Ocala, Fla.–Feb. 13
The Irish team for the Furuisyya FEI Nations Cup came to Ocala looking for a quiet, educational day for their four horses—all of whom were competing in a Nations Cup for the first time.
What they left with was the win in a class that saw lots of twists and turns as it played out, with a few shock results for the home team. The U.S. team of veterans held on for second place, buoyed by double-clean performances from both Beezie Madden and Georgina Bloomberg.
But the real surprise of the day came when 2008 Olympic gold medalist Cedric was the drop score of both rounds with Laura Kraut. An orange triple combination up one long side under the crowd proved to be Cedric’s undoing—he stopped at the triple bar of the A element in Round 1, then left a stride out of the two-stride distance between the verticals of the B and C elements and crashed through C in Round 2. Kraut ended up on his neck after that and had to circle before jumping the last fence.
“I thought he was really on his game because he was jumping everything else perfect. But I think that maybe the shadows or something were funny and he just didn’t read it right either time,” Kraut said. “I’m very disappointed. I’m shocked because normally triple combinations are his best jump. I never even gave it a thought that it would be a problem today, so I was surprised the first time and then even more so the second time. For him to take off in one stride in a two is not characteristic of him at all. I don’t know if it was the color or the shadows or what, but he just didn’t understand what it was. He had a bad day at the office. It happens.”
The triple combination also caused problems for Kraut’s teammate, Lauren Hough, in Round 1 when Ohlala seemed to almost not see the C element and cantered through it. “It was very awkward; I didn’t see it coming,” Hough said. “She’s always a bit forward coming into combinations, and it was small the first round, so I don’t know if that had an effect, but she completely misjudged it.” She recovered quickly to jump the last fence and jumped clean through the triple in Round 2, but picked up another 4 faults at an oxer elsewhere on course.
It Ain’t Over Til Beezie Jumps
Beezie Madden and Georgina Bloomberg were the bright stars of the U.S. team, both jumping two flawless rounds to help the U.S. team claim second behind the Irish. “When I knew we were coming here, I made this a priority and wanted to have her peaking here,” Bloomberg said. “She’s a great Nations Cup horse; she’s very reliable and unless I make a mistake, you can almost always count on her for a double clear.
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“Thank God for Georgina and Beezie’s double clean. They pulled us out of a pretty deep hole we put ourselves in in the first round,” said U.S. chef d’equipe Robert Ridland. “Sometimes these Nations Cups early in the year, when you’re coming off a break, have some unforeseen things happen and we certainly had a very interesting first round. And in the second round as well!”
Even though they didn’t win, the U.S. team accomplished its primary objective, which was to score the maximum points for qualifying for the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Final. Since Ireland was competing out of their qualifying league, the U.S. team’s second place earned them first-place points. Canada and Mexico were the teams the U.S. was vying for points against.
Things were looking a bit iffy after Round 1. The U.S. team stood tied for fourth with Venezuela on 4 faults, with Canada, Colombia and Ireland all tied for first with 0 faults. The Irish had turned in four clean rounds in Round 1.
But clean rounds were a bit harder to come by in Round 2. The Colombians had to wait until their anchor rider, Roberto Teran on Woklahoma, to put a clean round on the board, and they dropped to third. The Canadians caught a bit of four-fault-itis in Round 2, with Eric Lamaze, Ian Millar and Yann Candele all having one rail with Tiffany Foster the drop score with 12.
So, the Irish didn’t have to be perfect again to maintain their lead—Darragh Kenny had two rails with Picolo and Lorcan Gallagher picked up 4 faults at the water. But Kevin Babington and Shorapur and Conor Swail on Grafton picked up the slack, putting another two clean rounds on the board to cement the win.
Building For The Future
All four of the Irish riders are based in North America, with Babington and Kenny running training and sales businesses in the United States, Swail serving as stable jockey for Susan and Ariel Grange in Canada, and Gallagher working for Shane Sweetnam in Florida.
Gallagher, at 23 and competing in his first Nations Cup, was the baby of the team, since all three of the other riders have championship experience. “It’s amazing. I never jumped on an Irish pony team or junior or young riders, so to win the first Nations Cup I jumped is just fantastic,” Gallagher said. “I’ve been friends with Darragh for a long time. When I was growing up, Robert was jumping along with Kevin and Conor. These are guys I look up to, so it’s great to be here with them.”
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Gallagher has been working for Sweetnam for 2½ years, and got the ride on Spy Coast Farm’s stallion Diktator van de Boslandhoeve last summer.
It was also the first Nations Cup for all the Irish horses, as they look to build depth in their team. “We have a lot of Irish riders with connections to the United States or are based over here with great owners. I’m always looking to broaden the base, so I come here to see them compete. This is a wonderful venue,” said Irish chef d’equipe Robert Splaine.
What did riders think of the first Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup in Ocala after the class has been hosted at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Fla., for more than 10 years?
They liked it. They spoke well of the footing, the atmosphere and the welcome from the community. The mood of the class was very different—in Wellington, the class is held under the lights at night and fans of each country form cheering sections, which makes for a raucous atmosphere.
“The nighttime class in Wellington is a little bit more electric, but in a way, for classical jumping sport, I like this better,” Madden said. “The Nations Cup there can get a little rowdy and that is fun, but for us as riders and for sport, this kind of atmosphere is nicer. It was enough atmosphere with the good crowd.”
How good was the crowd? Tom Struzzieri of HITS joked a bit. He made the decision to shut down showing at HITS Ocala for the duration of the Nations Cup, which allowed those on grounds to walk over to the stadium to watch.
“I like to exaggerate, I’m like the Irish that way. We put up 4,000 bleacher seats and there were people sitting on the grass and there’s room for 1,000 more in the VIP tent, so…. That comes to about 17,000, right?” Struzzieri said with a wink.
“We had an opportunity to do it at night, but while I love Ocala weather, I don’t necessarily love Ocala nights, it gets chilly. So, we elected to do it during the day. Friday at 1:00 is a little challenging to get the local public here. We did as much press as we could and we think Sunday’s audience for the grand prix will be quite a big local crowd.”
