It came down to a two-horse race in the $15,000 MarBill Hill U25 Grand Prix, and that left Hannah Rajotte (CAN) with the strategic play.

Returning second of just two riders to advance to the jump-off of Peter Holmes’ (CAN) 1.40m course, 18-year-old Rajotte watched Ashley Arnoldt (CAN) to see what she would need to do to finish her two weeks at Thunderbird Show Park with a victory.

Arnoldt showed that the shortened track was no easier than the first round, bringing down two rails, so Rajotte put her focus on simply keeping the jumps up with her longtime partner, Patronus. They’d finish with a rail in hand, topping the class with a score of four faults and a final time of 47.62 seconds. Arnoldt and Lestat OLD finished second (8/48.98), with Hayley Mercer (CAN) and Crown Royal third as the fastest four-faulters from the first round (82.9 seconds).

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