In her hometown and with her father, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, cheering her on, Georgina Bloomberg couldn’t be beat at the Metropolitan National tonight.

Aboard Nadia, Bloomberg topped the Metropolitan Cup, a World Cup-format competition for open jumpers. And earlier in the evening she led the victory gallop in the Liberty Cup Junior/Amateur-Owner competition with Action.

After the four rounds of the Metropolitan Cup both Bloomberg with Nadia and Kent Farrington aboard Madison had accrued 3 faults and jumped double-clear rounds tonight to face-off for the title.

Farrington jumped off first and Alexa Weeks’ feisty bay mare pulled rails at the first two fences on course leaving the door open for Bloomberg.
With a determined ride, Bloomberg carefully negotiated the shortened course with precise turns and enough speed to ensure a faster time. Her father and friends gave her a standing ovation after she crossed the timers with a clear round for the blue ribbon.

“It was my goal to win a grand prix, and to win my first grand prix here was great,” she said. “I think it was just meant to be. And to have my family and friends here and all my supporters was wonderful.”

After such a memorable evening winning the Liberty Cup, Bloomberg went into the Metropolitan Cup jump-off wanting the victory but also already satisfied with her horses and her riding.

“I actually took a couple of minutes after the second round [before the jump-off] and reflected on the day. And I thought the worst I could be was second. And I knew at that point that it was just my day.”

It was also Megan Young’s day. She was the star of the Metropolitan National this afternoon as she collected the large junior, 16-17, grand junior hunter championships and best child rider on a horse award. With an incredible stakes performance this afternoon, Navigator jumped to the top for Manhattan Mortgage and trainers Scott Kemery and Patti Foster.

“This was a wonderful way to end my junior career. I was shooting for championships at all four shows, so it’s a great way to end,” she said.
Young and the 8-year-old warmblood gelding, owned by Sarah Alvarez, have been occasional partners for the past three years and earned tricolors this year at Devon (Pa.), the Pennsylvania National, the Washington (D.C.) International and now the Metropolitan for an indoor sweep.

The 17-year-old from Jacksonville, Fla., has also her sights set on tomorrow’s ASPCA Maclay, the grand finale of her junior equitation career. A win would cap an incredible year and make for a rare double, as she accounted for the Pessoa/USEF Medal Finals victory last month.

Lexy Reed and Double Cinco returned to defend their championship from last year with the small junior, 15 and under, title today, while Cool Blue and Carolyn Kelly picked up the reserve.

Wedgewood and Sara Rutenberg earned the small junior, 16-17, championship with a beautiful performance in the stakes class. Charlie Jayne finished just behind and collected enough points with Calumet to claim the reserve championship.

Rodin and Caitlin Donovan jumped to the top of the large junior, 15 and under, division just ahead of Kontiki and Carolyn Kelly.

In the pony divisions today, Sam Schaefer overcame an accident in the schooling ring to take all three small pony blues, two with Rainbow Canyon and one with Halcyon Hawthorne. Schaefer was run into by anoither horse in the warm-up ring while preparing her second mount but, nevertheless, gritted her teeth and persevered to lead the point standings going into tomorrow’s final stake class.

In the medium pony division it was All About Me and Believe In Magic, with riders Alex Arute and Alex Paradyzs, respectively, taking blues over fences. All About Me also added the blue under saddle for a two-blue day.

Peachy Keen and Hallie Buttenwieser topped the first large pony over fences class with Orlando and Schaefer Raposa, the Washington International’s large pony champion, taking the second. Woodland’s Me First with Hannah Cutt topped the under saddle.