Devon, Pa.—May 29

As the sun begins to set over the main grandstand overlooking the Dixon Oval, the golden light plays perfectly with the iconic eggshell blue that is quintessentially Devon. The crowd noise is a constant buzz as Pennsylvania locals and intense equestrian enthusiasts gather to watch the $226,000 Sapphire Grand Prix of Devon, their fingers sticky with the remnants of lemon sticks and a greasy Devon Special of burgers and fries, the classic Devon dinner.

Twenty-five riders contested Anderson Lima’s 13-fence first round, with the six to return comprised of four young riders sandwiched between a pair of veterans, who have dealt with more pressure in the ring than most have.

Ireland’s Shane Sweetnam was the first up in the jump-off with Coriaan Van’t Klapscheut Z, a horse that’s light on experience, but not on try. Going first is never ideal, as the rider has to weigh how fast to go—too slow, and everyone coming behind you has a fair shot at beating your time, push too fast and risk a rail, which dashes your chances at the top spot.

Sweetnam found that sweet spot. His time of 34.29 seconds was quick all the way around, which meant it wouldn’t be easy to dislodge him.

“I had my own plan, because the horse only 9,” he said. “This is his first four-star grand prix, first sort of atmosphere like this. And the reason I brought him was to give him was to give him experience, because he’s such a talented horse, so he is naturally quick. Probably [Fence 2] to 3, I gave him an extra second. Into the double I gave him an extra second just to make sure with his age. I knew I was quick enough, but I knew I could be popped because of those.”

The future of the sport gave a valiant effort. First up was Chloe Reid, 28. She in fact had the time (34.26 seconds) with the high-flying Crossover 4, but the gelding didn’t get quite enough reach over the final oxer and came down short to finish on four faults.

Next came Alex Matz, 28, who considers Devon a hometown show. His father, Olympian Michael Matz, was a frequent winner here, and the welcome stake is named after his famed partner Jet Run. Then there are Ikigai’s owners, Collin and Virginia McNeil, who are local to the show, and Collin sits on the board for Devon. The crowd willed him to victory, and while he cleared all the jumps, his time of 34.69 seconds wasn’t quite enough.

Like Alex, Baylee McKeever, 20, is related to giants of the sport. Her parents, Erica and Lee McKeever, have long worked for double Olympic gold medalist McLain Ward, who has won this class a record 12 times. Baylee set out on a mission with Formidable, her former junior jumper, but a tight turn back to the third fence proved a hair too much for the pair, and they picked up a stop.

Then came Alexandra Worthington. The 25-year-old looked to be on the pace when she jumped into the double with De L’Oiseliere, but she eased off the gas in the final gallop. While those half-halts ensured she kept all the rails in the cups, they proved costly on the clock.

So it was down to Aaron Vale, who has racked up quite the impressive win record over the last few years on a variety of horses. He was riding a horse he’s produced multiple clear rounds on over huge tracks.

Carissimo 25 is the whole package: stunning to look at, good across the ground and wants to jump clear. It’s the best horse in Vale’s stable, and it was fair to say they weren’t going to just hand a victory to Sweetnam.

“I went up in the stands to watch Shane in person. You get a better judge of things than on the TV screen,” he said. “I wanted to see the strides he did. I kind of had my plan, and I watched him, and then I tracked everybody’s time behind that.”

All that experience and all those rounds paid off. With a time of 33.70 seconds, Vale’s win was definitive and electric, sending the crowd into enthusiastic applause.

“I figured if I could do eight strides from [Fence 1] to 2 and 2 to 3, which I ended up doing, I thought that’d be fast really kind of get me in a rhythm where I was able to just kind of coast the rest of the way in,” he said. “There was maybe one stride less available to the last fence, but I was able to kind of just peek at the clock as I was coming out of the in-and-out. It looked like I was up far enough that I could just take the eight strides and still make it. My only concern there was when he got there, he was a little slow, and he jumped real high and spent a little time in the air. And I was like, Oh no … but it was good enough.”

Vale paired up with the 12-year-old (Cascadello—T-Clintissma, Clinton) two years ago, shortly after he watched him compete with Mavis Spencer at Devon.

“He’s a super talent, tons of ability,” said Vale. “We’ve had some really big results, and I’ve just been trying to find more consistency. With his ability I feel like I should be having this result almost every week, and we don’t. But as you develop a partnership and you find some tricks to the training and communication, maybe we’ll get where we’re in this position more often.”

Though Sweetnam ultimately ended up second, he was pleased with his horse, who just stepped up to jumping 1.50-meter classes this year. Sweetnam was low on horses in Florida this year, so the gelding jumped more this winter than originally planned.

“He’s a very good horse, so he normally goes places and gets ribbons,” said Sweetnam. “But he needs to get the experience. So even in the first round, he’s ducking and diving a little bit and little bit hostile when you get to the jump, but he wants to clear them. And then the second round you feel he’s more relaxed, and he is naturally a quick horse.”

Alex was the best of the young riders, taking third with the horse he topped the World Cup qualifier on at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (Ontario) last fall.

“Like Aaron, I feel like one down is a bad result,” said Alex. “And so [I’m] just working on the consistency and really fine tuning the program for him. I knew that I can get the most out of him at all times, but he never disappoints me. He’s a pleasure to ride.”

While the veterans ultimately took the top spots this evening, the younger generation proved they were a force to be reckoned with, and look to be on the cusp of big results. Sweetnam said that part of the reason for this new uprise in young talent is thanks to an increase of Fédération Equestre Internationale competitions held offered in the United States, which is opening up opportunities for young riders. That uptick began around time of the COVID-19 pandemic, when there were less shows in Europe, and the number of FEI competitions in the States exploded.

“It’s really keeping the better American riders [here] and bringing the Europeans over to these shows,” he said. “And then also it’s motivating young riders that they can get these opportunities and compete at these at this level, and they’re well able to.”

The Chronicle has a pair of reporters at Devon bringing you photos, stories from the competition and more at coth.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to make sure you don’t miss a thing. You can see a full report from the entire competition in the June 20 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse magazine.

Important Links: Devon Horse Show website / Detailed schedule / Results and orders of go / All the Chronicle’s coverage