OCALA, Fla.--Callie Schott, a rising star in the international ranks, placed third to Switzerland's Martin Fuchs and Steve Guerdat in the $330,000 Grand Prix on Thursday evening, March 21, during the League of Nations week at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala.
Callie Schott on Garant (Photo by Allen Macmillan)Only five from the starting field of 49 of the top riders in the world that included eight of the 10 top rated riders went clean over the course set by Alan Wade of Ireland.
Fuchs on Leone Jei, world ranked number 6, won with a clean jump-off round in 36.68, with Guerdat on Albfuehren's lashin Sitte, world ranked number three, placing second and Schott of Garant, world ranked 229, third in 37.88 seconds.
Ireland's Shane Sweetnam on RR Comel's, world ranked number 11, first to go in the jump-off, was fourth, clean in 39.44, while Kevin Staut of France on Beau de Laubry Z, world ranked number 15, elected not to go in the jump-off and was fifth,
Laura Kraut on Baloutinue, world ranked number 28, was sixth with one time fault, and McLain Ward on Ilex, world ranked number 10, had the last fence down as he appeared to be pushing to make the time, was 13th, and the last to receive prize money over a very tough course with a tight time allowed that caught numerous riders.
While Scott is presently world ranked far below those riders, watch for her in the future, she may rise up the ranks quickly.
SCHOTT rode as assistant rider to Beezie Madden while Beezie was competing internationally but now works for Southern Arches in St. Louis,Mo., and Wellington, Fla., as the chief stable rider but with John and Beezie Madden advising and working with her.
Martin Fuchs on Leone Jei (Photo by Allen Macmillan)"I was the show manager for the Syracuse Horse Show when it was the National Horse Show," said John Madden. "I was in the middle of a managing crisis when Del Hancock of the racing Hancock family called. She's a friend of mine, and she said she had this nice young girl from Kentucky who wanted to learn to ride better, and would I take her on. Her family and the Hancocks were friends, and her father played polo. I was so busy and stressed I just said, `Yes, fine' and hung up."
"Then a month or so later, Callie appeared in Florida," said Madden. "She worked for us for about 15 years, and then three years ago she got a really good job offer from Southern Arches. They hired Callie, and then she persuaded them to hire Beezie and me as advisors."
"Their goal is to be a top international stable, and things are going that way," said Madden. Callie has a really good group of up-and-coming horses behind Garant. And the best thing about Callie is that she's a wonderful person."
"Callie had to go last of the 49 in the Grand Prix, so she watched the others go and learned from that," said U.S. team chef d'equipe Robert Ridland. "She was very impressive both rounds."
While Schott is representing the U.S. as an individual in Ocala, she made her U.S. team debut at the opening event in Abu Dhabi in February where the Americans placed sixth.
"Callie did well in Abu Dhabi," said Ridland. "She had the first fence down both rounds but jumped all the really hard fences clean."
That first fence, usually a given jump, consisted of colors that confused horses, and an unusual number of riders had that fence down.
“I think it was really exciting to be able to compete with them,” said Schott of going head-to-head against three experienced Olympic riders in the jump-off. “I feel like jumping a clear round was a major accomplishment in itself, and then it was, ‘Let’s see what I can do.’ I haven’t had that much practice in jump-offs at this level, so I just felt like I was going to try to do my best.”
As for what comes next in her partnership with Garant, a 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, Schott said, “Today was a big class, so we shall see. If I make the short list for the Olympics, I think we are going to try to pursue that and if not, we’re going to do the best for all of our horses and go from there.”
The U.S. team for the Nations Cup, at 4 :30 and 7:30 p.m on Saturday, March 23, consists of Kraut on Baloutinue, Kent Farrington on Landon, Aaron Vale on Carissimo and Ward on Callas.
The Nations Cup will be live streamed on ClipMyHorse.
"I think it's a strong team, but the other teams are strong, too," said Ridland. "Baloutinue jumped great last night. Ilex was super. McLain has only ridden him a few times, and in a relatively short time he now knows which buttons to push. But McLain's riding the msre, Callas, in the Nations Cup. Landon and Carissimo are both ready.
Fuchs won over the star-studded field.
“Really a fantastic performance of Leone Jei tonight,” said Fuchs of the 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding. “He jumped fantastic both rounds; he felt really good. He was really working with me, and I felt like he enjoyed both rounds a lot.”
Fuchs is riding Leone Jei in the Nations Cup and is hoping a win in the Grand Prix will lead to a great performance for the Swiss team on Saturday.
“When you’re in a grand prix like this, you really want to win and you try your best in the jump-off,” said Fuchs. “You don’t think too much about the Nations Cup yet. Leone Jei has so much experience already at this level, and I really trust that he can go fast in a jump-off like today, and then still be focused and at his best on Saturday for Team Switzerland.”
With 2012 Olympic champion Guerdat also on Fuchs’ side, the Swiss have quickly become the odds-on favorite to win.
“It’s the very first time that this horse has seen a ring like this, that he has seen jumps like tonight, and the first time he has jumped under the lights,” said Guerdat of Albfuehren’s Iashin Sitte, a 10-year-old Belgian Sport Horse gelding. “When you walk the course, it always depends a little bit on what you’re sitting on. Knowing I had a little bit of lack of experience on my horse, I thought it was a very tough grand prix. I thought the time was maybe one or two seconds too short, so I knew it was going to be a tough ask. He responded beautifully to everything I asked him. It couldn’t have been any better, and he made me very proud tonight.”
Eight of the top 10 athletes in the World Rider Rankings are in Ocala for the League of Nations event.
The home team of Farrington, Kraut, Vale and Ward of the United States will face off against Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland in the $770,000 League of Nations team competition in a two-round format.
The first round gets underway at 4:30 p.m. before the top eight teams return for a second round under the lights at 7:30 p.m.
Each country will put forward four horse-rider combinations in the opening round and drop the worst score, but only three riders per nation will return in round two where all scores will count.
