Lauren Esdale Wins $10,000 Brookstreet Hotel Modified Grand Prix at Wesley Clover Parks
Lauren Esdale of Seagrave, ON, won the $10,000 Brookstreet Hotel Modified Grand Prix on Sunday, July 10, to close out the first of two weeks comprising the Ottawa Summer Tournaments at Wesley Clover Parks in Ottawa, ON.
The feature event on Wesley Clover Parks’ expansive grass field, Sunday’s Modified Grand Prix attracted 18 entries vying for victory over the track set by Brazilian course designer Marina Azevedo. The time allowed proved to be challenging with 11 entries exceeding the 84-second time allowed. For two of those entries, Paul Halpern of Saint Anne des Plaines, QC, riding Cornet S Lady and Ottawa’s Christine Wiggins and Cabaliero 2, a single time fault would prevent them from moving forward to the jump-off.
The third and fourth riders in the ring, Frank Hendriks and Mackenzie Wray, respectively, had no such trouble and jumped clear within the time allowed. Later in the order, Esdale also jumped clear to make it a three-horse jump-off.
Hendriks of Carleton Place, ON, was the first rider back to challenge the shortened jump-off track. Aboard Checkin Me Out, a flashy 12-year-old gelding owned by Mike McKenna, Hendriks rode a smooth and efficient round and stopped the clock in 48.74 seconds.
With a jump-off time of 47.01 seconds, Wray of Loretto, ON, proved the time could be caught. However, two fallen rails for would eventually leave the 23-year-old in third place with Coconut, a nine-year-old Oldenburg mare (Conmiro x Centadel) owned by Makim Holdings Inc.
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