Hap Hansen Stables Enjoy Successful Week at the Showpark Racing Festival

It was an excellent week for the Hap Hansen Stables at the Showpark Racing Festival, July 27th through July 31st, 2005, with Hap Hansen and two of his clients coming home with major wins. The Showpark Racing Festival is held at the Del Mar Showpark in Del Mar, California.

Hansen won two 1.40m Modified Jumper classes with Darrah Cohn’s Allstar and then followed that up with two out of three wins in the 1.20m Jumpers. One of those victories came aboard the Plaid Ranch’s Irma La Douce and the other with City Lights, owned by Pamela Sue Goll. The Plaid Ranch’s Mistletoe also picked up a top prize. Hansen garnered enough points to take home the 1.20m Jumper Championship with Irma La Douce and a share of the Reserve Championship with City Lights.

Hap Hansen and Plaid Ranch’s Mistletoe. Photo © accustomphoto

On the Hunter side, Hansen guided Sharon Engle’s The Promise to the Reserve Championship in the Modified Hunter division and then rode Argyle, also owned by Engle, to Reserve Championship in the Green Conformation Hunters, picking up a win, three seconds and a fourth place finish along the way.

Hansen’s top junior rider, the talented Bliss Heers, had a great July weekend at the Showpark Racing Festival.  Riding Archibald Cox III’s Chance, Heers captured the Large Junior Hunter Championship with two wins and two second place finishes. Heers and Chance topped off their week with a victory in the Junior Hunter Classic on Sunday.

Heers won a High Junior/Amateur Jumper class with Cathleen Calvert’s Princess 315 and also got top ribbons with Fortissimo Blue, owned by the Bridgeside Farms, LLC. After finishing third in the USEF Show Jumping Talent Search, Heers rode to victory in both the Hunter and Jumper phases of the Washington International Equitation Class.

Hap Hansen will take a week off to judge at Pebble Beach next week. Following that, Hansen and company will head to the Oaks Blenheim Summer Classic I on August 10th-14th, the Oaks Blenheim Summer Classic II on August 17th-21st, the Showpark Summer Festival on August 24th-28th and the Showpark All Seasons Summer Tournament August 31st thru September 4th.  The September highlight for the Hap Hansen Stables will be a trip to the Masters at Spruce Meadows in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on September 7th, 2005.