Abrahamson and Charline 28 Dominate at the Lexington International CSI 3*

Abrahamson and Charline 28 Dominate at the Lexington International CSI 3*
Kady Abrahamson, Lexington, KY, and her Charline 28 won the $7,500 Brook Ledge High Junior/Amateur Owner Final at the Lexington International CSI 3*. This was their second win in that highly competitive division of the Split Rock Jumping Tour.

Abrahamson and Ashley Fleischhacker with Auckland De L'Enclos were the only horse and rider combinations to post double clear rounds in the class, but Fleischhacker's time of 43.434 could not challenge Abrahamson's blazing time of 38.013.

"This horse has always jumped great here and for some reason I ride the best in this ring, so I think that has something to do with the wins," said Abrahamson. "My mare is extremely fast, but I honestly thought my time could be beaten. I had to add a stride in a couple places, because she has a short step, and at one fence she jumped so high I just had to add, but she is so quick and turns so tight it worked out. I do have aspirations of moving up, possibly to International competition, but for right now I have three more years of college so I'll get that done and see where I am. Right now the horses are going great so I am happy."

Jorge Gomez, who hails from Colombia, won the $7,500 Child/Adult 1.10m Jumper final riding Dallas De Bonnett. Five horse and rider combinations posted clear rounds to advance to a timed jump-off. Gomez was the second rider in the ring for the second round and had to watch nervously as the remaining pairs tried to beat his time of 29.779 seconds, which they were not able to do. Ariel Bluman with her Euphoria took second place honors.

"It is the first time I have had the anthem of my country played for me at a competition," said Gomez. "Hopefully we can hear it played more times. This is a wonderful show and we are proud to support it by being here. My trainer and I planned every move of the jump-off and it all worked out. My horse is fast so we planned on using that, and to do six strides from fence 2 to fence 3, but he told me to make sure that I was already turning at the last stride. I think that made a huge difference. Other riders did the six strides but they came out too long because they were not turning. I think I beat them there. It was all because of a great plan from my trainer."