“I’ve got such a soft spot in my heart for him,” Margie Engle said about Hidden Creek’s Perin. “He’s one of the best horses I’ve ever sat on. He may not be the fastest, but he’s for sure the scopiest and he jumps the big jumps better and easier than any other horse I’ve ever ridden.”

And in the jump-off of for the top check in the $75,000 Budweiser World Cup of Syracuse CSI-W tonight, Nov. 5, Perin’s power won out over a terrifically speedy and competitive jump-off field. The grand prix, which was a very popular spectator event here in Syracuse, N.Y., was one of the featured classes of the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament.

Engle had to go second of the nine riders who qualified for the jump-off. Dutch rider Gerco Schroeder had trailblazed the way over a very difficult first-round course, recording the first clear round as the 11th to go out of 34. But he couldn’t repeat in the jump-off, finishing with four faults in 37.58 seconds. Engle knew she had to lay down a competitive trip, since seven of the fastest riders followed her, including McLain Ward, Beezie Madden, Laura Kraut and Aaron Vale.

The jump-off track twisted around in rollbacks for the first few fences, but concluded with a triple-bar out of the corner by the in-gate, followed by a gallop down the length of the ring to the Sea World plank vertical. Engle laid down an efficient round, clean but not overly quick. “I did get a little wider than I wanted to the triple bar, but in hindsight, I think it might have worked in my favor, since he jumped it well,” she said. Engle stopped the timers clean in 28.48 seconds.

Laura Kraut, next in, made it very clear that she was riding Anthem to win. Shaving the turns, she was well up on the clock on the gallop to the last, But she saw a flyer to the plank vertical, and Anthem caught the top rail with a hind toe. The four-fault round in the fastest time of the night—34.09 seconds—would leave them third.

McLain Ward, on the promising young Oasis, sliced the turn to the triple bar and Oasis stopped. The regrouped to finish with four jumping and four time faults in 48 seconds. Kim Prince’s jump-off bid on Marlou ended early when the chestnut mare cut down on the back rail of the third fence, leaving them with four faults in 37.08 seconds.

Next in was Christine Tribble, who rode the hair off Promised Land to record a clear round in 38.63 seconds. She took her time around the turns, but made sure to jump clean, and it paid off as she finished second. “I’m so excited. It was probably my best finish on him,” she said. “I showed a lot in Europe this summer, and George [Morris] helped me a lot, and all the practice paid off.”

The second Dutch representative of the evening, Harry Smolders, cut an extremely efficient track around the jump-off, but saw a long distance to the triple bar out of the corner and his Exquis Oliver Q came down on the back rail. They finished with the four faults in 36.87 seconds.

Hometown and obvious crowd favorite Beezie Madden cantered into the ring on Authentic to the roaring crowd. The gasps were almost as loud when she fell victim to the triple bar in the exact same way as Smolders—cutting the turn and ending up long, bringing Authentic down on the back rail. Her time of 36.10 was good enough for fourth. Aaron Vale rounded out the field with an eight-fault jump-off effort aboard Artur.

Throughout the week, competition has been raging fiercely, with junior, amateur-owner, adult amateur, children’s, and masters classes in addition to the open jumpers. And they’ve gotten the opportunity to show in different kinds of classes, like the relays, where amateur riders team up with professionals in a speed class.

Action in Syracuse continues tomorrow with the ASPCA Maclay Finals and the conclusion of the open jumper action with the uniquely formatted Animal Planet Sporthorse Cup. Check in tomorrow evening for stories and photos.