It has long been stated that if you work slowly but constantly, you will succeed better than if you work fast for a short while and do not continue. This of course was the moral of the famous Aesop fable about the hare and the tortoise, but it was enacted in real time on Sunday in the 2019 Mack and Madelyn Jason Memorial final.
Coming in to the game undefeated, Geoff Palmer and his Antelope herd (Geoff Palmer, Grant Palmer, Santiago Trotz 5, Jimmy Wright 3) lined up against once defeated Louisa Musselman Fikes’ Lazy 3 (Louisa Musselman Fikes, Jared Sheldon 4, Peter Blake 3, Audrey Persano). Lazy 3’s only loss was to Antelope in qualifying play.
With a handicap award of one, Lazy 3 started very fast and right off the opening bowl-in Persano scored to take a two goal lead. The charge continued as Sheldon then scored three times (one penalty 2) and in what seemed – and probably was – record time, the Texans led by five at 5 – 0. Trotz and Wright recovered somewhat and were able to get a couple back to narrow the gap to three, but Persano counted her second and the first was over with Lazy 3 leading by a staggering four at 6 – 2. Lazy 3 was – in a word – overwhelming.
Sheldon converted another penalty 2 opportunity in the early second and Lazy 3 now led by five – would it ever stop? In another word – yes. Trotz took control and Antelope recovered as Geoff Palmer converted an open goal counter and Grant Palmer scored from the field. The second ended with the pronghorns trailing by just three.
The third period was scoreless as the Antelope recovery continued.
Lazy 3 came out in the fourth and appeared to be okay as Sheldon was allowed another open goal opportunity which he converted. However, Antelope continued to apply pressure and Geoff Palmer – perfect on the day – converted his second penalty offering. Trotz then scored his second and the fourth was over with the Texas lead narrowed to a pair at 8 – 6.
The fifth gave Antelope two goals – Wright on a penalty 4 and Trotz from the field – and the count was tied at eight going to the final.
Wright scored to give the pronghorns their first lead of the game but Sheldon converted another open goal chance to tie. Overtime looked to be inevitable as play proceeded into the final 30 seconds. With less than 15 seconds on the clock, Trotz sent one through from 65 yards and after some confusion on the part of most everyone, Antelope had won the Jason Memorial by a final count of 10 – 9.
The comeback was complete as Antelope allowed just three goals in the final five chukkers and garnered eight in the same time frame. Aesop would have been proud.
Because of his gifted playing and coaching abilities, Trotz was named the Most Valuable Player to his team and Sheldon’s first chukker gelding SportsCenter was named the Best Playing Pony – not the first such honor for this talented equine athlete.
Tony Gregg