Written by: Jennifer Wood Client:HITS Desert Circuit and HITS Ocala Winter Circuit Release Date:2009-12-15
Ocala, FL - December 15, 2009 - The 2010 HITS Ocala Winter Circuit is pleased to announce its roster of High Performance course designers for the upcoming season. The HITS Ocala Winter Circuit runs from January 19 to March 21, 2010, and will feature some of the best international course designers in the world.
In the last week of the HITS Ocala Winter Circuit, Olaf Petersen, Sr. of Germany will be the course designer. His designs will challenge the Grand Prix riders in the finale event of the circuit, the $100,000 DeLuca Toyota Tundra Grand Prix, presented by Great American Insurance Group, on Sunday, March 21. All of the Grand Prix classes in Ocala will be qualifiers for the Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix, held on September 12, 2010, in Saugerties, NY.
Petersen Sr. is one of the most accomplished course designers in the world, in addition to being an international judge and a past President of the Jumping Committee of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI). He was the course designer at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the top technical delegate at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, an official supplier of services to the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, and was a course designer at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Most recently, Petersen was the FEI Technical Delegate for the 2008 Olympic equestrian events in Hong Kong.
Petersen is excited to return to Ocala and to design there. “For me, it is always a great time to escape from the cold European winter and to design in the sunny Florida climate,” he described. “And, I like to work with the jumps I designed for HITS two years ago and to create colorful courses with this material.”
With every grand prix in Ocala being a qualifier for the Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix, Petersen feels that it will definitely influence the way he designs in Ocala. “I am sure all of the riders will try to get as many points as possible to qualify. As course designers have to select the best of the best with their courses, these courses must be demanding and difficult,” he explained. “The (Pfizer) $1 Million Grand Prix is an extraordinary event. My friend and course designer colleague Steve Stephens must by very excited to do the courses, and I will be looking with great interest at his course plan.”
Petersen added with a smile that he is looking forward to “good weather, good footing, a lot of good riders, and once in a while a good margarita in the evening” in Ocala.
Aki Ylänne of Finland will be on hand to design during week three of the circuit. Ylänne has been an “O” rated course designer since 1997 and was an assistant course designer at the Olympic Games in 1988, 1992, and 1996. He was also the assistant at the 1990 World Equestrian Games in Stockholm, Sweden, and the technical delegate at many junior European Championships. He has designed at numerous World Cup qualifiers and was the head course designer at the 1998 World Cup Finals in Helsinki, Finland.
“Ocala is new place for me, and it’s always exciting to design in a new venue,” Ylänne said. “I had a very good experience with the HITS organization in Thermal last year, and I’m very pleased to work together again.”
Ylänne also feels that the Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix will be an amazing event for the sport of show jumping. “It’s great for the sport that there is a really big prize in September in Saugerties. Competition like that also gives more pressure for course designers in the qualification competitions. Still, we course designers need to build step by step in each show and try to take care of the welfare of horses and riders and try to offer exciting competitions in each level of all shows for all participants.”
Leopoldo Palacios of Caracas, Venezuela, ranks as one of the most proficient course designers in the world and will challenge riders at the first week of the HITS Ocala Winter Circuit. He has designed at two Pan American Games, the 1997 FEI World Cup Finals, the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, and was co-designer at the 2008 Olympic Games in Hong Kong. He was the technical delegate at two Pan American Games, the 2005 FEI World Cup Finals, and the 2004 Olympic Games. He has also designed at 16 CSI or CSIO rated show jumping competitions.
Bernardo Cabral began designing under the tutelage of Robert Ellis when he was 14 years old, and he began building courses outside of his home country in 1998. He has designed at Olympia, CSI 5*, and he assisted Leopoldo Palacios and Steve Stephens at the 2008 Olympic Games in Hong Kong. This year, he designed at more than 30 shows, including three World Cup qualifiers, and was Ellis’ assistant at the 2009 European Show Jumping Championships. He will design the courses in the Grand Prix ring during week two of the circuit.
Danny Foster of Canada is a well-known face at the HITS horse shows, and he will be designing in Ocala during week four this year. Foster was the Chef d’Equipe for the Canadian Show Jumping Team at the 2002 World Equestrian Games and the 2003 Pan American Games. A Certified Level III Coach, Danny has over 30 years of experience training top athletes competing in the disciplines of show jumping and three-day eventing. As a course designer, Danny holds his ‘I’ status with the FEI and has designed courses at many of North America’s top show jumping events.
For week five, Florencio Hernandez of Mexico will design the Grand Prix courses. Hernandez designs often in the United States, at such shows as Thermal, Kentucky, Atlanta, and Dallas. Hernandez was the assistant course designer at international events like the World Cup Finals, Centro American Games, and Pan American Games. His Olympic experience includes assisting at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, and the 2008 Olympic Games in Hong Kong.
Grand Prix rider Aaron Vale remarked of the course designer schedule, “That’s a pretty all-star list of names; it’s a pretty impressive group. With a group of designers like that, they’ll make it technical enough; it’ll always be hard enough. I’ll hopefully be able to ride a few horses over their courses this year and be good enough to chase the trail for that million dollar class.”
Tracy Magness, who won this year’s USGPL Leading Rider title, agreed with Vale. “It’s always fun to have new designers, and the others that I know are all top-notch course designers,” she said. “They’re always different and challenging in a good way. I think it should be a great circuit.”
Magness believes that having the best course designers in Ocala will help riders prepare for the Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix. “It’s good practice; you want to be jumping tough courses (in the qualifiers) before the million dollar class,” she pointed out. “They’re technical, and it’ll be good. And, you can’t get better than Steve Stephens for the big class!”
HITS is proud to work with these international designers to help bring new characteristics and techniques to the Grand Prix courses at the HITS Ocala Winter Circuit. The designers will help determine some of the first qualifiers for the Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix and make 2010 a year to remember.
2010 HITS Ocala Winter Circuit Course Designer Schedule:
HITS Ocala I - Leopoldo Palacios of Venezuela
HITS Ocala II - Bernardo Cabral of Portugal
HITS Ocala III - Aki Ylänne of Finland
HITS Ocala IV - Danny Foster of Canada
HITS Ocala V - Florencio Hernandez of Mexico
HITS Ocala VI - Olaf Petersen, Sr. of Germany
For more information on qualifying for the Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix, please visit http://www.hitsshows.com/nyusgpl/index.html.
Announcements on special classes, judges, course designers, prize money, and more will be made regularly for all of the HITS Horse Show circuits. To learn of the latest news, please become a fan of HITS’ page on Facebook and sign up to receive HITS’ Twitter updates.
To keep on track with the updates or to request a copy of the winter circuit prize lists, please visit www.HitsShows.com.
HITS, Inc. produces high-quality, international-level hunter/jumper horse shows. Based in upstate New York in the village of Saugerties, HITS has been producing shows since 1982 and is now a nationwide company with world-class circuits in California, Florida, Arizona, New York and Virginia. In 2010, HITS will take the industry to new heights when it hosts the Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix in Saugerties on September 12.
