Jack Hardin Towell chuckles a bit as he tells me, “I came to Miami for the Longines Global Champions Tour with the best riders in the world, and I’m sure they were like, ‘Who is this guy?’ but I like it that way because I think it gives you a little bit more fight. If you get too comfortable, I think you get lazy.”

We’re sitting by the ring at the Longines GCT of Miami Beach in early April, just two weeks before Towell, 27, is due to make his debut at the biggest competition of his career, the Longines FEI World Cup Final in Las Vegas. He’s relaxed and open, happy to chat about his relatively meteoric rise to the upper echelons of the grand prix ranks.

After all, it was just 18 months ago that Towell was sitting at a picnic table with his student, Jennifer Gates, when Gates told him he should take a shot at qualifying for the 2015 World Cup Final. “I remember very clearly, she said to me, ‘The World Cup is in Vegas in 2015, you should try and qualify.’ So it kind of started that way,” Towell said.

Hardin Towell has upped his game quite a bit in the last two years, getting the ride on nice grand prix  horses like Lucifer V. Photo by Molly Sorge

It’s rare that a rider can decide, ‘Hey, I’ll give it a shot to qualify for the World Cup,’ and accomplish it right away, but that’s just what Towell did. He finished fourth in the North American East Coast World Cup league to earn his ticket to Vegas, earning valuable points in Las Vegas, California and Wellington, Fla., in just his second season competing in World Cup qualifiers.

But it’s not like Towell is a dark horse. He’s got quite the legacy in the hunter/jumper world as his father, Jack, is a renowned hunter trainer and his sister, Liza Boyd, is one of the most successful hunter riders. While Hardin spent much of his junior years riding hunters, his heart was always in the jumper ring. He showed in the junior jumpers a bit, and then made his mark in $25,000 grand prix classes around the Southeast after he went out on his own as a professional.

“I had a lot of horses in the past seven years that I thought were going to be my great grand prix horses that didn’t turn out to be that, but you just stay optimistic and hopefully you get there,” he said. “You just keep knocking at the door and being patient and hopefully eventually the right horses come along.” 

In 2013, the door opened. He connected with the Gates family and began training Jennifer as well as riding horses they own in the grand prix ranks. “It’s really been recently, with Jen and her family’s support, that we’ve stepped up the levels,” Hardin said. “It’s very nice to have their support. They’ve been great about finding horses for me.”

In two years, Hardin has not only upped his own game, but he’s also brought Gates from showing in the children’s jumpers to earning a junior team gold medal in the 2014 North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (Ky.) and jumping in grand prix classes. “It’s been fun to have her come up the levels like that,” Hardin said. “I think it was great because Jennifer believes in me and I believe in her, and we’ve both been succeeding and learning together. We go in and we might have some not-so-good days, but we learn.”

The Horse That Defied Expectation

Hardin’s main horse for qualifying for the World Cup Final was Silence, a 10-year-old with good mileage and who placed in the top three in three qualifiers. He was planning to use both Silence and the younger Lucifer V in Las Vegas. “My original plan was to jump the speed leg with Lucifer and then Silence would jump on Friday and Sunday,” he said. “But [in early April] Silence go an infection in his leg and colicked. So now I’m just taking Lucifer.”

Lucifer might be just 9 and with experience over 1.50- and 1.60-meter courses since last fall, but Hardin believes in the horse quite faithfully. “I think he might be a little green in the World Cup Final, but he’s an amazing horse. I’ve never sat on another horse like him,” he said. “He’s so careful and smart. I think really good horses understand the sport somehow and he does. Every time he goes in a class and makes a mistake, he comes back in the next class and doesn’t repeat it. He just gets better and better. Over the last three months, I’ve felt way more scope and jump in him. I am really looking forward to taking him to Vegas and seeing how he goes.”

Lucifer V has stepped up to fufill Hardin Towell’s faith in him and will be his ride in the Longines FEI World Cup Final. Photo by Molly Sorge

When Hardin first picked Lucifer out in the fall of 2013 as a green 7-year-old, not everyone saw the promise in the Westphalian gelding (Lord Dezi—Grandina, Grandeur) that he did. “I’ve always felt like the horse was going to be great, but nobody else liked him! He played a lot on course, and he was always careful but he jumped in an unusual style,” he said.

“All my friends tell me, ‘I can’t believe that horse is doing what he’s doing,’ but I always believed in him. I knew he was capable of it, and sometimes you just have to stick with them,” Hardin continued. “He’s grown into himself. Before, he was always careful but he just kind of threw himself over the jumps. Now, he’s learning to have a nice shape in the air and use his hind end. He’s learning how to use his body. He’s also very confident; he loves what he’s doing. The feeling I have on him going into the ring is spectacular.

“I really haven’t put a ton of pressure on him this winter,” he said. “If I’d known Silence wouldn’t go to the World Cup, I might have done a little bit more with him, but I think he’s confident and he’ll go in there and try hard.”

With A Little Help From His Friends

Hardin’s going to have quite the cheering section in Las Vegas, though he noted that his sister, Liza, would probably be taking care of business and shepherding a string of 35 horses at a show in Aiken, S.C., that weekend instead of watching him.

But he’s developed quite a strong network of non-familial support as well. His barn manager and best friend, Chris Howard, is Olympic, World Games and World Cup Final veteran Leslie Howard’s nephew. “He’s pretty much my coach, too. What he says goes!” Hardin said. “He groomed for Leslie and went to World Cup Finals and all over with her. He’s very experienced at a lot of things that might be new to me. He tells me, ‘We’re going to do this,’ and steers me right.”

In addition, Hardin’s girlfriend, Sayre Hap, helps ride the horses at home, and he turns to some fellow young professionals like Charlie Jayne and Darragh Kenny as a sounding board. His father, Jack, and trainer as a junior, Missy Clark, also provide him with input.

“I like to watch a lot of riders and I take little things from everybody. When I come out of the ring, I have a lot of people I can go to talk things over if I need to—Eddie Macken has become a great resource for me and Missy Clark has helped me forever,” he said. “It’s difficult if someone’s not with you and your horses all the time, to just come in and help you for a show. We know our horses so well and you have to stick to your plan. But there are little things that people tell me that might help me. I take a little from everybody.”

So, Hardin’s headed to Vegas with quite a bit of confidence, but also a healthy dose of realism. “I’m just excited to go. I think my horse is ready and since it’s my first time there’s not a ton of pressure. I think we can just go and give it a shot and whatever happens happens,” he said.

Want to follow along with how Hardin’s doing at the Longines FEI World Cup Final? Make sure to bookmark www.coth.com and check in, since we’ll be in Las Vegas bringing you all the news, photos and behind the scenes details you’ll need.