Schaefer, Iwasaki Lead Friday Winners at GLEF II
The longtime partners add another victory to their Traverse City record during GLEF II
Samantha Schaefer and Frasier are no strangers to winning in Traverse City. They’ve come to this venue nearly every year together and have taken home many big wins in their five years as a pair. On Friday of week two of the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival, presented by B&D Builders, they added another major victory to their Traverse City record in the $31,100 Elk Rapids Marina CSI3* Two Phase.
“He comes here and has a whole other gear,” Schaefer said of Frasier, a 16-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Carambole x Padinus). “I like the Two Phase for him because I can keep him packaged up for the first half and then my strategy for today was to be efficient and to take a shot without coming too undone for Sunday. I thought the strides and everything really suited him. I tried to be smooth and efficient and let everything fall where it may.”
The second phase resulted in a time of 30.38 seconds for Schaefer and Frasier, which proved to be the fastest of the double-clear efforts over Mauricio Garcia’s track. Coming up just behind was Abbygale Funk (USA) with In The Stars. David Oberkircher (USA) ended up third with Munin, with only about three-quarters of a second separating the top three.
“This is the highlight of my summer for sure,” Schaefer remarked about bringing home top results from Traverse City. “We bring a lot of horses here as a team, so I’ve saved him leading up for these couple weeks that he’s here. He feels really good and fresh. I didn’t necessarily think I was going to win today but it shook out and the course suited him.”
Frasier certainly isn’t alone in loving the venue and weather in Northern Michigan, but Schaefer believes he really comes into his own as he returns north for the summer season.
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