The Pepsi U25 Challenge was held early Friday evening at Spruce Meadows, with 29 entries and a nine-horse jump-off, held over a 1.45m track set by Santiago Varela (ESP). The win went to Ireland’s Daniel Coyle, a 21-year-old rider, who burst onto the North American scene this year with the ride on many talented horses for Susan Grange’s Lothlorien Farm. For the win on Friday, Coyle guided Grange’s Somerset, an eight-year-old Canadian Sport Horse mare (For Pleasure x Oklund) to the fastest double clear round in 39.48 seconds. Coyle’s time pushed Kara Chad (CAN) and Torrey Pines Stable’s Tisele du Park to second place with their round in 39.90 seconds. Hilary McNerney (USA) and Z Acodate DDL settled for third on their time of 42.24 seconds. Theodore Boris (USA) jumped into fourth place aboard Icon d’Or in a time of 43.03, and Andres Azcarraga Rivera Torres (MEX) finished fifth with Jaime Azcarraga’s Al Capone in 43.40 seconds. Boris also took sixth place honors aboard Hip Star in 43.99 seconds. Speaking of his winning mount, Somerset, Coyle stated, “She is only eight and I actually can’t believe that she was fit to go that fast at that height. She only just moved up to that level. We always knew she was going to be a good horse, but we have been trying to get it out of her. Just in the last month here she has been fabulous and I could not be happier. She tried really hard out there.”
