Event Jumps at Chance to Help a Good Cause

Event Jumps at Chance to Help a Good Cause

Boston Globe

By David Rattigan

09.16.10

Riding a Belgium gelding named Ramses, Sarah Segal, 26, of New Jersey, won $9,000 of the pot for the $30,000 Grand Prix event at the first Putnam Boston Jumper Classic, which concluded Sunday at the Myopia Hunt Club in Hamilton.

Held in conjunction with the 110th annual Myopia Horse Show, the Classic drew more than 6,000 spectators over three days, according to organizers, including 3,500 on Sunday for the featured Grand Prix. Among them was Senator Scott Brown, who turned 51 on Sunday and took part in the day’s ceremonies. His daughter, “American Idol’’ semifinalist Ayla Brown, sang “Happy Birthday’’ to the senator during a sound check.

She also sang the national anthem during the ceremonies, which included skydivers descending with the United States flag.

Event officials said there were more than 500 horses and about 300 riders, including 30 in the Grand Prix. Some proceeds of the event will be donated to Boston Fisher House Foundation, Inc., which supports the “comfort home’’ on the grounds of the Veterans Administration Medical Center in West Roxbury.

The home enables family members to be close to loved ones during hospitalization for an illness or injury.

“It was fantastic,’’ said event chairman Don Little of Ipswich, an Air Force veteran. “We’re certainly going to make a nice contribution to them when we get it sorted out, and we got them more awareness.’’

Twenty-one years ago, Little founded the Fidelity Investments Jumper Classic, which moved from Myopia to the Silver Oak Equestrian Center in Hampton Falls, N.H., two years ago.

He rode in four classes and took a pair of seconds with one of his four mounts, Mr. Nighttime, last weekend.

“People really got into it,’’ Little said. “They weren’t just sitting at the tables, which can happen at a lot of events, but went down on the lawn to ringside and watched. That made me happy, because the spectators really got into the spirit of the competition.’’