Lexington, Ky.—May 28  

Eve Jobs rode Charleville to her first career grand prix win as she beat a field of 38 riders and horses in the $130,000 Split Rock Grand Prix presented by Split Rock Farm and Ashland Stables during the Lexington International CSI***, part of the Split Rock Jumping Tour.

Eve Jobs on Charleville. Photo by Taylor Pence

Jobs, at just 18 years old, was the second rider to enter the ring for the jump-off over a very testing course by Olympic designer Guilherme Jorge.  She put her leg on the 10-year-old gelding and he exploded into action. Charleville had no trouble handling the tight turn to an imposing black wall, that proved to be the nemesis of a few good pairs, and sped through the timers in 41.09 seconds.

Roberto Teran Jr. and Il Rubicouri, representing Colombia, were the only other combination that would manage to complete the shortened course fault-free, but their time of 42.38 seconds was well shy of that turned in by Jobs. Three-time Olympian and former World Show Jumping Champion Eric Navet and Basimodo had been having a brilliant week, but their luck came to an end at the double combination as Basimodo, who had the winning time of 40.72 seconds, had the first element down for 4 faults.

“This is my first grand prix win so I’m over the moon,” said Jobs. “The horse was so good! I have an amazing team behind me and could not have asked for a better day. To have your first win be at this level, I am so excited. Going second in such a big class, I was just concentrating on a good first fence, a good pace and tight turns, and I know that my horse is really fast across the ground so I was just trying to go as fast as I could and leave the jumps up. I definitely thought someone could beat me to the last fence, but the horse is really fast so I knew I would be up there in the ribbons. But I also knew that I had some insanely fast riders behind me.

“I have watched Eric Navet for years—he has always been someone I looked up to. He rides so beautifully and Roberto Teran I watched at the Horse Park all last week and he is unbelievable. So to stand on the winner’s podium with them is amazing.

“I leave in a week for Europe and I hope to jump some good rounds over there and keep building up with my two horses. They are phenomenal. This is such an amazing facility, I am so lucky to be here.  I could not have asked for a better set-up or a better send-off for my trip to Europe.”