David Beisel and Moet Walk Top $3,000 NAL Open Speed at the 2009 Horse Shows by the Bay Equestrian Festival

Lauren Fisher for Phelps Media Group, Inc. International

Traverse City, MI – July 9, 2009 – David Beisel and Moet Walk topped a field of eighteen for the win in today’s $3,000 NAL Open Jumper Speed class at the 2009 Horse Shows by the Bay Equestrian Festival. Featuring four weeks of top-quality equestrian competition, Horse Shows by the Bay runs July 8-August 2, 2009, and is being held at the Flintfields Horse Park in the scenic vacation-destination of Traverse City, MI.

The second day of jumper competition in the Grand Prix Ring featured the $3,000 NAL Open Jumper Speed class today with eighteen horse and rider combinations competing over a difficult course set by Canada’s Eve Frisque. The class was held in a timed first round format, challenging competitors to jump clean and fast in the time allowed of 88 seconds.

It was a demanding course, with the most common refusals and dropped rails coming at the oxer going in to the triple combination. Only four pairs made it through the course without fault, and the fastest of those four was the combination of David Beisel and Moet Walk, who went clear and raced through the timers in 81.130 seconds for the win. Along with the blue ribbon and prize money, Beisel was also awarded a pair of EquiFit boots for his victory.

Ali Wolff rode H&M Necoll to the second fastest clear round, coming through the timers in 81.409 seconds. Third place was awarded to Catherine Pasmore and Callabonna Z, who completed the course without fault in a time of 84.088 seconds. Shane Sweetnam, who piloted Spy Coast Farm’s UnaDonja through the course in 85.810 seconds, rode the fourth clear round.

Three pairs came through the course with just four faults. Kyle King and Alison Friedman’s Riptide had the fastest round in the class coming through the timers in 75.924 seconds, but ended up with four faults to place them in fifth. Holly Orlando rode Scott Hakim’s horse Pugnax to four faults in a time of 83.877 seconds to take home the sixth place prize. The final four-fault trip came from Scott Lenkart and Un Prince, owned by Martha Macmillan. The pair finished with a time of 85.480 seconds to come in seventh. Eighth place went to the fastest eight-fault round, which belonged to Sandstone Montecristo, owned by Alison Friedman, and ridden by Kyle King.

Class winner Moet Walk is a nine-year-old Selle Francais gelding owned by Harlow Investment Enterprises, LLC. Beisel, of Cincinnati, OH, has had Moet Walk for two years now and started showing him at the grand prix level last year.

“He has done really well and he was great here last year, so hopefully we can have the same results again,” Beisel stated. “Today he was nice and quiet. When he is quiet you can just kind of drop the reins and kick a little.”

Moet Walk was the first of two horses that Beisel jumped with in today’s class and he explained that the course flowed nicely for him. “The course was good. I didn’t get to walk it because I was down showing in the Baby Green Hunters, so I just kind of planned to do all of the jumps in the right order,” Beisel laughed. “He was the first one I did, so I just went for it.”

“I think the difficulty in the course seemed pretty spread out,” Beisel continued. “Everyone had problems in different places, so all around it was very nice. I probably made up the most time at fences one, two and three. I thought I was pretty good and fast there and then the rest of the way I just tried not to beat myself.”

This will be the fifth year that Beisel has traveled the eight hours from Cincinnati, OH, to compete at Horse Shows by the Bay. “Dean and Alex put on a great show,” he acknowledged. “The footing, the stabling, everything is great.”

“I also love coming up here and going out on the boat,” Beisel added with a smile.

Beisel plans to show Moet Walk all three weeks at Horse Shows by the Bay and will be entering the horse in each week’s Welcome Prix and Grand Prix classes as well as a few more speed classes. Following the show’s completion, Beisel will be competing in Kentucky through August and September.

The 2009 Horse Shows by the Bay Equestrian Festival will continue tomorrow with a morning full of exciting jumper competition and the afternoon’s feature event, the $10,000 Welcome Prix, sponsored by Positive Step Farm. The competition will continue at the Flintfields Horse Park in beautiful Traverse City, MI, through August 2.

For more information, please visit www.horseshowsbythebay.com

Photo Credit: David Beisel and Moet Walk raced to the win in today’s $3,000 NAL Open Speed class at the Horse Shows by the Bay Equestrian Festival. Photo C 2009 Lauren Fisher/PMG. Photograph may be used only in relation to this PMG press release.

RESULTS: $3,000 NAL Open Jumper Speed II, sec. 2.1

1 415 DAVID BEISEL MOET WALK 0 81.130 2 305 ALI WOLFF H & M NECOLL 0 81.409 3 410 CATHERINE PASMORE CALLABONNA Z 0 84.088 4 840 SHANE SWEETNAM UNADONJA 0 85.810 5 981 KYLE KING RIPTIDE 4 75.924 6 4 HOLLY ORLANDO PUGNAX 4 83.877 7 75 SCOTT LENKART UN PRINCE 4 85.480 8 979 KYLE KING SANDSTONE MONTECRISTO 8 77.022