunter Prix Final returns to HITS Championship Weekend this September.

©ESI Photography
Santa Maspane and Columbus jump their way to the blue in the $5,000 Devoucoux Hunter Prix at HITS Saugerties.

©ESI Photography
Chris Mayone of HITS presents Santa Maspane and Columbus with winner’s awards after the $5,000 Devoucoux Hunter Prix during Week III at HITS Saugerties.Awards included a $200 gift certificate for the Le Fash show shirting and polo shirting collections. Le Fash is the first-ever cross over clothing brand suitable for equestrian competition and the fashion forward. They fill the void between standardized riding attire and high end equestrian inspired sportswear by creating one product line that can cross seamlessly into both markets. For more information on Le Fash and their products, visitwww.lefashny.com.

$1,500 HITS Hunter Prix
Miranda Scarpone and her own Rosso Rossini were the ones to beat in the $1,500 HITS Hunter Prix as junior and amateur riders look to qualify for the second-annual HITS $250,000 Hunter Prix Final as part of HITS Championship Weekend this fall.

Scarpone of Branchburg, New Jersey bested 27 contenders over Beals’ test on the Outside Course and was sitting with the second highest score after the first round. She topped the field in the second round with an 86 to combine it with an 84.5 and clinch the win. Corinne Milbury of Boston, Massachusetts posted the top score in round one with an 85, and then rode to an 84 to pick up second-place honors.

Third place was awarded to Jacquelyn Maggiore of Winchester, Massachusetts who piloted her own Contina to a 77 and an 84. After riding to the blue in last week’s HITS Hunter Prix, Anna Pavlov of Pound Ridge, New York was fourth, this time in the irons of Dunrobin Farm’s Zippo, with scores of 83 and 77. Rounding out the top five was Carly Corbacho of Wellesley, Massachusetts and her own Blue Highway with scores of 80 and 78.

Riders in both the Devoucoux and HITS Hunter Prix with their sights set on qualifying for the Diamond Mills and HITS Hunter Prix Finals will have weekly opportunities to earn points as HITS Horse Shows moves on to Culpeper, Virginia in July before returning to HITS-on-the-Hudson July 17. Both finals will be highlighted during HITS Championship Weekend. To stay current on all qualifying, visit HitsShows.com.

©ESI Photography
Miranda Scarpone and Rosso Rossini on course in the $1,500 HITS Hunter Prix at HITS Saugerties.

©ESI Photography
Chris Mayone of HITS presents top honors to Miranda Scarpone and Rosso Rossini after their win in the $1,500 HITS Hunter Prix at HITS Saugerties over the weekend. For her win, Scarpone also received a $200 gift certificate for the Le Fash show shirting and polo shirting collections.

About Devoucoux
Devoucoux, makers of fine French saddles, is proud to be the title sponsor of each and every qualifying Hunter Prix leading up to the phenomenal Diamond Mills $500,000 Hunter Prix Final. The Devoucoux Hunter Prix will be a featured event at all HITS horse shows this season as riders from around the country set out to qualify for the third-annual Diamond Mills Hunter Prix Final, which will take place September 7-8 at HITS-on-the-Hudson in Saugerties, New York.

About Diamond Mills Hotel & Tavern
Just 100 miles outside of New York City, nestled in the Village of Saugerties, Diamond Mills is a 30-room luxury hotel featuring stellar accommodations, fine-dining at The Tavern and full-service events at a state-of-the art Special Events Center. Diamond Mills is a proud member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World^TM, an unsurpassed collection of over 520 luxury hotels around the world. Saugerties' newest luxury hotel is also the proud sponsor of the Diamond Mills $500,000 Hunter Prix Final, which will take place at HITS-on-the-Hudson as part of the HITS Championship Weekend. For more information about Diamond Mills or the special VIP packages available to HITS-on-the-Hudson exhibitors, please visit DiamondMillsHotel.com or call 845.247.0700.

©Michael Nelson Photography.
One of 30 luxury rooms at the all-new Diamond Mills Hotel.

$5,000 Devoucoux Hunter Prix

Place	Horse	Owner	Rider	Prize $
1	Columbus	Kathryn Haefner LLC	Santa Maspane	$1,500	88	88
2	Good Times	Jennifer Gates	Ailish Cunniffe	$1,000	87	87
3	Parkland	Jennifer Gates	Lillie Keenan	$700	85.5	86
4	Sky's the Limit	Elsa Kania	Kristen Bumpus	$500	84.5	85
5	Brodeur	Madeline Placey	Patricia Griffith	$400	84	83.5
6	Soulja Boy	Stone Horse Farm, LLC	Lexi Selldorff	$350	82.5	84
7	Cascor's Splendor	Maria Moalli	David Oliynyk	$275	83	83
8	Pioneer	Heritage Farm, Inc	Laena Romond	$275	82.75	82
9	Mahoney	Pamela Mahoney	Pamela Mahoney	-	84.25	80
10	Venice	Ailish Cunniffe	Ailish Cunniffe	-	82	79
11	Hayden	Mr. & Mrs. Ralph Caristo	Holly Caristo	-	83.5	78
12	Cornetto Royal	Mr. & Mrs. Ralph Caristo	Heather Caristo-Williams	-	86	72

$1,500 HITS Hunter Prix

Place	Horse	Owner	Rider	Prize $
1	Rosso Rossini	Miranda Scarpone LLC	Miranda Scarpone	$450	86	84.5
2	Kavalier	Corinne Milbury	Corinne Milbury	$300	84	85
3	Contina	Jacquelyn Maggiore	Jacquelyn Maggiore	$200	77	84
4	Zippo	Dunrobin Farm	Anna Pavlov	$150	83	77
5	Blue Highway	Carly Corbacho	Carly Corbacho	$125	80	78
6	Cayetano	Christina Kourgelis	Christina Kourgelis	$100	82	75
7	Seymour	Jan Golash	Anna Pavlov	$100	81	73
8	Vintage K	Sophie Allen	Sophie Allen	$75	77.5	76
9	Titletown	Nicki Alexander	Jessica Dencker	-	79	74
10	Larger Than Life	Linda Corvari	Linda Corvari	-	78	74.5
11	Absolute Bliss	Stephanie Dixon	Stephanie Dixon	-	77.75	72
12	Shot Gun	Sheryl MacLeod	Shane Powell	-	77.25	45