Mollie Bailey

A bold move gives Jessica Springsteen the winning edge in the ASPCA Maclay Final.

Jessica Springsteen’s long-time trainer Stacia Madden knew that to win the ASPCA Maclay Finals her student would need talent, hard work, proper preparation—and a little luck. So the day before the Final, Madden was on the lookout for any indication that the stars were aligning.

Jessica Springsteen’s trainer Stacia Madden had a feeling that her student would have a lucky day leading into the APSCA Maclay Final today, Nov. 1. “I have a real big thing about karma,” said Madden, of Beacon Hill. “When they were doing the draw, and John said ‘pick a good one,’ the next number they pulled was Jessie’s.”

So Madden wasn’t entirely surprised when her student bested 149 riders to capture the ASPCA Maclay Championship. Springsteen, 16, edged out Victoria Birdsall, and Zazou Hoffman finished third.

Whitney Weeks couldn’t have asked for a more perfect weekend. She and her Subliem didn’t accrue a single fault over four rounds of competition at the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament to top the $40,000 Beacon Hill High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Grand Prix today, Nov. 2.  Clementine Goutal and Rastella kept the rails up all week, finishing just a hair slower than Weeks in the Thursday’s speed round to accumulate .5 penalty points and take second.

The final results of the ASPCA Maclay Final are...

1. Jessica Springsteen

2. Victoria Birdsall

3. Zazou Hoffman

4. Christy Distefano

5. Samantha L. Smith

6. Laura Pfeiffer

7. Rachel Udelson

8. Carolyn Curcio

9. Lucy Davis

10. Samantha Senft

After a 150 riders tackled the APSCA Maclay Final course today, Nov. 1, the top 31 riders retuned to work on the flat, jostling the standings. Judges Leo Conroy and Jimmy Torano selected 25 riders to return for a work-off, tentively scheduled for a 4:40 start.

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.

Jessica Springsteen kept her winning streak alive at this year’s National Horse Show at the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament. Both of Springsteen’s junior hunters took tricolors today, Oct. 31, with Stone Hill Farms’ Tiziano picking up large junior hunter and grand junior hunter honors, and Sublime earning reserve in the small division.  Judges Leo Conroy and Scott Williamson named Springsteen Best Child Rider for her efforts.

Bering C will head to a new home tomorrow, but before Sachine Belle loaded him on the trailer, they picked up one last green hunter tricolor for Lindsey Irvin today, Oct. 30, at the National Horse Show at the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament. SBS Farms’ Jersey Boy left the Oncenter in Syracuse, N.Y. with reserve honors.

Belle struggled to control her emotions after she walked out of the ring after a winning trip in the stakes class. “I looked over at his groom and we were both crying,” said Belle. “I said ‘Oh, we’re so pitiful!’ ”

The Mohr sisters stole the show at the Washington International Horse Show last night, Oct. 22, in downtown Washington D.C. Lindsey captured the $10,000 WIHS Adult Amateur Hunter Championship win on Lion King, and her sister Kristen took top honors in the $10,000 WIHS Children’s Hunter Championship with Marvel. The sisters, who hail from Long Valley, N.J., train with Stacia Madden and Krista Freundlich of Beacon Hill Stables.

German-born professional Petra Warlimont tops two divisions at the Colorado Horse Park.

When Stephanie Dubois-Esmond entered the ring aboard Carrera Z to jump off in the $10,000 North American League Children’s Jumper  Final, Oct. 14, she knew she was going for broke. After all, come to the Pennsylvania National Horse Show twice before to try to grab blue, and at 18, she wouldn’t have another chance.

“I knew we were going to go fast in the jump-off,” said Dubois-Esmond. “He’s either going to crash and burn or he’s going to win. There’s no point in going in and being terrified of what’s going to happen.”