WELLINGTON, Fla.--Lillie Keenan on Chagrin D'Amour won the $32,000, 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic on Sunday, Jan. 11 at the Winter Equestrian Festival.
Lillie Keenan on Chagrin D'Amour (Photo by Sportfot)Last to go in the jump-off of the Classic. Keenan on the 9-year-old stallion took advantage of her position and went clean in 37.99 seconds to take over the lead from Mckayla Langmeier on Pepita VD Rollebeek.
Ireland’s Cian O’Connor on Ulysses was third in a 13-horse jump-off in which six were clean over the course set by Nick Granat.
McLain Ward on Lestro VD Valckenborg was fourth, clean in 39.87, with Ireland's Max Wachman on The Kerryman fifth in 40.51 and Emily Routledge sixth in 44.58.
“He’s not the quickest galloping horse, so you have to leave out or be willing to take risks because he has extra scope,” said Keenan, whose own Chansonette Farm purchased the stallion as a 7-year-old.
“ONE TO TWO was six strides, which is a leave out for most horses and quite long," said Keenan. "For me, it was that long. I took a winger at the first jump, which wasn’t the best ride, but my horse is so good that I got away with it. I thought coming home, I could do 10 strides in the last line when most horses had to do 11. That paid off. I didn’t think I was fast enough, but in the end I was.”
Keenan began riding on Chagrin D’Amour one year ago in Wellington after leaving the stallion in Europe for some time to be further developed in the program of Francois Mathy.
And soon, Keenan rode the chestnut to win the Youngster Cup Final at CHIO Aachen in July of 2025.
Keenan said she’s now taking it slow as the pair continues to work their way up, and she focuses on the long list for the 2026 World Championship in Germany this summer after she made her World Championship debut in 2022 at Herning.
