LaFitte De Muze & Flower Dance Tie for Grand Hunter Championship at Lake Placid Horse Show

LaFitte De Muze and Flower Dance both swept all five classes in their respective divisions to tie for the Grand Hunter Championship which was awarded Thursday at the 49th annual Lake Placid Horse Shows, presented by Sea Shore Stables, LLC and sponsored by Bainbridge Farms, LLC.

With rain forcing cancellation of jumper classes in the all-grass Richard M. Feldman Grand Prix Field, competition continued without a hitch in the E.R. Mische Jumper Ring, the Main Hunter Ring and the Kovacs-Williams Hunter Ring, all of which feature state-of-the-art all-weather footing.

LaFitte De Muze and Amanda Steege. Photo by The Book LLC

The Green Hunter 3’6″ & 3’9″ division concluded Thursday with LaFitte De Muze, owned by Cheryl Olsten of New Hope, PA, and shown by Amanda Steege, completing a sweep of all five classes in the division to earn the maximum 50 points. This put LaFitte De Muze in a tie with Flower Dance, owned by Maria Partlow of Louisville, KY, and shown by Christopher Payne, who completed its sweep of all five classes in the Green Hunter 3′ division on Wednesday.

Flower Dance and Christopher Payne. Photo by The Book LLC

The 2018 Lake Placid Horse Show runs through Sunday, highlighted by Sunday’s $75,000 Prevost Richard M. Feldman Grand Prix. The I Love New York Horse Show follows, July 3-8, highlighted by the $100,000 Great American Insurance Group Grand Prix on Saturday, July 7. The show also includes the $15,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby Presented by Eastern Hay & Purina Animal Nutrition on Sunday, July 8.

LaFitte De Muze with rider Amanda Steege. Photo by The Book LLC

The Lake Placid Horse Shows offer over $535,000 in prize money and feature the nation’s best horses and riders competing in four show rings. The horse shows offers more than 100 classes of competition each week for all levels of competition ranging from young children on ponies to grand prix and Olympic competitors. Each show is USEF ‘AA’ rated for hunters and 6* rated for Jumpers.
Admission to the horse show is just $2.00 on weekdays and $5.00 on weekends. Children under the age of 12 are admitted free. Discounts are available for groups of 20 or more. For a behind the scenes look at the horse show, guided walking tours are offered on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 11:30 a.m. The tour groups meet at the horse show retail booth, and the tours, costing just $1.00, last approximately one hour.
All Lake Placid Horse Show action can be seen live on the Lake Placid Horse Show website at www.lakeplacidhorseshow.com. The webcasts, sponsored by ShowNet, include all four rings. The Grand Prix webcasts are presented by Marshall & Sterling.