In a World Cup Final competition overshadowed by the death of third-placed finisher Chromatic BF, defending champion Henrik von Eckermann and Swedish compatriot Peder Fredricson held onto the top two places in the standings after taking first and second, for the second day in a row, at the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final Thursday night, April 18, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Von Eckermann and King Edward topped a seven-horse jump-off with a time of 43.38 seconds—more than 2 seconds faster than his closest rival, Fredericson aboard Catch Me Not S, who stopped the clocks in 45.45 seconds.

Representing the United States, Jill Humphrey and Chromatic BF produced a brilliant performance to finish third (48.36 seconds). Tragically, after returning to his stable, the 13-year-old Oldenburg gelding (Connor—Sonnengirl BF, Concept) collapsed later that evening and could not be resuscitated.

In line with the FEI veterinary regulations, samples have been taken from the horse and a full postmortem exam will be conducted, the FEI said.

“Chromatic’s” owner and breeder, KC Branscomb of Branscomb Farms in Half Moon Bay, California, posted a message about his death on social media. She explained that the gelding hacked back to the barn and seemed to be recovering normally while being attended to by Humphrey and his lifelong groom, Pepe Rodriguez. He was given a routine electrolyte shot by the U.S. team veterinarian then returned to his stall for the night. There, with Branscomb present, he had a seizure and collapsed. He was immediately attended to by USEF and FEI veterinarians but was pronounced dead shortly after.

“As owner and breeder, I want it clearly stated that no one was at fault,” Branscomb wrote. “The horse did not suffer and there is no evidence that his passing was in anyway related to his strenuous and spectacular performance with Jill well over an [hour] earlier or the team veterinarian’s injection.

“But what I HOPE people will take away from this freak accident and great tragedy is that it was a night of tears—tears of joy and tears of loss,” she summarized. “If I would ask anything of those of you that knew or celebrated him, let’s remember him for how he lived and not for how he died. The sport lost a great one today.”

Between their third-placed finish Thursday and taking 12^th place in Wednesday’s opening speed class, Humphrey and “Chromatic” had earned a fifth-placed seed going into Saturday’s final, behind teammate Kent Farrington, who will go into the final in fourth place. 

Farrington swapped horses on Thursday, riding Greya to the day’s fastest 4-fault round (69.97 seconds), which earned them in ninth place and moved Farrington to fourth in the overall standings.

Watch Henrik von Eckermann’s winning jump-off round, courtesy of FEI.tv:

For the rest of the U.S. contingent, Devin Ryan and Eddie Blue posted a slower 4-fault round (72.98) for 18^th place Thursday, and Sophia Siegel and A-Girl had 8 faults for 22^nd place. Skylar Wireman and Tornado took 10^th in Wednesday’s speed class, but they struggled Thursday and posted 16 faults to sit in 28^th. See complete results from Thursday’s class here.

All U.S. riders made the top-30 cut to compete in Saturday’s final. Wireman is ranked 19^th, Ryan 21^st and Siegel 29^th. 

World Cup Finals action continues today with the dressage Grand Prix freestyle starting at 5:15 p.m. local time (10:15 a.m. Eastern Time). The final two-round show jumping competition starts at 3:45 p.m. local (8:45 a.m. ET). All competition is being livestreamed on FEI.tv.