Palm Beach, Fla.—Jan. 4

Kent Farrington won the first two Trump Invitational classes, in 2013 and 2014, and he seemed poised for a third victory in today’s $125,000 grand prix. But as Blue Angel sped around the final turn of the jump-off, clear up until that point, the mare slipped badly behind. Farrington lost some time, and the horse pulled down a rail of the final fence.

Laura Kraut saw her opening. She made a different plan.

“Beezie [Madden] also said she slipped around that turn,” said Kraut, who went last over the shortened course. “So when I was over [the jump before the turn], I thought, ‘If I just turn really short after that and then almost stop him and finish turning, I think that’s better than running around that turn.’ So I did that, and it worked great. He stood right up and turned, and I think that’s what did it.”

But even when Kraut crossed the finish timers on her 17-year-old partner Cedric, she didn’t think she had the winning time.

“He jumped so high over the Rolex double; it took me a little while to get through that,” she said. “I had to do six [strides] in the only line on the course, and everyone else did five. I was quite relieved when the announcer said I had won!”

Kraut, who rode in the class the previous two years, collecting 1 time penalty in the first round each time, was especially pleased with the victory.

“Cedric feels better than ever. We have such a relationship, and I can call on him,” she said. “I targeted this event for him this year. It’s a beautiful location and just the fact that they’ve put this together here, I feel it’s a prestigious event to try and win.”

Thirteen out of the 35-horse field qualified for the jump-off in today’s class, held on the spectacular lawn of Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort and put together by Equestrian Sport Productions CEO Mark Bellissimo and Trump.

Kraut admitted the good condition of the turf and the perfect weather likely contributed to the high number of clears over Anthony D’Ambrosio’s course. The past two years the class dealt with issues—first the grass wasn’t equipped to handle many horses galloping and jumping on it, and then last year torrential rainfall made the tracks more challenging despite the new footing holding up beautifully for the beating it took. 

“I think Anthony hasn’t had much to judge, based on the last few years,” said Kraut. “He might have under-built today, considering the conditions were absolutely perfect. If he had to do it again, I bet he’d probably build it a little more difficult. But it was a great event and an exciting jump-off. I thought it worked out great in the end!”

Kraut’s time of 39.96 seconds gave her the win over Ireland’s Darragh Kenny on Fantasy (40.12 seconds). Brianne Goutal and Ballade van het Indihof slotted into third (40.67 seconds).

“My horse is a little greener and younger than Cedric,” said Kenny of the 10-year-old Hanoverian owned by Oakland Ventures LLC and Donald Stewart. “She’s really talented, and I think a lot of her, but I knew when I came out of the ring with Kent and Laura going after me, chances were someone would beat me. This is the first year I jumped this class, and it was really enjoyable. We only have one more place better to go.”

As for Goutal, her horse is just back in the grand prix ring after nearly two years away due to injury.

“It was really special to me,” she said. “In my opinion, the Trump-Bellissimo team has two of the best, if not the two best, competitions in the world. For a tropical location, nothing compares to this one as far as prestige. And then the Central Park Horse Show when you talk about an inner city show, we jump in a lot of places over the year, and nowhere else can compare to Central Park.”

Trump and Bellissimo have bigger plans coming down the pipeline for the unique Mar-A-Lago venue in future years. They’d eventually like to see it run over several days, perhaps hosting a CSI*** or CSI****, instead of just the CSI** it is now.

“I think what we first wanted to do is make sure we could execute this event to a high standard,” said Bellissimo. “I believe the footing is strong enough now to support multiple classes. We’re going to talk about restructuring this next year; we’re going to step it up. The goal is to make it one of the top events, with bigger money.”

The event also serves as a fundraiser for the Great Charity Challenge event, which will take place at the Winter Equestrian Festival on Feb. 7. Four additional charities were drawn today—CROS Ministries, Gratitude House, Leadership Palm Beach County and Take Stock In Children Palm Beach—and there was also a live auction for the charities. The four picked today will join the 28 already chosen and two additional wildcard charities, to be chosen the night of, for the Challenge. The GCC pairs a team of riders with a Palm Beach area charity for a night of show jumping, and all charities involved collect at least $10,000.

“The Great Charity Challenge has had an amazing impact on the community,” said Bellissimo. “You see it not just in the thousands of lives we touch, but you can also see it in the people coming out to the showgrounds. This Trump Invitational is what took us into hypermode. We were averaging around $1 million a year [benefiting the charities], but since we started this, we now average well over $1.5 million. We’re very excited about the trajectory of that.”

Cedric, a Holsteiner (Chambertin—Cortina, Carolus I) owned by Cherry Knoll Farm, also won the $50,000 Holiday & Horses Grand Prix CSI-W in Wellington, Fla., in November. Kraut isn’t sure what’s next for her 2008 Olympic Games partner for team gold, but she’s letting the horse dictate.

“We’ll just see how he feels,” she said. “I’d love nothing more than to aim him for the biggest events, but I have to let him tell me if he wants to do it. He probably won’t jump again until Week 4 or 5 [at WEF]. I’d like him to last another two or three years, so I’m going to go easy with him.

“I was worried I didn’t do enough in warm-up because he was wild,” she continued. “I nearly took out Tiffany [Foster] and Brianne [in the schooling area]. He bolted, and we were lucky they sort of stopped me with their bodies.”

“I told her she should have brought a more experienced horse,” joked Goutal.

Sophie Simpson rode HC Woopy 14 to first in the $5,000 junior/amateur-owner invitational demonstration competition. 

See full results from the classes.  You can also watch taped video coverage of the class here.