The hunt is on at HITS with new $50K Challenge
By Staff Report December 10, 2012
Hope Glynn and Chance of Flurries ride the new Outside Course for hunters in Saugerties. (Photo by Lindsay Yandon / HITS)
HITS Inc. continues to amp up the excitement in the hunter ring with the addition of a $50,000 East Meets West Hunter Challenge that will pit the most accomplished riders on the Desert Circuit in Thermal with top talent on the Winter Circuit in Ocala, FL.
Challengers from each state will rotate rounds in a “battle of the coasts” that will be evaluated by two sets of judges, one in each location. A live webcast will connect the venues, with the judges watching on high definition monitors while the audience sees events play out on the super-sized scoreboard. Spectators will be encouraged to do a bit of judging themselves, by texting in a vote for their favorite horse.
The class reinvents the bi-coastal concept first employed by HITS from 1999-2001, when the company staged the industry’s first satellite simulcasts between Florida and California, during the days when HITS’ Desert Circuit took place in Indio.
“We did this ahead of its time, before the technology was really there,” HITS president and CEO Tom Struzzieri said. “Now that Internet streaming is so advanced, the experience is going to be much more integrated. Combined with the interactive aspect of things like texting, it’s very exciting.”
“It’s a great opportunity to for the West Coast riders to compete against the top hunters in the East, which we don’t get to do very often,” said Hope Glynn of Sonoma Valley Stables. “It’s also a good way for people to watch online if they can’t be at the horse show, so it expands the fan base as well.”
Glynn is one of the West Coast rider-trainers who traveled with students to Saugerties, NY, to compete in the Diamond Mills $500,000 Hunter Prix (in 2011 and 2012) and the HITS $250,000 Hunter Prix (introduced this year). The two classes anchor the hunter portion of the HITS Championship Weekend, which this year offered a record of nearly $2 million in prize money.
Open to juniors, amateurs and professionals alike, with jumps set at 3’3”, the $50,000 East Meets West Hunter Challenge will be a qualifying event for the Diamond Mills $500,000 Hunter Prix that will take place during HITS-on-the-Hudson VIII, Sept. 4-8 in Saugerties, NY.
As a pathway to the richest weekend in hunt sport, the East-West class joins the prestigious Devoucoux Hunter Prix qualifiers that take place throughout the year, including weekly at HITS DC I-VII.
The $50,000 East-West Challenge will include two rounds over two days with the top 12 riders from each coast returning on the final day. Scores from the first round will not carry over, and riders will start round two with a clean slate. The two panels of judges will give each rider a score, which will then be combined for a total score.
Nick Haness and Gelato were among the California riders competing at HITS on the Hudson this summer. (ESI Photography)
Rian Beals will design the course on both coasts, taking advantage of the wide variety of options offered by HITS’ pioneering new concept of the Outside Ring. The Outside Ring at the HITS Desert Horse Park that will be home to the $50,000 East-West Challenge is a newly configured competition space of approximately 300’ x 300’ in the space previously occupied by hunter rings 3 and 4. It incorporates fixed features and landscaping that takes advantage of the natural terrain.
The decision to build the Outside Ring was based on the overwhelmingly positive response to the Outside Course introduced in Saugerties at the 2012 Championship Weekend. Riders thrilled to the chance to gallop over grass, up hills and through brush ― an environment that more authentically approximates the original hunter proving grounds, the foxfields.
“This draws on the days of my first farm in 1977, when the standard show ring had grass and permanent jumps made of logs or stone,” Struzzieri said. “We’ve updated that concept by including a few natural elements that will break-up the set course. The main features we are leveraging are the larger ring that will enable the horse to gallop between the jumps and allow the designers to set jumps far enough apart so the distances aren’t absolutely related.”
An Outside Ring has also been added in Ocala. In addition to the high-performance hunter competitions these intriguing new courses will host a variety of special hunter and equitation classes, including the weekly Devoucoux Hunter Prix, the HITS 3’ Hunter Prix and rated divisions as well.
“They’ve made the hunter ring more entertaining,” Glynn said. “I think it’s great that they’re going to rotate the schedules so the junior riders will be able to get in there and try it to get a sense of what’s in store at the more competitive levels,” Glynn added, noting that the lower division classes will also be a great development opportunity for pre-green horses, “giving them the experience of jumping natural obstacles, or different types of fences, without waiting to get the height of a seasoned hunter.”
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