Wellington, Fla., March 6
With 12 of the top horses in the world racing for the top check, Lauren Hough knew she’d have to make some moves to win.
And that’s just what she did, racing around the turns and daring Quick Study at the jumps. The veteran bay answered her call and flew across the ground and jumped out of his skin to take the top check in the $150,000 Wellington Equestrian Realty Grand Prix. She shaved a half a second off Nick Skelton’s leading time for the blue.
“Nick’s horse is really fast, and I watched them go,” Hough said. “The trick was the double combination—I took a risk there and he jumped it very well. I came into it really fast and he backed himself off it and jumped it amazingly.” A big field of 12 riders qualified for the jump-off after 43 attempted Round 1. The jump-off had a definite international flavor, with riders from the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Ireland, Russia, and Germany gunning for the win.
That double was what remained of a very testing triple combination course designer had built for Round 1. Quite a few horses had trouble there, including class favorite Sapphire, who had to reach for the back rail of the oxer at 12C and didn’t quite make it. Her 4 faults left her in 17th. Mario Deslauriers and Urico came to grief there, as Urico swum through 12C and landed in a heap, tipping Deslauriers off. The same thing happened to Brianne Goutal on Ballade van het Indihof. Those two horses and riders left the ring unscathed, but young rider Eirin Bruheim’s fall at 12C earned her a trip out of the ring on a medical golf cart, though she’s reported to be fine after a hospital visit.
“You don’t see a vertical-oxer-oxer combination that’s one-stride to one-stride too much,” said Hough. “It proved to be very difficult. You had to come in at just the right pace. If you came in too slow and had trouble at 12B, then you definitely weren’t getting over 12C.
Definitely Impressive
Steve Stephens built a testing track for the day’s event. “I thought it was really big, and the oxers were wide,” said Amy Millar, who rode Costa Rica into third behind Hough and Skelton. “I have a very scopey horse, so I wasn’t worried, but I would say I was impressed after walking the course.”
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British rider Gemma Paternoster was the first to go clean in Round 1, much to her delight, and she led the way in the jump-off with a clean, but conservative, round in 48.49 seconds. Christine McCrea picked up the pace, but felled a rail at the second jump. German rider Andre Thieme also paid for his heavy foot with a rail.
Millar, daughter of Canadian legend Ian Millar, then cruised around on Costa Rica to take over the lead. She went clean in 44.40 seconds. “I know my horse pretty well, and I knew I couldn’t go crazy fast, but I was very pleased with her,” Millar said.
The next two riders—Candice King on Skara Glen’s Davos and Rodrigo Pessoa on Let’s Fly—paid for their speed with rails at the first element of the double. But then Skelton put quick and clean together again with the adorable dapple gray Carlo.
“I think I lost [the class] going to the last jump,” Skelton said. “I had a good shot at a nice, forward distance to the oxer, but then he jumped a mark the tractor had left in the footing about three strides out from the jump. That cost me a stride, and probably that fraction of a second.”
Beezie Madden and Pablo Barrios both had rails, and British rider Ben Maher had a slow clean on the powerful and elegant stallion Triple X III before Hough cantered in on Quick Study. She had a clear ‘take no prisoners’ strategy, using Quick Study’s quick gallop to her best advantage. After she crossed the finish timers, she looked back at the scoreboard and burst into a big grin, since she’d bettered Skelton’s time.
A New Perspective
Millar was thrilled to be in third behind Hough and Skelton. She’s been riding Costa Rica for seven years, so she knows the 16-year-old mare well. Last year, Millar had to take time off from riding to have a baby. While everyone else was in Florida, Costa Rica was turned out and on vacation, getting fat and fuzzy. Millar kept her semi-fit by lunging her, and when everyone came back from Florida in the spring, Millar’s brother, Jonathon, started riding and showing Costa Rica. Millar had a daughter, Lily, on May 24, and was back in the saddle by August.
“Since I had my daughter, I’m more relaxed about showing,” Millar said. “I still love to do well, but there’s less pressure. If I have 4 faults, it’s not the end of the world, because I get to go home and spend time with my beautiful baby.”
