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The two grand prix classes that comprise the Rolex/U.S. Equestrian Federation National Show Jumping Championship are just about the only ones Kent Farrington and Up Chiqui have entered and not won this year. But second place in the $25,000 National Horse Show Jumper Classic and fourth in the $100,000 National Horse Show Grand Prix CSI-W brought them the national title on Dec. 5-9 at the National Horse Show in Wellington, Fla.
McLain Ward won the title last year on Sapphire but this year rode a new star—Phillipa—to the top of the $100,000 National Horse Show Grand Prix CSI-W, while Eric Lamaze captured the $25,000 National Horse Show Jumper Classic.
The $25,000 first leg of the class, held under the lights of the Internationale arena, saw nearly half of the 32 starters go clean over a Pierre Jolicouer course that some described as “soft.”
It made for a long and exciting jumpoff, however. Ward, the defending champion, was eager to retain his title. He poured on the speed with Larioso, but his time of 42.01 seconds—the fastest in the 15-horse tiebreaker—came at a price. A fence down put him eighth, which would be low enough to cost him the title when the points were added up on Sunday afternoon.
But Friday evening belonged instead to the No. 1 one rider on the USEF computer list, Lamaze, who, ironically, is a Canadian.
He was swift but not reckless with Narcotique de Muze II. Going near the end of the jump-off gave him an advantage that was not enjoyed by Farrington, one of the favorites to take the championship on Up Chiqui, who has won 11 grand prix classes in 2007.
But Farrington was fourth to ride, right after Ward, and he was wary of making the same mistake—going too fast and risking a rail.
“At the time, the [quickest clear round] wasn’t that fast, so I was trying not to go all-out and save him a little bit maybe for Sunday,” said Kent, explaining his strategy and his clocking in 45.06 seconds, rather
conservative for the speedy Up Chiqui.
“I left it a little bit open, and I just got beat. If I had gone later, I might have pushed him a little bit more,” Farrington reflected.
Lamaze faced a different scenario. He rode fourth from the bottom of the jump-off order, with no horse behind him whose speed equaled that of Narcotique de Muze. He went for it, and his clocking of 44.02 seconds did the trick.
“It was an open, gallop-type jump-off with a very few turns,” said Lamaze. That meant foot speed could prevail, and Nar-cotique had it.
“It’s almost easier when you’ve got nothing to lose and you’ve got to go as fast as your horse can go. I was lucky enough that the rails stayed up,” commented Lamaze.
The situation was quite different two days later in the $100,000 finale of the championship, however. The fact that it offered double points for the national title and was a World Cup-qualifier prompted Jolicouer to ramp up the level of difficulty.
That was compounded by a tight, 88-second time allowed. Nearly half of the 27 starters had time penalties, with 12 adding to their totals after failing to beat the clock.
