Francois Mathy claims Double H Farm $100,000 International Open

Sometimes it is a rail, sometimes it is an inside turn and sometimes it is just one-tenth of a second separating the winner from the losers. That is exactly what happened during the Double H Farm $100,000 International Open Jumpers at the Alltech National Horse Show.

Todd Minikus was aiming for his second win in a row with Quality Girl, completing a clear jump-off effort, when Belgium's Francois Mathy was faultless during the 14-horse jump-off aboard Polinska Des Isles, crossing the finish line a fraction of a second faster to capture the winning honors.

Forty of the world's top riders gathered at the Alltech Arena to compete during tonight's feature class. Conrad Homfeld offered challenging questions for the first round, but 14 horse and rider combinations managed to clear the course and advance to the jump-off.

“I think Conrad was probably surprised that he got a couple extra clear, but he truly is a world class course designer,” noted Minikus. “I think he was trying to make it comfortable to get people's horses going well. A good course designer gets the horses going well during the week and then tests them on the weekend. I think that's quite a good job.”

Beezie Madden of Cazenovia, NY, was the second to return for the tiebreaker with Abigail Wexner's Amadora, and she wore a target on her back when she made tidy work of the course and left each rail in place to finish in 44.22 seconds, which would hold up for third place.

After Madden produced a faultless round, Todd Minikus of Loxahatchee, FL, left nothing to chance with his winner from last night's Taylor Harris $50,000 Open Jumper Welcome Speed, Quality Girl, owned by Chris Brems. The pair was quick over the top of each fence, and they shaved off valuable seconds in each turn to best the clock with a time of 41.51 seconds.

Great Britain's Tim Gredley was up next with Unex Chamberlain Z, but they would have the most conservative of the double clear efforts in 45.06 seconds for fifth place. Kirsten Coe of Royal Palm Beach, FL, was narrowly faster than Gredley aboard Baronez, owned by Ilan Ferder and Lousta Stuteri. While also leaving each fence in place, the pair broke the beam at 45.01 seconds for fourth place.

The final double clear round in the jump-off proved to be the best of the night. Traveling all the way from Belgium, Francois Mathy's focus is on Saturday night's World Cup Qualifier, but tonight he proved that he and Polinska Des Isles, owned by Team Harmony, will be ready for the challenge. They stayed right on Minikus' track and managed to finish just slightly ahead of his time, dashing across the finish line in 41.42 seconds to capture the victory by just 1/10th of a second.

“To be honest, my mare is really fast, but I really came here in order to get some World Cup points,” admitted Mathy. “I went quite neat; I didn't think I could beat the time from Todd. It was quite a good surprise when I passed the timer. I didn't see his round, but I saw yesterday he won by three seconds. He was fast so I didn't really calculate on beating him and watching his round.”

“It's all good sport, you know,” stated Minikus. “I live by the theory if you're not the winner, you're the loser, but it's all good sport. Francois gave his horse a heck of a ride and second place is second place.”

Mathy had top placings throughout Spruce Meadows with his 10-year-old mare Polinska Des Isles, including a double clear during the Nations Cup, and they also helped the Belgian team place fifth during the 2013 FEI Nations Cup Finals in Barcelona, Spain. After success in North America during the summer and fall, Mathy decided to spend the indoor season in the United States.

“In Europe, it's quite difficult to get in to the World Cups,” stated Mathy. “I quite enjoyed my tour in North America, and I thought it'd be a good opportunity for me to try and get a few more points. It's my first time actually doing Indoors in North America so this is quite a nice beginning. I was quite impressed to see the facility here and all of the organization. Everybody's very welcoming, and I'm really happy I came.”

McLain Ward and Zander Zip to $50,000 International Open Speed Victory

The National Horse Show Association of America $50,000 International Open Speed, presented by Copernicus and the Coulter Family tested the foot speed of the top mounts over a faults converted track designed by Conrad Homfeld. About midway through the field it looked like young rider Catherine Pasmore had the win in her sights with Vandavid after carefully navigating each obstacle and breaking the beam at a speedy 65.73 seconds.

