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The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday October 10, 2001 - D 1 Neither nor sleet, nor snow Jay Hayes aboard his top mount Diva bested a field of 18 riders to claim the top share in the prestigious $60,000 Autumn Classic Grand Prix at the Hendervale Equestrian Complex which is located just outside Oakville's northwestern border. Hayes was the only rider to jump a clean round on the long difficult coarse that saw the balance of the field, each with at least one rail down. Mother Nature also got into .the act, conspiring to add lib eral doses of wind, snow, ice pellets, rain and then some sun. Noted riders in the field included Mac Cone, Frankie Chesler, Yann Candele, Lauren Hayes. Erynn Ballard, Hugh Graham, Mark Samuel and Eric Lamaze. The final two days of the Classic Weekend featured a Fall Festival that included lots of fun for the families who braved the cooler weather. Events included pumpkin carving, face painting, sack races, best dressed pet, beautiful baby, best pie, guessing games and more. Pony rides and zoo were popular spots for the children. Hendervale's newest arrivals -- the eight new foals in the Freedom Reins program -- proved to be a popular item for young and old alike. The foals who were slated for offshore markets for human consumption instead arrived two weeks ago to their new home at Hendervale. SNOW WAY! Sherri Whitworth (left photo) didn't let this untimely blast of winter stop her from warming up her mount, `French Kiss' prior to Sunday's $60,000 Grand Prix. And it didn't stop Wendy Gibbons (top photo) From watching the event. By show time, the sun was shining, here, for Heather Manbert-Serniuk who finished fifth. Photos by Graham Paine Blades sw eep weekend pair, hit .500 mark The Oakville Blades went into Streetsville last night looking to vault over the .500 mark for the first time in the early provincial junior A hockey season. The game went beyond our Wednesday edition press deadlines. There is plenty of Blades action on tap this weekend at Ice Sports Oakville as they host a pair, Friday (7:45 p.m.) against the Streetsville Derbys and Sunday (7 p.m.) against Bramalea Blues. The Blades had their best weekend on the young season sweeping a pair -- 7-5 in Burlington on Sunday and 3-1 at home on Friday night against Mississauga. "Getting back to .500 (4-4) is a good step," agreed Blades coach Jay Anderson. "It's a start anyway." In Sunday's 7-5 win, it was a case of Oakville pulling ahead, only to have the Cougars to^pull even (but never get ahead, at least). Thankfully, for the Blades, they were ahead when the final buzzer went. The Blades had led 2-0, 3-1 and 5-3 during the game but also allowed the Cougars to catch up at 3-3 and 5-5. "We had control, lost it, had control -- and we would take a penalty and it would turn the momen(See 'Blades' page D3) Blades stats pack PROVINCIAL JUNIOR A - west conference GP W OTLGF GA PTSGAA BRAM PTON HAMILTON BRAM ALEA GEORGETOW N M ISSISSAUGA MILTON OAKVILLE BURLINGTON STREETSVILLE BUFFALO 10 8 UPCO M ING GAMES: Fri, Oct. 12, 7:45 p.m., Streetsville at Oakville Sun, Oct. 14, 7 p.m., Bram alea at Oakville * O akville gam es at Ice Sports Oakville. RECENT RESULTS: Tues, Oct. 9, 7 p.m., O akville at Streetsville O ct. 7, O akville 7, Burlington 5 Oct. 5, O akville 3, M ississauga 1 Sept. 30: Burlington 4, O akville 2 Sept. 28: O akville 5, M ilton 2 Sept. 24: Hamilton 5, O akville 2 Sept. 23: O akville 6, Bancroft 2 Sept. 21: Buffalo 7, O akville 5 Sept. 15: Buffalo vs Oakville (Ppd) Sept.. 14: H am ilton 4, O akville 1 10 8 10 8 2 2 2 5 3 4 4 10 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 10 ro I 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 51 51 36 41 32 36 31 48 37 22 27 33 29 46 19 36 30 53 53 61 16 15 10 10 9 8 8 8 2.70 3.30 3.63 4.60 2.38 4.50 3.75 5.30 5.30 6.10 Cougar netminder David Alexander keeps his eye on the puck shot by Oakville Blade Will Barlow Sunday night at Burlington's Central Arena. Photo by Peter C. McCusker m \ r i \ L & \ i l JiUAL j -iULI D uu Uuj ji. E. 2 5 7 - / JJi2 saa»vioiiw aigj U.^.L *iil. Tc LU^UU, 7£ui<1:.u " LL&UU^Ml