Taylor Cawley was never too far from the top spot among the 172 riders who contested the ASPCA Maclay Final on Sunday, to close out the National Horse Show (Kentucky).
Her opening round aboard Oki D’Eclipse, a 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood (Catoki—Eluna D’Eclipse, Calato) owned by Sea Horse Investments, put her in pole position from the start. And though she slipped to second in the flat phase, behind Washington International Horse Show Equitation Final (Maryland) winner Adriana Forte, she regained the top spot after the second over fences round and didn’t relinquish it again.
“Her consistency all day, we just felt like she seemed right there, the same throughout each round, all day long,” said Scott Fitton, who judged the class with Cynthia Hankins, Keri Kampsen and Lyman T. Whitehead. “And we were very impressed with the way she handled it.”
For the final test, the judges asked riders to execute a round that began with a hand-gallop and ended with a halt after the final fence, with opportunities between for riders show off their skills with rollbacks and inside turns.
“Going into the test, I think we started off strong with a hand gallop, and I wanted to show it off and still be able to do the inside turn after and just keeping him straight, keeping his stride adjustable,” Cawley said. “And I think it worked out really well.”
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Watch the rounds that sealed the win for Cawley, courtesy of ClipMyHorse.tv.
Round 2:
Final Test:
