Although Christine McCrea took the top check in the $100,000 Budweiser Grand Prix of Syracuse CSI-W, the real winner was course designer Leonardo Palacios. A star-studded line-up which read like a virtual who’s who in the world of show jumping converged upon Syracuse, N.Y., for the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament, but only McCrea and Vegas managed to get around fault-free tonight, Nov. 1.

Todd Minikus took second aboard Pavarotti and Great Britain’s Ben Maher earned third with Robin Hood W after each accrued a time fault.

“I never imagined in my wildest dreams I would have been the only clear, especially with all the Olympic riders here and the Olympic horses,” said McCrea. “To only have to jump one round and be the winner—it just doesn’t happen.”

Palacios—whose tracks at this show Jill Henselwood described as “dastardly”—set a merciless round for the World Cup-qualifier. Two huge combinations fell time and time again, and a delicate ASPCA wall kept losing bricks. Those that did manage to negotiate the fences faced a very snug time allowed, which only five of the 29 starters could catch.

“That was a course that would work at the FEI World Cup Final in Vegas (Nev.) this spring,” declared Minikus. “That was top notch. There was no room for error and you had to have a little luck.”

Maher declared the course “one of the biggest indoor classes I ever would have jumped. I think virtually impossible to clear all the jumps inside the time allowed. Christine’s horse is naturally very fast and she rode perfect distances off of every corner.”

McCrea couldn’t believe her good fortune and theorized that all the stars had aligned for her win.

“In the Passmore Cup I went in and had a rail, and he really hit it quite hard, for him,” said McCrea. “And today he remembered that, and that really made him extra sharp.  I knew it was a hard course and I was focused as I get. It was unbelievable: he was perfect, and I managed not to screw it up!”