Joie Gatlin And Plutus.com Delivers Win Round 1 Of $100,000 Tavern On The Green Metropolitan Cup

New York, NY - November 4, 2004 - Following the Liberty Cup Speed Class, the highlight of the evening was contested in the first phase of the $100,000 Tavern On The Green Metropolitan Cup. Nineteen horses raced over course designer Linda Allen’s 12-jump track in the $25,000 Speed Class where jumping faults were converted to time faults. Joie Gatlin, 37, of San Juan Capistrano, California, aboard Plutus.com Delivers owned by Canyon Capital Insurance won. Peter Pletcher of Magnolia, Texas, riding Charmed for owner Alex Dillard placed second. Kate Levy of South Salem, New York, riding her own Lagretto 5 placed third.

Seven riders managed the 12-jump course without incurring jumping faults, but Gatlin clearly took the win with her nearest challenger more than two seconds slower. Gatlin was the 10th rider on course and posted the unbeatable time of 68.56 seconds. Going 15th in the order, Pletcher clocked in at 70.50. The 18th rider to go, Levy, was more than four seconds behind the leader with 72.97 seconds.

Plutus.com Delivers is a nine-year-old Oldenburg mare that Gatlin has been riding since July. “She’s super brave, she’s scopey. I hope in the near future she’ll be doing the bigger Grand Prixs,” said Gatlin. The course proved to be a challenge for the green mare and the new partnership, but Gatlin praised course designer Linda Allen. “She gave us some options where you could leave out strides or be conservative. She had some tight rollback turns. For my horse, from Fence 6 to 7, the white plank rollback, she was a little green there and she got just a little bit confused on which to jump. We worked it out and that was a good learning experience for her to look and see which jump comes up next. Linda had turns and gallops and stride options, so we had a little bit of everything in there for the speed class. It was a real nice track to get us started in the Metropolitan Cup.”

Gatlin talked with Allen before the course, set her plan, and executed it. “I wanted to have a smooth gallop, a smooth rhythm, and ride parts of it like you would an equitation course, being very organized on the rollbacks to the planks. Everything came up nicely. I was able to stick to my plan and keep galloping around and it all worked out really nice.”

Gatlin plans to ride Plutus.com Delivers, known as “Luna” in the barn, for the remaining classes in the $100,000 Tavern On The Green Metropolitan Cup. “I’ll have my other horse, SunCal’s King in the other $25,000 Open Class on Saturday,” she said. Gatlin won the $25,000 Open Jumper class riding SunCal’s King on opening night, November 3.

The Metropolitan Cup is a three-phase, modified World Cup formatted competition. The $25,000 Jump Off Class will be held tomorrow night, November 5, and the $25,000 Two Round Final will be held on Saturday evening, November 6. The winner of the $100,000 Tavern On The Green Metropolitan Cup is based on the overall result of the three performances. The top 12 competitors will divide an additional $25,000 based on overall ranking. For tonight’s win, Gatlin earned $7,500.

During the intermission between the Liberty Cup and Metropolitan Cup competitions, vaulters entertained the audience. World-renowned vaulter Kerith Ann Lemon of New York City and her troupe of seven vaulters performed Individual and Team compulsory movements. Along with Lemon, the vaulters were Mary McCormick of Springfield, TN; Elizabeth Brigham of Potomac, MD; Anna VanVranken of Mays Landing, NJ; Sarah d'Auriol of Suffolk, VA; Ali Williams of San Francisco, CA; Jessie Price of Swedesboro, NJ; and Katie Haynie of Oak Hill, VA.

The Metropolitan National Horse Show

The Metropolitan National Horse Show features five days and five nights of action, November 3-7, 2004, at Pier 94 and the Show Piers on the Hudson in New York City. Tickets and passes are available in a variety of packages and can be reserved by calling 866-NHS-SHOW or on the web at www.nhs.org