For Tom Struzzieri, hosting the Pfizer Animal Health $1 million Grand Prix at Saugerties”™ Horse Shows In The Sun, was a dream come true.
Struzzieri, president and CEO of HITS, conceptualized having a million-dollar purse in 2009. With Pfizer having been a sponsor for several years, he approached the pharmaceutical company with his proposal and they agreed to sponsor it.
More than 40 equestrians competed for the prize money, the largest amount given in the sport”™s history. Riders from as close as Connecticut to as far away as New Zealand competed for the grand prize of $350,000, taken by McLain Ward, who lives in Brewster. The balance of the $1 million purse was shared among 19 other finalists.
For Ward, “I had some unbelievable competition but it was a wonderful experience to win right here in my own backyard.” He didn”™t forget to credit the gracious dexterity of his horse, Sapphire, who has already earned nearly $4 million in equestrian exhibitions around the world.
McLain completed several perfect jumps in a two-way tie for first place to ride away with the grand prize ribbon and purse. Ward, who participated in the 2004 and 2008 Olympic games, brought home gold medals with America”™s jumping team both times.
For Struzzieri, “It was the biggest event we”™ve held here and a very special thanks to Pfizer Animal Health for hosting it.”
Saugerties-based HITS-on-the-Hudson held its first horse show competition in Florida in 1982, expanding to four other states entering into a private equity arrangement with Leonard Green & Partners of Los Angeles in January 2006 to help it solidify its position and expand its equine horizons.
HITS is the largest hunter/jumper horse show management company in the United States.
“We”™re helping to make people look at the sport in an entirely different way. There were 56 grand prix this year, but this was special,” said Struzzieri.
HITS runs 34 weeks of horse shows in  California, Virginia, Florida, Arizona and New York.
Nearly 2,000 people withstood the damp chill of Sunday, Sept. 12 to watch the finals, including singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen and his wife, Patti, who came to watch daughter, Jessica, compete in the championship event.
Merchants, from restaurants to clothing shops, seemed to be enjoying the overflow from the crowds that streamed into Saugerties over HITS”™ eight-week summer run. Struzzieri expects HITS to become even more popular as news of the Pfizer competition makes the rounds.
Joseph Bender, owner of Bender Sales Barn in Sugar Loaf, said it was “Fabulous to see so many people turning out for this event. It”™s a fantastic sport, and these athletes are really dedicated. They train for years for a moment like this.”
Bender”™s partner, Jeff MacMurtry, said the horses performing in the show were “spectacular and collectively, worth several million. They are really very special and the riders literally have to become part of the horse”™s movements to guide them through the jumps.”
Every misstep was a point against them, so McLain”™s perfect finish wowed the crowd.
According to the U.S. Equestrian Foundation, with 90,000 members nationwide, the sport is rapidly gaining ground in America.
The 2010 Federation Equestre Internationale World Games will be held in Lexington, Kentucky from Sept. 25 through Oct. 10, the first time the event has been held in the U.S. and will be broadcast by NBC, another first.
Ending the weekend event in Saugerties was a concert by John Fogerty, lead singer of Creedence Clearwater Revival, who whooped up the crowd with some of his former band”™s Top 10 hits.
