Lexington, Kentucky, USA. – Nov. 3, 2018 – The feature show jumping event of the 2018 National Horse Show, the $250,000 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Lexington CSI4*-W brought 35 of the sport’s upper echelon horses and athletes to the Alltech Arena to compete head-to-head for the greatest share of the purse and valuable World Cup ranking points towards the 2019 Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Final in Gothenburg, Sweden. Representing the United States, Beezie Madden (USA) added to her winning streak, as she and Abigail Wexner’s Chic Hin d’Hyrencourt outpaced the talented field with their careful and efficient jump-off trip to capture the coveted top prize in front of a packed house.

In total, eight countries from four continents were represented in the premier contest of the evening, which is the eighth jewel of 14 in the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping schedule, and the group of entries included a staggering amount of talent, most notably the four gold medal-winning members of the NetJets U.S. Jumping Team from the World Equestrian Games: McLain Ward, Laura Kraut, Devin Ryan and Adrienne Sternlicht.

For his final course of the week, designer Ken Krome (USA) constructed a 16-effort track for contenders that featured plenty of directional changes and a triple combination as the second-to-last obstacle, which proved to be one of the bogey fences of the evening. Out of the initial pack of combinations, only six partnerships mastered the track penalty-free within the tight 74-second time allowed to qualify for the jump-off, and four pairs faced heartbreak after leaving all the fences intact but accruing one time fault. Lucy Davis (USA), Kent Farrington (USA), Kraut (USA), Beezie Madden, Amanda Derbyshire (GBR) and Molly Ashe Cawley (USA) all returned to the show ring for a final shot at glory over the abridged jump-off course.

Beezie Madden (USA) & Chic Hin D Hyrencourt

The first two back in the ring, Davis and Farrington both accumulated penalties on their mounts, opening the door for Kraut and St. Bride’s Farm Confu, who navigated the first double clear of the evening in 38.10 seconds. Not to be outdone, Madden and the 10-year-old grey gelding (Taran de la Pomme x Elanville) systematically sliced across the 8-fence track at a blazing clip, stopping the clock in 36.57 seconds to take over the lead with only two left to challenge them.

Molly Ashe Cawley (USA) & Cat Ballou

Unfortunately for Derbyshire (GBR) and Gochman Sport Horse, LLC’s Luibanta BH, two rails would come down, meaning Ashe Cawley (USA) and Cat Ballou (Cassini II x Lacantus) would be the last to battle Madden and Chic Hin D Hyrencourt’s time.

The pair looked to be on pace to usurp the frontrunners with a fault-free trip, but ultimately were just tenths of a second too slow, tripping the timers in 36.77 seconds to settle for second place, with Kraut and Confu (Contact me x Cambridge) rounding out the all-female podium as the final double clean pair of the class.

The reserve finisher, Ashe Cawley has been taking turns with Madden at the head of the leaderboard over four days of competition, only once giving up the top spot in five classes to another rider, Farrington. In addition to her reserve championship aboard Cat Ballou, Ashe Cawley navigated Picobello Choppin PC to the highest honors in the $35,000 Palm Beach Masters Series International Open Jumpers Speed CSI 4* and the Salamander Hotels & Resorts $35,000 Accumulator Class CSI 4*, just a hair ahead of Madden.

Beezie Madden (USA) & Chic Hin D Hyrencourt

From the Winner’s Circle

Beezie Madden – $250,000 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Lexington CSI4*-W champion

On her partnership with Chic Hin d’Hyrencourt:
“We took him to some shows and started in the 1.35m and 1.40m classes, and we actually felt quite comfortable right from the start with him. He stepped right up to the FEI division the next week and did really well. He has continually gotten better and better. It’s a process of figuring out which bit I like the best on him and which spurs I wear on him, but really, he’s been quite simple. Hopefully, he stays that way. When he gets in the ring, he has quite a bit of blood. I would say he is a little on the hot side. I hate to compare him, but he’s a big horse like Cortes C and yet he rides pretty light. He’s apparently quick enough across the ground as we saw today. I would love to see him go do some championship events. He has the scope, carefulness and seems to have the brain for it, so I’m looking forward to the future with him.”

