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Lala One-Two, Hofstetter Rosy at Legacy Cup
By Jamie Krauss

May 5, 2001 – Lexington, VA
Friday night’s activities at the Legacy Cup were plentiful, with the $10,000 Legacy Invitational and the Legacy Cup Jumper Sweepstakes showcased in the Coliseum. The night began with a party, as many nights here at the Legacy Cup do.

The party was a huge success. Complete with silky, white draped fabric creating a "tent" on the upper concourse of the Coliseum, exhibitors, spectators, judges, and officials enjoyed fine food and drinks while listening to the sounds of a live band. The party continued throughout both classes, and during the interim between the two, the order for tomorrow's 3' finale was drawn.

The Invitational was a class for the competitors who placed 21st through 40th after the second professional 3'6" class. Electricity was in the air, as this night had a very exciting feel to it. Dressed in formal attire, one by one the entries tried to top the field of 20 very good horses, but the one who would finally prove to do it was Odin, and Scott Hofstetter. This dark horse put in a beautiful round, and you could cut the tension in the air with a knife as he approached the last fence. Hofstetter jumped the first jump, and moved up in the bending line perfectly to nail the last fence, causing Odin to jump extremely well. With the crowd erupting in applause, the scores were barely audible; when people finally realized what they were, they cheered even louder: 86, 87, 90, and 88, giving him a grand total of 351.

Millennium with Amanda Lyerly Hendrix was second, helping to further perpetuate Louise Serio's good week (she's their trainer). Peter Pletcher came in third on Lincoln, and Winn Alden helped Against All Odds prove that the odds were in his favor tonight, with a fourth place finish. The big, dark horse Revelation put very forward, yet very smooth course to gain the fifth place title, and Thanks Daddy with Frank Perla came in sixth (which is probably what Frank's young son Brian said when he saw the size of the prize money check). Bill Ellis took both the seventh position with the chestnut mare, Candlelight, as well as the eighth position with Enough Said. Melinda Achenbach's horse Cupid finished ninth, with rider Louise Serio; and Admiration with Olin Armstrong was tenth.

The awards ceremony was quite an event. The ringmaster sounded the call, and the horses came in one by one, each receiving their ribbon as well as a rose. Finally, Hofstetter came in at a full gallop with the rose between his teeth, and the rest of the bunch fell in behind him for their lap of victory. The class was sponsored by Judi McGee Holmes, and Hofstetter received the Ashland Farm perpetual trophy, donated by Ashland Farm and Nora Fredrickson.

After the hunter class, the course was set for the jumper division. Out of ten starters, six were clean and procedded to the jump off. James Lala went first on Kelly Wyman's Kingston, who he is riding while Kelly is off at college. With four faults on him, Lala anxiously watched the rest of the participants in the jump off, knowing that he would have another shot at going on his other horse at the end of the class.

"The course was nice for this class, and I knew that I just had to be clean. I didn't really ride it that way though - I still went relatively fast, just in case. I like to practice the winning ride."

And a winning ride it was, as James bettered the field with the only clean round. His eight year old chestnut mare cleared the course with ease, earning her the top honors in the class.

"She was really good, and I'm just really glad to have her. I'm also really lucky, because Hadfield's is my sponsor, and they are wonderful. They do a lot to support the jumper division in general, and I'm just really happy to be associated with them."

With James taking the first and second positions on Hadfields Karona and Kingston, the remainder of the class was seperated by faults. Beth Forbes was third on Stormin Normen with 8 faults and a time of 30.195 seconds; Aimee Aron was fourth on Jamaica with a score of 8 faults and a time of 32.048 seconds; Lainie Wimberly was fifth on Dylan, with 9 faults and a time 45.841; and finally, Mandy McCutcheon was sixth on S&L Ultra, with a score of 12 jumping faults and a time of 34.292 seconds.