Madden was also pleasantly surprised with her mount’s agility, considering they are relatively inexperienced as a pair in jump-off situations, having only been partnered since the summer.
“After I did the five-stride line to the end jump, I asked him to turn pretty hard in the air, because I didn’t think he could turn that great, but he really turned fast,” Madden said. “I kind of said, ‘Okay, we’ll go with it!’ It came right up in the turn, which was good for me, and I just tried to bring it home. I caught a good one to the last one, too. It was right out of stride. I basically just had a little fun with it!”
As defending champion, Madden is automatically qualified for the 2019 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final in Gothenburg (SWE). Her objective has become making as many of the horses in her string eligible and selecting the horse that is best prepared come springtime.
“I have already Darry Lou, Breitling, and Chic eligible,” she said. “I plan on using Coach early in the [winter] season, because he’s had a nice break. We’ll see who’s the hot horse going into the World Cup Finals, which is kind of what my strategy was last year.”
