HITS Thermal: John Bragg Claims Sixth Devoucoux Win

Source: News Release

John Bragg Claims Sixth Devoucoux Win at HITS Thermal

THERMAL, California: John Bragg claimed his sixth $5,000 Devoucoux Hunter Prix victory at HITS Thermal this past weekend on Social Hour, owned by Laura Strasburg — and second place on Pamela Mollenhoff's Lukatoni. Buddy Brown rounded out the top three on Finally Ours, owned by Derby Hill. Bragg topped the field with total scores of 177.5 and 177, followed by Brown's 175.

(c) ESI Photography
John Bragg and Social Hour, owned by Laura Strasburg, win the $5,000 Devoucoux Hunter Prix, Sunday, March 8, 2015, at HITS Thermal, in Bragg's fifth Devoucoux win this circuit.

$5,000 Devoucoux Hunter Prix

Place	Horse	Owner	Rider	Prize	Rd. 1/2	Total
1	Social Hour	Laura Strasburg	John Bragg	$1,500	87.5/90	177.5
2	Lukatoni	Pamela Moellenhoff	John Bragg	$1,000	89/88	177
3	Finally Ours	Derby Hill	Buddy Brown	$700	88/87	175
4	Coffeetalk	Gabriella Cinquini	Gabriella Cinquini	$500	83/85	168
5	Freedom C	Vicky Dimitri	Katrina Karazissis	$400	85/82.5	167.5
6	Riesling	John Bragg	Jenny Jones	$325	83.5/84	167.5
7	Unwritten	Emily Sukert	Jenny Karazissis	$300	69/87	156
8	Maillisko	Bailey Campbell	Marisa Metzger	$275	79.5/83	152.5

Lolly McLeelan Wins $1,500 Platinum Performance Hunter Prix on Rockford

Lolly McLeelan and her Rockford won Sunday's $1,500 Platinum Performance Hunter Prix with a score 12 points higher than the second-place finisher. McLeelan topped the first round with her score of 87, then cleaned up in the second round with another top score of 88, to total 175.

Leila Templin and Maple Bay, owned by Ellen Brown, took second with scores of 83 and 80, to total 163. Templin also placed second in the Platinum Prix in Desert Circuit V. Noah Cyrus scored 74 in the first round but had the second-highest score in round two, 85, which took him to third place with a total of 159.

(c) ESI Photography
Lolly McLeeland and her Rockford win the $1,500 Platinum Performance Hunter Prix on Sunday, March 8, 2015, at HITS Thermal.

$1,500 Platinum Performance Hunter Prix

Place	Horse	Owner	Rider	Prize	Rd. 1/2	Total
1	Rockford	Lolly McLellan	Lolly McLellan	$450	87/88	175
2	Maple Bay	Ellen Brown	Ellen Brown	$300	83/80	163
3	Undeniable	Hope Town Farms	Noah Cyrus	$200	74/85	159
4	Gentry	Rosie Garlock	Anna Moellenhoff	$150	70.5/84	154.5
5	Beach Drive	Bill Ulmer	Leila Templin	$125	72.5/81	153.5
6	Kilkenny Winston	Natalie Hewson	Natalie Hewson	$100	76/74	150
7	Harvard	Gwen McCaw	Gwen McCaw	$100	73/70	143
8	Callessandro	Liliana Kaneshige	Liliana Kaneshige	$75	70/68	138

Augusta Iwasaki Dominates $1,000 Pony Hunter Prix

Augusta Iwasaki left little doubt as to her skills and experience in the pony hunter ring with five ponies in the top eight, including a first place win on somekindawonderful, owned by the concern Iwasaki & Reilly.

Iwasaki and somekindawonderful topped the first round with a score of 86 and came back in the second round with a strong 83, which was not the highest score but was enough to claim the blue ribbon. Virginia Bonnie placed second on her Wink And Smile, with 82 and 85, followed by Amber Ayyad on Astro Boy, with scores of 79 and 80.

Iwasaki also claimed the fourth through seventh places, with winning scores that ranged from 156 to 153.

The Pony Hunter Prix is a unique class that HITS offers at both Thermal and HITS Ocala and is an opportunity for pony hunter riders to compete against each other for $1,000 in prizes.

(c) ESI Photography
Augusta Iwasaki on somekindawonderful, owned by Iwasaki and Reilly, take first place in the $1,000 Pony Hunter Prix Friday, March 6, 2015 at HITS Thermal.

$1,000 Pony Hunter Prix

Place	Horse	Owner	Rider	Prize	Rd. 1/2	Total
1	somekindawoderful	Iwasaki & Reilly	Augusta Iwasaki	$300	86/83	169
2	Wink And Smile	Virginia Bonnie	Virginia Bonnie	$200	82/85	167
3	Astro Boy	Amber Ayyad	Amber Ayyad	$140	79/80	159
4	Small Introduction	Iwasaki & Reilly	Augusta Iwasaki	$90	78/78	156
5	Small Suggestion	Iwasaki & Reilly	Augusta Iwasaki	$75	75/80	155
6	Bit of Laughter	Iwasaki & Reilly	Augusta Iwasaki	$70	76/78	154
7	Super Cool	Iwasaki & Reilly	Augusta Iwasaki	$65	70/83	153
8	Woodlands Huck Finn	Nicodemus Farms	Lauren Flather	$60	67/85	152