The $37,000 CaptiveOne Advisors 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic started an action-packed day of competition on the Derby Field at Equestrian Village with 50 horse-and-rider combinations contesting Oscar Soberon’s (USA) educated first track. More than 13 nations were represented in the class and seven of those countries were represented in the returning jump-off field which consisted of 18 fault-free competitors.
Ireland’s Shane Sweetnam held the leading time for a majority of the shortened track until FEI World Equestrian Games Tryon 2018 U.S. team gold medalist Adrienne Sternlicht found an even faster pace. The young professional proved ready for an impressive season as she captured the first win of the day aboard Lafayette Van Overis.
Sternlicht laid it all on the line with the 11-year-old BWP gelding (Kashmir Van Schuttershof x Houdini Van Overis) with a variety of long gallops and tight turns to shave an entire three seconds off of Sweetnam’s time and blaze through the timers in 42.51 seconds.
Sweetnam and the Triple S Group’s 10-year-old KWPN mare (Nabab De Reve x Diva) Holliewood maintained their runner-up position with the final time of 45.40 seconds. Great Britain’s young rider Grace Debney slid into third late in the order with Temple Equestrian LLC’s 11-year-old Spanish Sport Horse mare Zarina De Vidau (Diamant De Semilly x Carina XXXVII CH) a little less than a second behind Sweetnam on 46.17 seconds.
Source: Press release
Photo: © Sportfot