Wellington, Fla.—Feb. 19  

You know you’ve done well when you beat the super-fast combination of McLain Ward on Rothchild.

“Any time you beat McLain, you can be proud of yourself, no matter Rothchild or any horse,” Lucy Davis declared following her victory in the $127,000 Ruby et Violette WEF Challenge Cup Round 7. Davis, just 22, and Barron topped two-time Olympic team gold medalist McLain Ward and his ultra fast mount, Rothchild, in an exciting jump-off round to earn the top prize. Wilton Porter and Diamonte Darco finished third.

“The wind is high and Barron is totally wild, but as he showed, he jumps amazing when he is fresh so I can’t really complain,” Davis said. 

The 11-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding (For Pleasure x Nabab de Reve) arrived in Wellington one week before the class, flying in from California where he and Davis jumped to victory in the World Cup qualifier at the HITS Desert Circuit in Thermal less than two weeks ago.

“We did Thermal and then before that he had about a month and a half off, so he was fresh from the wind and he is also fresh from a break. I think it is really showing because he was flying today. He was unbelievable,” Davis smiled.

“I was sort of on McLain’s time throughout, but I think in the end, my horse has a huge stride,” Davis said of her winning round in the jump-off. “As McLain has said, it is like a Sapphire stride, which is a huge compliment. I did one less stride to the last jump. The last two I did the leave-outs and even an extra leave-out almost to the last. I think that is probably where I made the most time because everybody in the beginning was pretty consistent.”

Steve Stephens set the track for 69 entries in Thursday’s WEF Challenge Cup, with 13 advancing to the jump-off and five double clear rounds. Davis and Barron raced through the course in 38.06 seconds for the win. They beat the leading time of Ward and Sagamore Farms’ Rothchild (39.29 seconds) by almost a second.

A student at Stanford University in California, Davis travels back and forth to show in Florida throughout the winter. She flew in the morning of the class for the week’s CSI 5* competition and will return to school on Monday, coming back again during weeks 9, 11 and 12. While her horses stay in Florida with trainers Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Markus Beerbaum, Davis has a horse at school to keep in the saddle between shows.

Davis had a breakthrough year last year with Barron, culminating in their appearance on the Hermes U.S. show jumping team at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games and a bronze medal there.

She is already qualified for the Longines FEI World Cup Finals in Las Vegas this spring and will continue to aim Barron toward that goal. “He is fresh; he is feeling good and I hope it keeps going,” she acknowledged. “My goal for this year is World Cup Finals. We are qualified, so this may be one of our last big weekends because that has really been my focus. Since he is feeling so good I don’t want to take too much out of him before that.”

An added bonus to her win on Thursday was having Barron’s previous rider, the Canadian Francois Lamontagne, in the stands cheering them on.
”When I got him, he was with a young Canadian rider named Francois Lamontagne, who is actually here at the circuit and he is super excited. He always comes to watch,” Davis detailed. “Our vet, Geoff Vernon, is also Canadian and saw Barron on the Canadian team and knew that I was looking for a really good horse. When he was coming 9 we bought him. Now we really know each other, and we have been through a lot. He’s young. He is only 11, so he is only going to get better I hope.”

Final Results: $127,000 Ruby et Violette WEF Challenge Cup Round 7

1. BARRON: 2004 Swedish Warmblood gelding by For Pleasure x Nabab de Reve, LUCY DAVIS (USA), Old Oak Farm: 0/0/38.06

2. ROTHCHILD: 2001 Belgian Sport Horse gelding by Artos x Elegant de l’Ile,
MCLAIN WARD (USA), Sagamore Farms: 0/0/39.29

3. DIAMONTE DARCO: 2005 Great Britain Sport Horse mare by Unbelievable Darco x Unknown, WILTON PORTER (USA), Sleepy P Ranch LLC: 0/0/40.48

4. TEIRRA: 2000 KWPN mare by Tolano Van Het Riethof x Aldatus,
ALISE OKEN (USA), Hi Hopes Farm, LLC: 0/0/40.92

5. ENTRE NOUS: 2004 Belgian Warmblood gelding by Conan Z x Ohio van de Padenborre, LAUREN TISBO (USA), Tequestrian Farms LLC: 0/0/41.56

6. OHLALA: 2003 Swedish Warmblood mare by Orlando x Cardento,
LAUREN HOUGH (USA), The Ohlala Group: 0/4/38.18

7. QUENELLE DU PY: 2004 Anglo Arab mare by Tresor du Renom AC x Ryon d’Anzex,
OLIVIER ROBERT (FRA), Olivier Robert: 0/4/41.13

8. TINKABELL 12: 2005 KWPN mare by Casco x Ekstein, RODRIGO PESSOA (BRA), Rodrigo Pessoa: 0/4/41.32

9. VERSUS: 2005 Belgian Sport Horse gelding by Moujik de Sohan x Jasper,
RAMIRO QUINTANA (ARG), Michael Smith: 0/4/42.17

10. CADE: 2002 Belgian Warmblood gelding by Heartbreaker x Darco, ABIGAIL MCARDLE (USA), David McArdle: 0/4/42.81

11. QUALITY GIRL: 2003 Oldenburg mare by Quidam’s Rubin x Dobrock,
TODD MINIKUS (USA), Quality Group: 0/8/40.55

12. BIJZONDER: 2006 KWPN gelding by Acodetto x Quite Easy,
SHANE SWEETNAM (IRL), Sweet Oak Farm & Paul Tracy: 0/8/42.78