Lexington, KY – August 17, 2024 – The $40,000 Bluegrass Festival Grand Prix, presented by Audi of Lexington, was the marquee show jumping event in the Rolex Stadium on Sunday morning at the Kentucky Horse Park. Besting an 8-horse jump-off with speed and precision, Gonzalo Busca and Pinot Gris Di Fer took home the winning title. Pathfinders Samantha Schaefer and James Bond HX captured the second place spot, while hometown hero Kady Abrahamson and Any rounded out the top three.
“This is the best way to end the week,” smiled Busca after his win. “Pinot Gris Di Fer is really good horse. I’ve been riding him since March and I think he has a great mentality. He’s only 9 years old, so sometimes he can miss a bit of experience, but he’s getting there. He always wants to do it right. He’s very careful and he can win a Grand Prix!”
Gonzalo Busca and Pinot Gris Di Fer
The course built by Ken Krome and Meghan Rawlins for Sunday’s class featured 13-obstacles that spanned the entirety of the stadium. Questions in the first round included a triple bar, a vertical-oxer-vertical triple combination to a plank fence, an oxer-vertical double combination and a final steady line by the in-gate. Eight horses advanced to the tiebreaker where six produced a second clear effort, making speed the name of the game as they jumped the double combination again and galloped away from the gate over a final new oxer.
Samantha Schaefer and James Bond HX
Schaefer was the first to return with James Bond HX and made sure she left the rest of the field chasing her as she cleared the track in a very quick 35.223 seconds. Midway through the jump-off, Abrahamson and Any made a bid to catch them and came very close as they left every rail in place and broke the beam in 35.275 seconds, just five-hundredths of a second off the pace. Saving the best for last, Spain’s Busca and Pinot Gris Di Fer set in to win and gave it their all as they left out strides in two of the lines to gallop through the finish line in 34.824 seconds. They went straight to the top of the leaderboard as they led the victory gallop followed by Schaefer and Abrahamson.
Kady Abrahamson and Any
“There were eight horses, so I had the chance to see Samantha going first and I saw she was pretty fast, but my horse has the biggest step, so I thought I could do one less after the double and one less to the last,” explained Busca regarding his plan with Steven Bluman’s Pinot Gris Di Fer. “That was the only way I could beat him because her horse is a little bit faster than mine.”
This marks Busca’s first trip to the Kentucky Horse Park and he has enjoyed his time concluding, “I’ve always wanted to come here. What I like most is the arena – this is a super nice arena. The horses jump great, and that’s really good for the sport.”
Competition during the Bluegrass Festival has come to a close, but hunter/jumper action will continue next week at the Kentucky Horse Park during the KHJA Horse Show. Feature events will include the $30,000 KHJA Grand Prix, $15,000 KHJA Welcome Stake and $5,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby. For more information about the Kentucky Horse Shows please visit www.KentuckyHorseShows.com.