PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
February 10, 2006

OCALA, FL (February 10, 2006) -- The dirt was flying as Kyle King and Kosta powered through Kenny Krome's jump-off course in Thursday's $25,000 Grand Prix at HITS Ocala. "Kyle was super-aggressive, it almost looked like he was riding a motorcross course. He came out of the turns and hit the gas pedal as hard as he could," commented Kenny Krome.

Ten horses advanced to the jump-off, but there was no catching Kyle King and Kosta. The 9-year-old Dutch Warmblood brought King home clear in a lightning-fast time of 41.75 seconds. Libby McKinney and Gun Du Desfi clocked in with 43.50 seconds for second place. Aaron Vale's time of 44.19 seconds with Celano Ethna gave him third place.

Kyle King was 7th in the order for the jump-off and had the opportunity to see a few of the others go. "I saw the first go in 47 seconds and I thought that was pretty fast. Then Libby McKinney did it in 43 and I thought, boy, now I'm really going to have to cook it."

Cook it he did, at a searing pace. Krome's opening line was the whole length of the ring and it encouraged the horses to open up right from the start. "I was really flying from 1 to 2 to 3. You couldn’t gallop any faster than I did there, so I made up most of the time in the beginning and then I cruised on the rest of the way. Kosta has a tremendous stride, so I definitely had the advantage when there was that much room to cover."

Being the first Grand Prix of the year for a lot of the horses, course designer Kenny Krome set out to build a course that would ease everyone into the competition season. "The course was designed to be a more forward, aggressive type of a riding course. The questions it asked were to go forward and to be a little bold and a little scopey. I wanted the horses to get a positive ride, and to really encourage them. They will get plenty of difficult tests as the season goes on. I was really pleased with how fresh and good the horses looked. This bodes well for some really good showjumping competition here at HITS Ocala this winter."

Kosta, owned by Bradley Cox is one of a string of six Grand Prix horses that Kyle King describes as "top-notch." "I have picked up some really good sponsors and I believe I have as good a string as anybody in the world." The California native enjoys showing on the East Coast and plans to re-locate his barn to Ocala in the next year or two. "I just think this is a great location, and Tom has a great show here."

The next Grand Prix show jumping event at HITS Ocala will be the $50,000 EMO Grand Prix on Sunday, February 12.

For complete horse show results please visit http://www.hitsshows.com.

$25,000 HITS Ocala Grand Prix - Thursday, February 9, 2006
HITS I - Ocala Winter Classic, Ocala, FL
Course Designer: Kenny Krome, Westminster, MD

MEDIA CONTACT: Mary Creech, HITS Media & Public Relations, 319 Main Street, Saugerties, New York 12477-1330. Tel: 845-246-8833, Fax: 845-246-6371, E-Mail: mcreech@frontiernet.net. Web: www.HitsShows.com