Augusta Iwasaki Scores a Bullseye in $30,000 Traverse City National Grand Prix
The sun shone brightly on the Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel International Ring on Saturday afternoon during the second week of the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival (GLEF), presented by B&D Builders. The featured class of the day was the $30,000 Traverse City National Grand Prix, won by Augusta Iwasaki (USA) and Bullseye 111 Z.
Course designer Mauricio Garcia (PUR) built a challenging test for the 30 horse-and-rider combinations. At the completion of the first round, six athletes had managed to navigate successfully to move on to the tie-breaking short course. Time played a factor in the case of three riders, while a single rail was the demise of another five combinations.
Jonathan McCrea (USA) laid down the gauntlet with a clear effort as the first rider to return across the jump-off track and the only athlete to qualify more than one horse. It appeared McCrea could very well have the class in the bag as the next two riders incurred faults on course. Iwasaki was all business as she piloted the Ashland Farms’ nine-year-old Zangersheide gelding (Bamako de Muze x Der Senaat 111) efficiently around the track.
“I started riding this horse at the beginning of the summer and he has been just so awesome,” explained Iwasaki. “He has a great amount of scope and he’s incredibly careful. He really tries hard. I took a shot to the vertical-to-vertical rollback because I know how careful he is, and he really got out of the way; that’s where I think we had the time today.”
While Iwasaki is well-known for her success in the hunter ring throughout her junior and amateur career, she says she looks forward to spending more time in the jumper ring.
“I love the jumper ring and want to do more of it for sure,” she enthused. “I am so grateful to Ashland Farms for allowing me to ride this special horse, and I’m excited to keep building on this partnership throughout the summer and hopefully get to compete in some FEI classes with him.”
As the final to enter the arena with his second mount, Windsor Show Stables’ nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, Kannascha (Kannan x Lux Z), McCrea gave it one more all-out effort but missed Iwasaki’s mark by mere tenths of a second to take second place with a time of 39.478 seconds. Having also produced the only other fault-free effort with his first horse on course, McCrea donned the third place ribbon on Windsor Show Stables’ nine-year-old Oldenburg gelding, Chaccotilino PS (Chacco-Blue x Centadel).
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