Saugerties $1 Mil on HRTV
By Staff Report September 6, 2013
Peter Wilde and Lewin 5 win the o$30,000 Vermont Summer Special Grand Prix on July 6. The 2004 Olympic gold medalist is among the luminaries set to shine in the HITS Zoetis $1 Million Grand Prix on Sept. 8. (David Mullinix Photography)
The heart-pounding excitement of the HITS Zoetis $1 Million Grand Prix will be webcast live and free to viewers on HRTV.com, Sunday, Sept. 8, beginning at 11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET.
For the third year, HRTV will be presenting this cornerstone event, the culmianation of the HITS-on-the-Hudson circuit in Saugerties, NY. (Click here to watch.) As an added bonus, HRTV.com will also offer a live stream of the HITS $30,000 SmartPak Wild Card Grand Prix, presented by Zoetis, Friday, Sept. 6 at 2 p.m. ET. This match offers competitors the final opportunity to qualify for Sunday’s megabucks grand prix.
HRTV will again combine with A Good Show and iEquine to present the live streams, while providing expert commentary throughout the day, complete with rider interviews, class coverage, and compelling special interest stories.
Star athletes expected to compete include HITS’ two-time Million Dollar Man, McLain Ward, who with Anates F won last year’s class, taking home a whopping$350,000 check. Ward has a number of potential superstars in his barn, among them Zander, a 9-year-old Belgian Sport Horse gelding (Cantos x Saygon) he owns outright. Also Super Trooper de Ness, an 11-year-old Belgian Sport Horse stallion (Vigo d’Arsouilles x Polydor), owned by Grant Road Partners.
Also expect on the go-list, Wellington, FL-based Margie Engle, a 10-time Rider of the Year with 168 grand prix wins under her belt. Will she ride in on her longtime partner Indigo? Or will it be her newer mount, the magnificent 9-year-old Oldenberg stallion Royce, owned by Elm Creek Partners?
Margie Engle and Royce win the $75,000 Mary Rena Murphy Grand Prix at the Kentucky Spring Classic Horse Show. (Photo by Rebecca Walton / PhelpsSports)
On May 18 that pair won the the prestigious $75,000 Mary Rena Murphy Grand Prix, presented by Audi of Lexington, at the Kentucky Spring Classic horse show, beating 43 other horse-rider combinations over a Conrad Holmfeld-designed course (which from what we’ve seen entitles them to bonus points for difficulty!).
Another elegant rider worth keeping an eye on, 2004 Olympic gold medalist Peter Wylde. Wylde has had a wild summer, enjoying some hunter ring action on HITS’ beautiful new natural-obstacle enhanced outside course, while leading a successful jumper campaign aboard Lewin 5, an 11-year-old bay German-bred gelding by Lewinski owned by Baron Eduard de Rothschild of Société Civile de l’Ecurie Meautry in Deauville, France. The pair also won the $35,000 Garden State Grand Prix in Augusta, NJ, on May 4.
Canada’s Jill Henselwood, a 2008 Olympic silver medalist in Beijing, has qualified for the Zoetis $1 Million and is expected to go through the in-gate on Sunday, quite likley on IV Ever, the 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Juniper Farms 2.
Mike Moran will again take to the Grand Prix Stadium in Saugerties to provide expert commentary. Joining Moran will be the Peter Leone, the 1996 Olympic silver medalist in show jumping, along with HRTV’s Caton Bredar, who will provide round-by-round coverage of the competition and on-camera interviews with many of the featured performers.
HRTV.com’s live stream of the grand prix at HITS, one of therichest events in international show jumping, will be sponsored by Tack Room Inc.com, a popular clothing and accessories outlet based in Central Pennsylvania. This is just one of many programming goodies procured by the horse-lovers at HRTV, which offers a wide range of sport, including racing from Santa Anita and this year, from Saratoga, as well as show jumping from the Lake Placid Horse Show.
HRTV will have the HITS Zoetis $1 Million webcast available for on-demand replays “for a few days” so fans who missed the live stream can play catch-up. The network is also using the event to mount a promotional push ― one month free (promo code HITS2013) with a subscription that is under $10 a month and includes access to premium English riding events including the Aachen World Horse Festival. The 2013 show is already archived on the site, and the July 11-20, 2014 event is one of many competitions HRTV has on its brimming schedule.
From cowboy kick-backs to the Dubai racing and top competition from the Hampton Classic, Aug. 24-31, HRTV offers plenty to back-up its claim to the tagline “The Network for Horse Sports.
HRTV will also present a polished one-hour television show of the Zoetis $1 Million Grand Prix at HITS that will be made available in October. Visit www.HRTV.com for details and a wide variety of equestrian offerings.
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