Canada’s Mac Cone brings his Olympic partner back to top form.

Mac Cone and his 2008 Olympic silver-medal partner, Ole, might have nabbed the top prize in the $50,000 Hagyard Equine Medical Institute Grand Prix World Cup qualifier at the Kentucky National Horse Show, Sept. 18, but the Toronto native still didn’t achieve what he went to Lexington, Ky., to do.

“In the program it said, ‘Friday night, under lights, in the WEG stadium,’ ” said Cone, 57. “So I came to jump under lights in the outdoor WEG stadium in case I happen to be here next year [for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games]. I wasn’t chasing World Cup points.”

Cone ended up jumping under a different set of lights in the Kentucky Horse Park’s new indoor stadium before an enthusiastic crowd of approximately 4,000 spectators.

The event marked Ole’s return to the grand prix ranks nearly a year after injuring himself at the 2008 Olympic Games in Hong Kong. Cone is thrilled to be back aboard the 13-year-old KWPN gelding (Burggraaf—Kamora, Dukaat) owned by his long-time friends Sara Houstoun and Larry Evoy.

“As you can see, he’s in really great form,” said Cone of his partner of six years. “It’s great to have him back.”

Brazilian course designer Guilherme Jorge was selected to build the first grand prix course in the new stadium.

Nearly 50 horse-and-rider combinations tackled the challenging course, with nine advancing to the jump-off.

“I thought the course was perfect. Guilherme did just what he had to do,” said Cone. “It was quite tough in some spots, but then he lightened up in a few other spots. He did a great job; he’s a great course designer.”

“With such a mixture of horses I thought Guilherme did a good job,” added runner-up Margie Engle. “You had some older horses and some less-experienced horses, but it was still tough enough to be a World Cup class.”

Riders agreed that the most difficult element of the first round was a four-stride to a three-stride diagonal line that included a substantial liverpool. The dark liverpool beneath a white oxer under the glaring stadium lights proved to be an unrelenting challenge.

Cone admitted that particular type of fence used to be an issue for Ole, but the gelding no longer bats an eye.

“As he gets older and older he gets scopier and scopier,” said Cone. “He’s not a big horse, but he’s got a lot of blood to him. He’s an Energizer bunny—he just likes to go, go, go. I can ride him for an hour in the morning, and he won’t even know he’s been ridden.”

Sealing The Deal

Cone faced a talented group of horses and riders in a jump-off that included several tight rollback turns to two galloping lines.

Kent Farrington aboard RCG Farm’s Uceko led the way in a blazingly fast and thrilling 32.03 seconds, but a lone rail at the last jump sent groans through the crowd and dropped the pair to sixth.

Michelle Spadone with Morgan Hill Partners’ Melisimo and Seth Vallhonrat with his striking gray Antares F chose more conservative routes, each finishing fault-free in the fourth and fifth slots. Russian rider Ljubov Kochetova and Aslan went for broke to take a fleeting lead before Cone and Engle entered the ring. Kochetova finished third overall.

Engle, aboard Hidden Creek’s Campella, was a crowd favorite as she negotiated hairpin turns to post a fault-free effort in 36.95 seconds. The speedy duo of McLain Ward and Goldika 559 followed but dropped two rails, leaving the door wide open for Cone. He and Ole sealed the deal with a beautifully executed trip.

“Kent had one of those rounds where it would have been almost impossible to catch him. Thank God he had that last rail down! Then when Goldika had those rails down I knew I had a chance,” said Cone. “My first five jumps were dead-on, but then Ole jumped the next vertical hard to the right and threw me on the outside track. So that left the door open a bit.”

Shane Sweetnam with Little Emir and Candace King aboard Toronto rounded out the field to finish seventh and eighth. Riders were overwhelmingly positive about the first grand prix in the impressive new indoor stadium.

“I loved it,” said Cone, despite his intent to compete outdoors. “It’s a very nice indoor, and there was a good crowd.

“At least I got to hack him in the outdoor stadium,” he added with a laugh.

An Added Bonus

Engle’s jump-off effort aboard her rising grand prix star, Hidden Creek’s Campella, wasn’t speedy enough to catch Cone, but she still managed to walk away with more money in her pocket. With her second-place finish Engle edged out Pablo Barrios for the $50,000 bonus as leading rider in the Hagyard Challenge Series, which took place over the course of four months and seven grand prix events at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Several riders in the World Cup qualifier were vying for the award, but Engle was determined to push the tempting thought of it to the back of her mind.

“I hate to think about those things because when you focus on them something bad always happens,” she said. “But it’s a great incentive they have, and it helps riders pay expenses on the road, especially with the way the economy is going.”

Carting that check home wasn’t the only thing that pleased Engle. She has high hopes for 9-year-old Campella, who may just be her next superstar after her long-time partner, Hidden Creek’s Quervo Gold, was sold this past winter.

“It’s very exciting to maybe have another one to move up to the bigger grand prix [classes],” said Engle. “There were a lot of questions on course where you had to have rideability, had to be adjustable and careful. I was very pleased with how [Campella] rode.”

Michael Pulaski and Hidden Creek Farms purchased the Swedish Warmblood mare in March. She has only been competing in grand prix events since July, and Engle admitted that the World Cup course was the toughest Campella had faced to date. She may have been lacking experience, but against a field of seasoned competitors it hardly showed.

“I haven’t gone fast with her that many times yet, so I only went as fast as she was comfortable,” said Engle. “In the jump-off she got a little up and down as the crowd got going, so we lost a little time there, but I was thrilled with her.”

Perhaps the only thing Engle is disappointed about is leaving the facility she’s called home throughout the summer. “We’ve stayed in Kentucky a lot because the facility is so fantastic,” she said. “I think it’s one of the best in the country.”