Richmond, BC – August 13, 2008 – Green grass, blue skies and sailing ships made for a tranquil, bucolic background, contrasting the atmosphere of excitement generated at Twin Oaks Farm on the Fraser River for last Sunday’s Kubota Cup Derby.

Alberta’s, Lindsay Hitchner, astride her 11 year old, bay, mare, Billy Autumn, took first place bragging rights and the largest share of the $40,000 prize money over hometown favourites Gary Brewster and Royal Viali in this high performance, equestrian event.

With a clear jump off round and only one tenth of a second separating first and second place, Hitchner not only won the Twin Oaks Kubota Cup Derby, a qualifier for the Kubota Cup National Final, which will be held in Toronto on November 8th at the Royal Winter Fair, but also added enough to her cumulative Kubota Cup earned points to win the Kubota Cup Western Canadian Championship.

Riding her newest mount, Quipa LS, Hitchner managed the first clear ride of the day from a field of twenty-eight, horse rider combinations, early on in the competition But it was a second, clear round aboard Billy Autumn, after Brewster and Royal Viali challenged with an impressive no faults ride that ensured Hitchner would have two opportunities to produce a Derby win in the jump off. Manitoba’s Hayley Alfonso on La Forza rode the only other clear finish in the first round and came in with the fastest time in the jump off, but placed third after being penalized with four faults for knocking a rail down.

In addition to The Kubota Cup Western Championship trophy, Lindsay Hitchner and Billy Autumn, who earned an overall score of 502 points, were awarded an oil painting by Elise Genest and were presented with a Kubota RTV500 utility vehicle, valued at $10,000, by Kubota Canada Ltd.

Leading the race for the Western Division title into the Derby was Andrea Strain and Luigi who placed 9th in Sunday’s event with 138 points, earning them the Reserve Championship with a 462 overall point standing. With a 4th place finish in the Derby, Hitchner and Quipa LS jumped from 5th in the Western Division standings, into 3rd place overall. The top 10 on the Kubota Cup western leader board have all earned an invitation to participate at the Kubota Cup National Final, November 8th in Toronto, Ontario.