Leone and Ward top the standings at Lake Placid

After Raposa, who won the class in 1990 on Shady Lady, received a score of 56.769 seconds, defending champion Margie Goldstein Engle of Wellington, FL returned on Hidden Creek's Jones. Engle turned in what would be the tiebreaker's fastest time, 41.411 seconds, but a rail down at fence 7 added four penalty seconds for a final score of 45.411.

The penalty proved costly when Leone mastered the course without penalty in 41.461 seconds. His penalty-free ride held up for the win with Engle placing second. Danielle Torano of Ft. Lauderdale, FL finished third with a score of 55.317 on Lancier 4 while Raposa ultimately finished fourth.

Jeff Welles of Newtown, CT was the fourth of 28 entries to try the 10-jump, one-round course. He took the lead by riding Hurricane to a fault-free ride in 48.237 seconds. Five riders later, Ward moved Welles out of the lead by riding Romeo to a clean ride in 47.172 seconds.

Ward was the only one of the remaining entries to beat that score when he rode Éclair to a clean ride in 46.939 seconds to secure the top two places in the class and solidify his position atop the NAL Open Speed Division standings. Welles and Hurricane finished third.

Margie Goldstein Engle of Wellington, FL, actually beat Ward's winning time when she finished in 45.829 seconds on Camille. However, a rail down at the second-to-last fence added four penalty seconds to their time and dropped them to fifth place.

Despite a rain-shortened opening day schedule Nona Garson of Lebanon, NJ won the featured event of Wednesday when she rode Susdal to victory in the Intermediate Jump-off class. Garson, a 2000 Sydney Olympian, rode Susdal to the only penalty-free ride of the competition to secure the win.

Ward placed second and third on Sasha and Romeo, respectively. Ward scored four faults on each mount with Sasha getting the higher placing based on a better time over the 15-jump course.

Kimberly Frey of Hume, VA rode Conawara to victory in the Lake Placid Lodge Power and Speed Stake on Thursday. Ward again took an early lead in the class when he rode Galant to fault-free rounds over both portions of the course, finishing the speed section in 32.919 seconds. But Frey, the 19th of 39 entries to ride the 10-jump power portion of the course moved Ward out of the lead by matching his fault-free performance and bettering his time over the five-jump speed section by finishing in 32.900 seconds.

The remaining entries failed to catch Frey's time, with the closest being Candice King of Wellington, FL who wound up third behind Frey and Ward after finishing fault-free in 33.393 seconds on Espadon. Two-time U.S. Olympic veteran Lisa Jacquin of Collegeville, PA finished fourth with a time of 34.201 seconds on Justice.

Marilyn Little of Frederick, MD and Hertel Landman raced to victory in the $10,000 Turtle Lane Farm Jump-off. Little was one of seven entries among the 20 starters to qualify for the jump-off round by riding penalty-free over the 14-jump first-round course. Christine Tribble of Suffield, CT took an early lead in the jump-off when she rode After Eight to a fault-free round, finishing the seven-jump tiebreaker course in 41.236 seconds.

Little was the sixth to return for the tiebreaker and she moved Tribble out of the lead with a clean ride in 38.965 seconds. The last entry, Leone also finished fault-free, but while his time of 39.661 seconds on Pinkata De Longpre moved him ahead of Tribble, it left him seven tenths of a second behind Little in second place.

Prior to the Grand Prix, Lauren Bass rode MV Cristal to the win in the $10,000 Mirror Lake Inn Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic and Alexa Weeks rode Amiral to victory in the $10,000 Salamander Farm High Junior Jumper Classic. Both events are part of the Show Jumping Hall of Fame Jumper Classic Series that determines which junior jumper and amateur-owner jumper riders will qualify to ride in the 2002 National Horse Show.

Following the two Classics and before the Hadfield's Parade of Champions was the Juliam Farm Leadline Class for riders up to age seven. All participants received blue ribbons and gift bags compliments of Juliam Farm. Everyone was then treated to an ice cream party with a clown, face painting and games in the horse show's Hall of Fame Club.

Other highlights of the Lake Placid Horse Show included the Ariat Kids Day where 100 youngsters from the north country toured the horse show and participated in seminars conducted by some of the country's leading riders, trainers and officials. Contests and games hosted by John Conlon of Ariat and Janet Rasmussen of The Country Saddler preceded a pizza lunch and autograph session with Olympic rider Nona Garson that culminated the day's activities.