Ocala, Fla.—Feb. 15  

Redemption was pretty sweet for Laura Kraut. Still sporting a black eye from her mishaps in the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup with Cedric, where they came to grief in the triple combination in both rounds two days before, she proudly declared him back to his old self.

And he looked it in the $150,000 Ocala Grand Prix, blazing to the top of a jump-off that took fast, faster and fastest to a new level.

“He’s a veteran. My partner, Nick [Skelton], said, ‘That horse sure knows how to get out of jail.’ He came out today and made up for the other day. But he’s always a trier and I think he made an honest mistake the other day,” Kraut said.

“Today Cedric was more like he normally is. He was on form and I felt as confident as I could feel,” Kraut said. In the Nations Cup, Cedric stopped at the triple combination—a line of triple bar, one stride to a vertical, and a tight two strides to another vertical, all of orange rails—in the first round, then left the ground to the C element a stride early in Round 2, crashing through it.

“I’m not going to lie, I was a little shaken up the other day because it was a little out of character for him to misjudge a triple,” Kraut said. “It was a one-stride to a one-stride today so he couldn’t miscount! I am so pleased he was back to himself.”

Cedric was back on form, jumping like a deer in the $150,000 Ocala Grand Prix.

Cedric’s “himself” involves an almost unbeatable ground speed, as he digs in and pins his ears. And Kraut had to go flat-out on him, since Kevin Babington had set a furious pace on Shorapur.

“The seven [strides] from 1 to 2 was so forward. I felt like I was flat out,” Kraut said. “I cringed when he left the ground because I thought for sure he was going to hook it behind. I only beat Kevin by a few tenths of a second, and that’s a blink.”

Babington caught one vertical just a bit flatter than he would have liked, which made his turn after that jump a bit wider than he planned. “I had a hard time turning, so I knew if she’d catch me, she’d catch me there,” he said. “She’s a fighter and she’s a fast horse. Even when you’re slowing down you’re going fast.”

Shorapur and Kevin Babington dug in and flew for second place.

Babington and Shorapur were a crucial part of the Irish team’s winning effort in the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup two days before, putting in two clean rounds. “I was very pleased with her today. Even though she jumped a double clean in the Nations Cup, there were a few sticky moments. I went to much softer bit today and I felt like I still had plenty of control, so she’s on track for where I want her to be,” said Babington.

Andre Thieme, a German rider who frequently spends his winters at HITS Ocala and won the Great American $1 Million Grand Prix in Ocala in 2014, was just in his first week of showing in Florida, so he was pleased to be third in his first big class of the circuit with Conthendrix. “My horse is not the fastest horse. He’s still developing and he’s getting faster and faster, but I knew with [Laura and Kevin] still to go I knew it was going to be hard to win. I’m very happy to be third,” Thieme said.

Course designer Martin Otto set quite a healthy track for the class. “It was a serious track, for anywhere you’d go in the world,” Kraut said. “It didn’t let up the whole way around; you couldn’t take a breath. There was a double of oxers ot a very tall vertical, a very big triple bar, and a triple combination that was very careful. It rode big everywhere.”

Of the 39 who started the class, seven qualified to jump off. And it was quite an international field, with Juan Pablo Betancourt of Colombia, Sofia Larrea B and Nicolas Pizzaro of Mexico, Thieme of Germany, Babington from Ireland and two U.S. riders—Kraut and Georgina Bloomberg—facing off.

For lots more from Nations Cup week in Ocala, make sure to read the March 9 print issue of The Chronicle of the Horse, including discussion about what brings young Irish riders to the United States and how Kraut got herself and Cedric back in a winning frame of mind.

Find full results of the class here.

Kevin Babington and Shorapur.

Andrew Thieme of Germany and Conthendrix, who places third.

Thieme galloped on Conthendrix, but couldn’t catch Kraut and Babington.

Mexican rider Nicolas Pizarro and the gorgeous gray Barbaro claimed fourth.

Georgina Bloomberg pushed Juvina as fast as she could, but they caught a 
rail in the jump-off to take fifth place.