Daniel Bedoya and Quattro (Phelps Media Group)
A total of 42 horse-and-rider combinations competed over the first round, Alan Wade-designed course, and of them 11 advanced to the short course.
Rebecca Conway and Little Gancho, owned by Moonlite Beach, were the third to return for the jump-off, and they were the first to produce a double clear effort, setting the time to beat at 50.490 seconds. Sydney Shulman with Quidam 13 and Lorcan Gallagher with Casper were the next two to return, and, while they both had the time, they fell victim to one rail apiece.
Colin Syquia and Adventure E, owned by Eurasia Inc., came next and mimicked Conway and Little Gancho's performance with a double clear round. While Syquia rode the same strides as Conway down the lines, he shaved corners and in return also shaved time, finishing in 47.572 seconds.
"My horse is just learning to go fast at this height, so I'm really happy with him," Syquia said. "I've been riding him for about three years now, and he's just stepped up. This is only his third night class. He just really is a great horse."
While Syquia cut his corners, two trips later Bedoya came in and did what none of the riders before him had attempted: leaving out strides down three of the lines.
"From number three to the combination, everybody did nine strides; I did eight," Bedoya said. "And then I was able to go inside, and from nine to the liverpool everybody did nine, and again I did eight. The next line everybody did nine; I did eight. I could have done eight again to the last line, but then I got a little a chicken. I already got lucky enough before that, so I didn't want to push it."
Leaving the stride out at the last proved unnecessary as Bedoya had already made up the time, but it was cutting it close. Bedoya and Quattro tripped the timers less than one-tenth of a second behind Syquia and Adventure E to finish on 47.514 seconds and take the victory.
Blythe Marano would return two trips after Bedoya aboard Quabelle, owned by Riverview Farm, to finish in a time of 48.844 seconds, which would hold up to be good enough for third, with Syquia taking the second-place spot.
Success with Quattro is particularly meaningful for Bedoya who has owned the 9-year-old mount since the gelding was 5.
"It's really special because I took him to his first horse show ever. Now he's winning grand prix," Bedoya said. "He was really difficult at the beginning because he's 18 hands, and he has Quasimodo Z on his bloodlines. They have a little bit of a hard mouth. Being so big, and you can tell, I'm not really big; he was really hard. It took a lot of time to get him fit and to get him responsive, especially to turn and to slow down. He always had the jump, but it was difficult to turn and to slow him down. That was the most difficult part about him. He's getting to the point that he's beating horses that are a lot smaller and quicker, because he's so big that I can do less strides everywhere. I can always leave strides, and he's careful enough that I can do that, and he still leaves them up."
Coming from Texas, Bedoya always enjoys showing at the Kentucky Horse Shows, and he and Quattro return to the Rolex Stadium on Saturday night for the $50,000 Rood & Riddle Grand Prix.
Jumper competition at the Kentucky Summer Horse Show continues on Friday beginning in the Rolex Stadium at 8 a.m. with the A/O Junior High Table II. Saturday night, the horse show welcomes the community to the Kentucky Horse Park's Hats Off Day and the $50,000 Rood & Riddle Grand Prix beginning at 7:30 p.m.
$25,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic Results
First Round Jump Off
Pl Nbr Horse Rider Faults Time Faults Time
1 1178QUATTRO DANIEL BEDOYA 80.072 47.514
2 534 ADVENTURE E COLIN SYQUIA 84.087 47.572
3 266 QUABELLE BLYTHE MARANO 83.517 48.844
4 753 LITTLE GANCHO REBECCA CONWAY 82.741 50.490
5 752 TAHITI ISLAND REBECCA CONWAY 84.310 50.881
6 350 QUIDAM 13 SYDNEY SHULMAN 78.008 4 46.601
7 1576CASPER LORCAN GALLAGHER 79.954 4 50.105
8 523 ZERRO LEONE MARTIEN VAN DER HOEVE 82.919 4 52.473
Hunter Rider Winn Alden Wins Big on Day Two of Kentucky Summer Horse Show
As the second day of the professional hunter divisions began at the Kentucky Summer Horse Show, Winn Alden was sitting pretty with three blue ribbons under her belt from the previous day.
Alden returned with Elizabeth Nestor's Covert, again impressing the judges and claiming both blue ribbons in the Green Conformation Hunters on Thursday. The duo earned a perfect score of 60, taking home all five blue ribbons, the division championship and earning the overall grand champion.
Although Covert usually lives in St. Louis at Susan Baginski's Baskin Farm, Virginia-based Alden said she is thrilled whenever she gets the chance to partner up with the gelding.
"I just feel really lucky that I got to meet Susan," Alden said. "This was Covert's second time doing 3'6. He's really easy. He'll jump anything, almost to a fault because you have to make him pay attention to where he's going. He's fun; Elizabeth does really well on him."
The reserve championship in the Green Conformation Hunters went to Sarah Rice and Emily Schwing's Before Anything Else, who added another second and third to two seconds and third earned on Wednesday.
"This is our first horse show with him," Rice said. "He's a really, really awesome horse; he's going to be great one to have in the barn. He's super quiet and sweet. You just put him in gear and point him in the right direction, and he'll do anything you ask of him."
Earlier in the day, Tim Goguen's dark bay duo of Rookie and Capella again traded the top spot on the leaderboard in the First Year Green Hunters. Aboard Belhaven Stables LLC's Rookie, Goguen topped the handy round, while Garland Alban's Capella nabbed the blue in the classic round. Goguen and Rookie claimed the division championship, with Capella earning the reserve.
"Capella was very good," Goguen said. "The first class was nice, then he made a little mistake in the second one, but went really well. Rookie had a mistake in the first class then went fantastic in the handy, so it all worked out. I'm lucky to have the owners that I have; they're great."
In the Second Year Green Hunters, Kelley Farmer and Point Being took home a first and second, earning enough points for the division championship. Goguen and Ransom also took home a first and second, but settled for the reserve championship.
Rounding out the day were the High Performance Hunters, with Farmer and Point Being adding a third and fourth to the previous day's results to claim the division championship. Farmer rode Dalliance to the reserve with two additional second places finishes.
"I love this horse show," Farmer said. "They do such a good job. The horses do well here; they go well. It's nice preparation, and obviously it's great for the horses' credentials. This is a lovely horse show."
In addition to offering a full range of competitive hunter divisions, the Kentucky Summer Horse Show features the $5,000 Hallway Feeds USHJA National Hunter Derby on Sunday, July 26.
To learn more about the Kentucky Summer Horse Shows please visit www.kentuckyhorseshows.com.