On the first round:
“I think probably height and dimension-wise, it wasn’t the biggest we’ve done, but I think the tight time-allowed for sure made it a lot harder than it walked in the beginning. Also, the time-allowed there, if you weren’t able to take a lot of time to the Taylor Harris jump, it kind of messed up your line to the triple and made that a little dicey. In the end, the triple jumped nice for the horses and other places caught them. You never know what’s going to happen when you walk. For sure, the time-allowed and the fact that there were a lot of bending lines, it was hard for the horses to get their eyes on it, but that is a part of indoors.”

On a mount for World Cup Finals:
“I was automatically qualified off of my win last year, so my strategy has been to make each horse eligible who I think might be eligible. I already have Darry Lou, Breitling, and now this horse Chic [Hin D Hyrencourt] eligible, so I’ll plan on using Coach early in the season since he has had a break from Spruce Meadows. I’ll see who the ‘hot’ horse is going into the World Cup Finals, which was my strategy last year.”

Molly Ashe Cawley – second place

On the jump-off:
“My horse is obviously very large and he’s just come back to the sport from a lot of time off. He had an injury and spent a year out in the field, so I haven’t gotten to do a ton of jump-offs with him. Obviously, in the jump-off with me going last, I had to push it as much as I could. I was really thrilled and pleasantly surprised with how quick and nimble he got. I really love the horse and I’m just happy to have him back. He seems to be back and better than ever, so I’m thrilled with him.”

On a mount for World Cup Finals:
“I don’t know who I would take. I was definitely leaning on D’Arnita but Cat Ballou really stepped up to the plate and did his job beautifully here. Obviously, he is super scopey and he’s quite big. I think we just have to see, for me, how the horses keep going and if I qualify for it, we will choose the horse who is at the top at the time.”

Laura Kraut – third place

On the jump-off:
“I watched the first two not have a good first fence, so my main objective was to make sure I got that out of the way. I actually was very, very good and I lost my balance a bit when I came out of the double. He turned really quick and I shifted into the left stirrup, so he had to swing back, come get me and then keep turning. That sort of slowed us down a bit, but I was very happy with him and I’m in good company.”

Ken Krome – course designer

On his track:
“I was for sure sweating it out, but you basically ride every horse in the class yourself. At some point, you want them all to go clean and at other points you say, ‘No one else can go clean.’ It’s up and down. Today, I saw that there was really a great group towards the end so I had faith but I definitely pushed them today. You want to bring your ‘A’ game and you really want the best of the best to rise to the top and for sure we got that today.”

Michael Morrissey – National Horse Show manager

On the class:
“Thanks to the three ladies next to me, they had a lot to cheer about. The crowd was really into it and there was quite an all-star cast. The National Horse Show has been rich in tradition, and proved that with bringing the Hunter Classic back last night and tonight was a spectacular class and a World Cup qualifier for the jumpers.”

Results -$250,000 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Lexington CSI 4*-W

Place / Rider / Country / Horse / Rider / Owner / R1 Faults / R2 Faults / Time

1. Beezie Madden (USA) & Chic Hin D Hyrencourt / Abigail Wexner / 0 / 0 / 36.57

2. Molly Ashe Cawley (USA) & Cat Ballou / Louisburg Farm / 0 / 0 / 36.77

3. Laura Kraut (USA) & Confu / St. Bride’s Farm / 0 / 0 / 38.10

4. Kent Farrington (USA) & Creedance / Kent Farrington & RCG Farm / 0 / 4 / 37.37

5. Lucy Davis (USA) & Caracho / Old Oak Farm / 0 / 4 / 50.07

6. Amanda Derbyshire (GBR) & Luibanta BH / Gochman Sport Horse LLC / 0 / 8 / 38.74

7. Catherine Tyree (USA) & Bokai / Mary Tyree / 1 / 74.05

8. Lorcan Gallagher (USA) & Hunters Conlypso II / Dacantos Group / 1 / 74.85

9. Adrienne Sternlicht (USA) & Toulago / Starlight Farms LLC / 1 / 75.71

10. Cormac Hanley (IRL) & CDL Cartello / Heathman Farm LLC / 1 / 77.28

For full results, please click here.

Source: Press release by Elaine Wessel / Phelps Sports for National Horse Show

Photos: © Phelps Sports / Elaine Wessel