Unfortunately, Olympian McLain Ward went a few rounds later with his consistent partner Zander. The pair easily left all the rails intact and galloped efficiently through a bending line early in the course, as well as taking the direct route after one of the double combinations. The plan paid off, and they finished in 63.09 seconds to take a commanding lead.

Ward could not breathe a sigh of relief just yet though. The last rider to tackle the course was Meagan Nusz with Vesuvius, and they stayed right on Ward's tracks. Taking sharp turns and leaving strides out they were on the money and it looked like they could take the win, but Nusz and Vesuvius stopped the clock at 63.95, just tenths of a second away from the lead for the second place prize, while Ward led the victory gallop.

“Meagan gave me a good run, but it went our way tonight,” admitted Ward. “I was lucky to go late. Last night I had to go very early. Tonight I had a better draw. He has a really big stride, so I was able to leave out a couple of places, and he is a pretty quick horse.”

At just 9 years old with multiple wins to his name, Ward is excited about Zander's future. “This is Zander's first time Indoors,” he explained. “He jumped the Grand Prix in Washington last week, and he was good, but a little green. We have been kind of moving him up and down in the shows a little bit. This is a unique show because you have two very big speed classes, and one really big one. With the prize money being as good as it is, this probably wouldn't be his normal class of the show, but the standards are high and it is good for the horse to learn to do that. I think he is going to be a big top, top horse, he's almost there.”

Results

Class 203, $100,000 OPEN JPR 1.50M

1 347 POLINSKA DES ISLES FRANCOIS MATHY 0 0 0 66.710 0 0 0 41.420

2 339 QUALITY GIRL TODD MINIKUS 0 0 0 66.670 0 0 0 41.510

3 249 AMADORA BEEZIE MADDEN 0 0 0 68.400 0 0 0 44.220

4 213 BARONEZ KIRSTEN COE 0 0 0 67.260 0 0 0 45.010

5 226 UNEX CHAMBERLAIN Z TIM GREDLEY 0 0 0 65.840 0 0 0 45.060

6 244 JUBILEE D'OUILLY LAURA KRAUT 0 0 0 64.210 4 0 4 41.530

7 241 ASLAN LJUBOV KOCHETOVA 0 0 0 66.340 4 0 4 42.280

8 270 DENVER VAN T GOEMANSHOT OLIVIER PHILIPPAERTS 0 0 0 65.290 4 0 4 42.880

9 330 PUMPED UP KICKS LILLIE KEENAN 0 0 0 66.450 4 0 4 44.260

10 307 NOUGAT DU VALLET KATHERINE DINAN 0 0 0 64.180 8 0 8 43.490

11 253 ZERLY CHRISTINE MCCREA 0 0 0 65.810 8 0 8 44.320

12 344 MARK Q KEVIN BABINGTON 0 0 0 68.160 7 1 8 51.870

Class 2022, $50,000 FAULTS CONV. 1.45M

1 291 ZANDER MCLAIN WARD 0 0 0 63.090

2 318 VESUVIUS MEAGAN NUSZ 0 0 0 63.900

3 266 VANDAVID CATHERINE PASMORE 0 0 0 65.730

4 328 THE PUGILIST JOS VERLOOY 0 0 0 66.920

5 216 INDIGO MARGIE ENGLE 0 0 0 67.070

6 345 SHORAPUR KEVIN BABINGTON 0 0 0 68.490

7 269 FIDELE OLIVIER PHILIPPAERTS 0 0 0 68.600

8 262 KAID DU RY ALISE OKEN 0 0 0 68.660

9 203 WINTU LESLIE HOWARD 0 0 0 68.710

10 284 CYKLON 1083 SHANE SWEETNAM 0 0 0 70.960