Frankie Chesler Finishes Second in MASCUP Series

Brigitte O'Neill

Frankie Chesler

Saturday December 14th at America's Exposition Park in Wentzville Missouri, riders from across North America congregated to compete at this weeks MASCUP Lake St. Louis Winter Series $30,000 Grand Prix Finale. This was a highly anticipated end to a stellar season of showing for many top riders like Kyle King, Tracy Fenny, Richard Rinehart, Lila Lee LaVigne, Frankie Chesler, Holly Shepherd, Daniel Geitner and Karen Cudmore, who have been chasing for this honour for the past twelve months.

The Saturday evening finale attracted a Broadway worthy crowd, eager for the horse show to begin. Well-known course designer Buddy Brown did not disappoint anyone, producing a tough and technical course for thirty-one eager riders to try their hand at. This finale consisted of many tight turns; rollbacks and tricky spots that resulted in twelve clear, a perfect number, one clear horse and rider for each ribbon placing. Two of the riders, Tracy Fenney of Flower Mound Texas and Karen Cudmore of Omaha Nebraska, each had two of those clear spots and Laura Linback of Chicago Illinois and Frankie Chesler of Orangeville Ontario had three clear horses apiece. It was a foot race to the end for the six qualified riders with their different mounts all vying for the prize money and a chance to better their final standings for the 2002 season. In the end, it was another win for Tracy Fenny and a well earned second place finish for Frankie Chesler.

Chesler remarked, "I competed last winter in Gulfport Mississippi and did very well winning a few Grand Prix's and placing well in the others. When we returned back to compete throughout Canada for the summer I totally forgot the standings for the MASCUP series. When we returned for these last three St. Louis horse shows, I was pleasantly surprised that I was still strong in the running. We gave it our all and were pleased to finish in second position. I love the MASCUP shows, they are always well managed, well built and well attended by professional equestrians that help to make the competition tough but friendly at the same time. Mr. Russ Walther puts on a great horse show and I highly recommend this series to anyone looking to have some fun and at the same time compete for great prize money each week!"

America's Exposition Park, with a staggering 40,000 square foot arena, is one of the largest indoor arena complexes in North America, premiering in September 1999 with the St. Louis National Charity Horse Show. Although the complex hosts mainly equine events, it also host dog shows, gymnastic competitions and even tractor sales. Russ Walther, MASCUP's founder and president, structured MASCUP after the NASCAR racing association series, which competes at selected venues and offers a year-end bonus to their top drivers, as does MASCUP. This is the only horse show series in America that gives rider bonus money instead of horse bonus. In this past year alone, there were over 100 Grand Prixs in the season with over $2,000,000 in prize money. The 2003 MASCUP series will begin on January 8th in Jacksonville Florida. Chesler plans to attend many of the MASCUP shows again in this up-coming show season, after a well-deserved holiday!

MASCUP Year End Results

1st - Tracy Fenny
2nd - Frankie Chesler
3rd - Holly Shepherd
4th - Karen Cudmore
5th - Kyle King
6th - Richard Rinehart