Eric van der Vleuten made quite a long trip from his homeland in the Netherlands to compete in the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament this week. But he made sure to make the effort worthwhile, however, by claiming the top spot in the $75,000 Budweiser World Cup of Syracuse CSI-W aboard Audi’s Jikke.

The sold-out crowd in Syracuse’s War Memorial arena enjoyed an action-packed jump-off, as van der Vleuten and seven other clear first round riders vied for the title. David Raposa, who most recently won the $65,000 Grand Prix de Penn National CSI-W (Pa.) with Audi’s Fanny de la Tour, jumped off first and absolutely set the pace with a daring turn to the last line and all-out efforts. He finished clean in 31.21 seconds.

Schuyler Riley made a determined bid to catch Raposa’s time, but her Opus Sept just caught the top rail of the vertical at the next-to-last fence. She posted a 31.31-second four-fault trip. England’s Nick Skelton and his mount from the Athens Olympics, Arko III, flowed around with a quick pace and left all the rails in the cups, but stopped the timers in 31.32 seconds, too slow to take over the lead.

Van der Vleuten and Jikke set a rapid pace from the start, and sliced the turns. “I thought it was worth a try to go really fast,” he said. “I also wanted to put pressure on the other riders.” His plan worked, as Jikke’s economical turns brought them home in a 31.03-second time.

The pressure got the next few riders, though. France’s Phillipe Rozier looked to making a determined bid with Heritiere d’Adriers, but cut a turn too tight and couldn’t get to the fence. They finished with eight jumping and one time fault.

Kim Frey and Marlou, who won the $75,000 Lincoln American Gold Cup CSI-W (Pa.) in September, scorched the dirt with their blazing round. As Frey crossed the finish timers, the clock flashed the fastest time of the night–29.12 seconds–but the sound echoed of the last rail falling.

Anne Kursinski and the venerable Eros, now 16, cantered around the jump-off to an easy clear round in 33.47 seconds. Last to go, hometown favorite Beezie Madden, aboard her Athens Olympic mount Authentic, looked to be right on target to win, but she shaved the turn to the last line a hair close, and Authentic just hooked the top rail of the vertical with his knees. They galloped home with their four faults in 29.38 seconds.

So, van der Vleuten prevailed, with Raposa hanging on for second place. Interestingly enough, Raposa bought Audi’s Fanny de la Tour from van der Vleuten two years ago, which van der Vleuten recalled with a little shake to his head.

Van der Vleuten made the trip to Syracuse upon the invitation of show organizer John Madden. Madden called van der Vleuten and asked him to consider adding the Syracuse show to his trip to North America to compete in the Royal Winter Fair (Ont.) next week. Van der Vleuten was happy to accept. “John is such a good horseman that I knew that his show would be good,” he said.

Skelton and Arko finished in third, with Kursinski and Eros fourth, Frey and Marlou fifth, Beezie and Authentic sixth, Riley and Opus Sept seventh, and Rozier in eighth.

Earlier in the day today, competition had less of an international flair, but just as much of an edge. Sloane Coles conquered the Bates USA Equitation Championship, leading from start to finish. Coles scored an 88 in the first round, a typical equitation course. She then followed that up with a score of 87 for the flat phase, and another 87 for her second round over fences. Coles was the lead after all three phases, ahead of Elizabeth Smith. But the judges wanted to see more, and the top four switched horses and jumped again.

Smith did a great job on Coles’ lanky gray mount, but just got a bit deep to the last vertical and had the rail. Coles rode Smith’s Thunder Road very confidently and precisely, leaving no question as to her place at the top. Nikko Ritter claimed third, with Jamie Barge in fourth after the testing.

Coles, who rides with Frank and Stacia Madden, Krista Freundlich and Max Amaya at Beacon Hill, is purely a catch rider. She rides hunters for trainers John and Kitty Barker, and also competes jumpers for owner Jack Boles. She also competes in the junior jumpers with Beezie’s Madden’s old grand prix horse, Cloud Nine. Her mount for this win was Cino, a horse the Maddens bought for the parent of another student. Cino wasn’t doing much, so Coles was lucky enough to get the ride in the equitation division for the year.

Coles, of The Plains, Va., grew up foxhunting. Her father, John, is joint Master of the Orange County Hounds (Va.) and missed her win in Syracuse to preside over their opening meet today.

The winner of last year’s inaugural Bates equitation championship, Brianne Goutal, dominated the junior jumper division, taking the championship and reserve with Onira and Mon Gamin. She won the $30,000 Junior/Amateur-Owner jumper prix.

Yesterday, Havens Schatt won the $35,000 Hunter Classic aboard Caroline Moran’s horse, Charming.

The second year of the Syracuse International Sporthorse Tournament was just as much a success as last year’s inaugural event. The house was full for the evening grand prix performance with an extremely enthusiastic crowd. The show might have some unusual arrangements, such as stabling in a parking garage and the warm-up area in a separate building, but it runs smoothly and receives high kudos from all the competitors.