Lexington, Ky.—Nov. 3

From the time Taylor Cawley walked the course for the ASPCA Maclay Final early this morning, she had a very clear plan.

“I think walking the first course, it was a lot about keeping your horses straight and your adjustability,” she said.

When she entered the ring as 90^th in the original order, her goal was to demonstrate just that with Oki D’Eclipse, and she did. The 16-year-old from Wellington, Florida, scored a 93.5 in her first round to take the top spot among the 172 starters. While there was still almost half of the field to come, none were able to catch her.

In the flat phase she lost her foothold slightly, slipping into second behind Washington International Horse Show Equitation Final (Maryland) winner Adriana Forte, but it didn’t faze Cawley, who focused on the same principles of straightness and execution for round 2 over fences. That boosted her back to the top, but judges Cynthia Hankins, Scott Fitton, Keri Kampsen and Lyman T. Whitehead weren’t done with the riders yet.

They brought back four athletes—Cawley, Forte, Christian Dominguez and Maddie Tosh—for a final test that included a hand gallop fence and a halt.

“Going into the test, I think we started off strong with a hand gallop, and I wanted to show it off and still be able to do the inside turn after and just keeping him straight, keeping his stride adjustable,” Cawley said. “And I think it worked out really well.”

For the judges, Cawley was a clear winner.

“Her consistency all day, we just felt like she seemed right there, the same throughout each round, all day long,” said Fitton. “And we were very impressed with the way she handled it.”

This is the second final Cawley won this season with “Oki,” a 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood (Catoki—Eluna D’Eclipse, Calato) owned by Sea Horse Investments. She also won the Platinum Performance/USEF Show Jumping Talent Search Final—East (New Jersey) and was second at Washington.

“I honestly couldn’t ask for a better partner,” Cawley said. “Throughout this whole final season, he’s been amazing. He always comes out ready for the next day. He’s just been the best partner I can ask for, especially in a long final season like this, and I think it’s really important that you have a special bond with your horse.”

Dominguez, who finished third at Washington behind Forte and Cawley, moved up from eighth after the first round to finish in the reserve spot with Iwan, who he’s been riding for four years.

“I feel very privileged to have him, because he’s never put a foot out of place,” said Dominguez. “He always shows up. And, you know, the relationship I built up with him is just so special. And I can walk in there, and I know what’s going to happen every time in the ring, and I can formulate a plan around that.”

Forte rounded out the top three, riding Candescent, the same horse that she rode to the win at Washington.

“The plan is a big part of every final you go to, and I think everyone’s kind of different,” she said. “For example, if your horse has a short step, it goes left, it goes right, every person is riding the track differently and you can’t always depend on watching one person and seeing how they ride the track versus how your horse is going to ride it. And I think it’s knowing your horse, knowing your trainer and figuring out the plan altogether.”

The judges worked with course designer Bobby Murphy on today’s tracks, and Kampsen said her hope was that riding them wasn’t about set strides between each jump.

“I wanted to see not so many related distances,” Kampsen said. “I wanted to see the kids have to ride. I know so often when I’m judging, it’s a five to a seven to an eight to a four to a two, to a one, and everything is just rapid fire on a count. So my only input to Bobby was I wanted to see the kids have to ride and make some choices.”

See full results here.

The Chronicle will be on site, bringing you gorgeous photos, interviews and more, so check back during the week. Make sure to follow along at www.coth.com and on Facebook and Instagram @Chronofhorse. For full analysis and coverage from the horse show be sure to check out the Nov. 18 issue of the magazine.