Addison Reed Pilots “Keina” to Victory in the $25,000 Rockbridge Grand Prix
Sanmar Farm’s Keina, ridden by Addison Reed, won last night’s $25,000 Rockbridge Grand Prix in an exciting jump off to the crowd’s delight and Keina’s owner, Sandra Ruiz. Ruiz said, “I am so excited! I’m excited to have such a nice horse; it’s amazing!”
With a first-round time allowed set at 79 seconds, four would advance to the jump off. Reed had three of the four rides, and her rival Marylisa Leffler and Rolling Acres’ ZaZa Z rounded out the four finalists.
Reed and Reed Training & Sales’ Doc Di Villigana were the first to go in the jump off with a time allowed set at 45 seconds. The pair earned eight jump faults and posted a time of 37.596 seconds.
Leffler and ZaZa Z were up next, turning in a fault-free round in 35.780 seconds and taking the lead.
Reed returned to the Dee Dee Arena, this time in the irons of Reed Training & Sales’ Kletcher, posting a clear jump off round in 35.781 seconds, just missing the lead.
Reed sat in the last-to-go position with Keina. “Trust me, Kletcher is a younger horse, and he has never done a class like this before. We went the fastest we could go, and Marylisa still got me by hundredths of a second. So, I was a little nervous going into the ring with Keina because I thought there was no way I could go faster than I just did,” commented Reed.
Addison Reed and Keina on their way to the winner’s circle. Photo credit: Andreas Legenbauer