Devin Ryan rode Dillandra to the $20,000 SHF Enterprises 5-Year-Old Young Jumper Championship at the Hampton Classic. (Shawn McMillen)
The young jumpers had completed two rounds on Wednesday and Thursday in Jumper Ring 2, and the top 15 from each age group brought their two-round totals forward for the climax in the Grand Prix Ring.
Five of the 5-year-olds completed all three rounds with 0 faults to jump off for the title. Dillandra and Ryan galloped to another faultless round in 31.85 seconds to easily defeat the other two horses with clear rounds: Darthus and Julie Welles (34.13 seconds) and Dexter and Michael Hughes (37.82 seconds).
Four of the 6-year-olds completed all three rounds faultlessly to jump off for their title. Adele and Ward were the first to attempt the shorter course, and they set the standard, finishing with 0 faults in 38.06 seconds. Tua Efele and Ramiro Quintano were the only other pair to jump faultlessly, but they finished more than a second slower (39.58 seconds).
Ryan, 31, of Long Valley, N.J., has made young jumpers his specialty. He rode five young horses in the two championships, and he finished third in the 6-year-old championships on Cooper. Both Dillandra, a Dutch Warmblood mare by Zapatero VDL, and Cooper, a Dutch Warmblood gelding by Unaniem, are owned by Eagle Valley Partners of Lafayette, La.
Karen Cobb, the principal Eagle Valley partner, approached Ryan in early 2012 about finding and developing young horses. They found Dillandra in Holland about a year ago. "She looked like an athlete, and she had a great look in her eye, an intelligent expression," recalled Ryan. "I always pick the brain first."
Ryan said that Dillandra has always impressed him with her bravery and her self-confidence, traits that were tested in the expansive Grand Prix Ring, surrounded by a banner-draped white fence and stands on all sides, plus the Jumbo-Tron televising their rounds.
"She has a big heart, and she really tries, and we didn't come all this way to be second loser, so I gave it a shot," said Ryan.
He adopted the same attitude with Cooper, as the final rider in the ring. Cooper lowered one jump in the middle of the jump-off course and finished just 0.4 seconds slower than Adele.
"It wasn't the speed that caused that rail," said Ryan about his round. "I think he never put his eye on it, that something distracted him, because he never hits a rail that hard [with his front legs]. He's a top horse, and I think he's going to go all the way, but today wasn't his day to win."
But this was the day for Adele, a Belgian-bred Holsteiner mare by Cassini. Ward, 37, of Bedford, N.Y., owns the horse. Ward is a six-time winner of the $250,000 FTI Consulting Grand Prix that will take place on Sunday. On Friday he rode Rothchild to victory in the $50,000 Spy Coast Farm Grand Prix Qualifier.