Executive Privilege 3E Gets Promoted At Caledon Cup Final

Hugh Graham has big hopes for the elegant gray.

Hugh Graham will be one of the first to tell you that breeding horses is far from an exact science.
It’s a recipe made up of careful matching of bloodlines and trusting fate, with a healthy sprinkle of optimism for good measure.

The breeding program Graham and Seymour Epstein developed at KingRidge Stables now has more than 75 offspring to its name, with many talented prospects coming of age.

The headliner at the moment is Executive Privilege 3E, a classy gray Canadian Sport Horse gelding. Graham rode him to the top of the $82,076 Caledon Cup Final CSI-W on Sept. 27 in Palgrave, Ont.

“This was the biggest track he’s seen, but he handled it really well—he jumped around like a hunter,” Graham said of the 9-year-old gelding. “I was impressed. I haven’t seen the video yet, but I know what it felt like. It felt pretty easy for him.”

Just four of the 28 starters qualified for the jump-off, and Graham, who was 26th in the original order, had the advantage of going last in the second round. He and Executive Privilege 3E easily shaved a full second off second-placed Yann Candele’s time aboard Mustique.

“He’s very competitive in jump-offs—he’s very quick and handy,” Graham said. “He may have an unlucky rail here and there, but I always come out of the ring thinking he jumped great. He always gives you a really good feeling off the ground. He’s a trier.”

Graham broke Executive Privilege 3E as a 2-year-old, and after a brief stint in the pre-green hunters the gelding switched to the young jumper divisions and was quite successful there at 7 and 8. He won a few smaller grand prix classes in 2008, then began stepping up the ranks this year.

“He’s really a nice horse—he’s got a nice personality and he’s talented. I really like him,” Graham said. “He’s got a little bit of blood in him, but I’ve spent a lot of time getting him broke. He’s very well educated on the flat. It makes him very competitive in jump-offs, because he’s so well broke.”

Despite collecting 20 World Cup points in the class, Graham isn’t focusing on qualifying for the FEI World Cup Final (Switzerland) next spring.

“He’s quite a good horse,” he said. “If he keeps developing the way he’s coming along, and he doesn’t sell, he could be a horse for the [2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games]. It’s always in back of your mind, but I don’t want to go there just to be there. I’d want to go if he looked like he’d be a contender.”

Graham plans to show Executive Privilege at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, Ont., in November, then aim for the HITS Ocala Winter Circuit (Fla.).