PrintHe and Beezie Madden are gearing up to win big money before heading to Europe.
The jump-off for the $200,000 CN Worldwide CSI-W turned into a blazing duel between two of the fastest horses in the country as Beezie Madden and Authentic went head-to-head with Kent Farrington and Up Chiqui.
It’s hard to beat Up Chiqui, but Authentic and Madden survived a momentary blip to do it, topping the class held March 16, during week 9 of the CN Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Fla.
“I saw Kent go before me and knew I had to be fast in the jump-off,” said Madden. With the crowd screaming at them to go faster to the last jump, Authentic stumbled, and the cheering paused. But a split second later, the Olympic veterans regained their ground and continued on to the final obstacle, still managing to better Farrington’s time.
“After he tripped, I changed my mind and decided to add a step. Kent had been a little slow and wide after the triple bar, where I had done one less stride than he had,” said Madden.
Madden’s time of 34.17 seconds shaved more than a second off of Farrington’s (35.23 seconds). Farrington and Up Chiqui, winners of the $150,000 CN US Open Jumping Championship on March 9, claimed second while Chris Kappler, Madden’s 2004 Olympic gold medal teammate, took third aboard VDL Oranta in a time of 36.33 seconds.
The jump-off for the $200,000 CN Worldwide CSI-W turned into a blazing duel between two of the fastest horses in the country as Beezie Madden and Authentic went head-to-head with Kent Farrington and Up Chiqui.
It’s hard to beat Up Chiqui, but Authentic and Madden survived a momentary blip to do it, topping the class held March 16, during week 9 of the CN Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Fla.“I saw Kent go before me and knew I had to be fast in the jump-off,” said Madden. With the crowd screaming at them to go faster to the last jump, Authentic stumbled, and the cheering paused. But a split second later, the Olympic veterans regained their ground and continued on to the final obstacle, still managing to better Farrington’s time.
“After he tripped, I changed my mind and decided to add a step. Kent had been a little slow and wide after the triple bar, where I had done one less stride than he had,” said Madden.
Madden’s time of 34.17 seconds shaved more than a second off of Farrington’s (35.23 seconds). Farrington and Up Chiqui, winners of the $150,000 CN US Open Jumping Championship on March 9, claimed second while Chris Kappler, Madden’s 2004 Olympic gold medal teammate, took third aboard VDL Oranta in a time of 36.33 seconds.
| Lazy Sunday Banks A Win In $50,000 International Hunter Derby When Scott Stewart rode Beyond into the Internationale Arena at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center on the evening of March 21, he was leading the $50,000 ASG Software Solutions/USHJA International Hunter Derby on Lazy Sunday and had the best first-round score on Beyond. But the one-two finish slipped away as a dropped rail at the last fence put Beyond out of the money and left Lazy Sunday at the top of the class, picking up a check for $15,000. Patricia Griffith claimed second on Bradley Cox’s Kosta. Jennifer Alfano and Rock Star, who won the $25,000 ASG Software Solutions International Hunter Derby on March 15 at the HITS Ocala (Fla.) venue, finished third. Round 1 of the class went during the day of March 20, with 59 starting. Round 2 went under the lights on the evening of March 21, and 26 returned. Richard Jeffery built a course with plenty of unusual elements. One jump had large fake boulders placed at the base. “The boulders sort of spooked me as a rider, and a few horses had problems, but most of the horses didn’t really mind it so much,” Stewart said. Jeffery also incorporated the new bank complex in the ring. “The bank complex was quite intimidating,” Stewart said. Horses had to go up the ramp, then jump down the 2' bank over a small vertical. Two verticals were set on an angle to the down bank—riders had to choose whether to negotiate a direct one-stride distance to a 4' vertical or a two-stride distance to a small vertical. In the hunter derbies, judges award bonus points for rides over more difficult options. |
