DEVON, Pa.--Taylor Madden on Manhattan VDL won the $10,000, 1.40m Speed Stake on Friday evening, Sept.11 at the Devon Fall Classic.
Taylor Madden on Manhattan VDL (Photo by Phelps Sport)Madden was clean in 57.788 on Manhattan VDL to win and also placed third on GCS Angelique,clesn in 60.585,while Cian McDermott on Illethe B S finished second, clean in 59.352 seconds.
Madden ron GCS Angelina went early om the class, setting an early time to beat, and then, going after McDermott, she knew the time she had to beat on Manhattan VDL, and she knew exactly where she could make up valuable seconds.
“My first horse is only 7, and she spends a lot of time in the air naturally, so it didn’t feel super fast to me,” Madden said. “I knew with him I could be faster, and when someone did beat me, I knew I had to be faster. I knew what I didn’t do as fast on my first course and that I could make it up on the next one.”
“Just tighter turns and being a little quicker on the ends of the ring,” Madden said. “I stuck to the same number of strides and the same inside turns.”
FRIDAY evening’s victory was made even more memorable by Madden’s history at Devon. Having previously competed at the Devon Horse Show as a junior equitation rider, the Speed Stake marked her first time back in the Dixon Oval since 2019.
“I’ve always loved Devon since I was a kid, so I’m excited to be back here,” Madden said.
Wendy Chapot Nunn on Zealous won the 1.10m Amateru Jumper, clean in 27.163, almost two seconds faster than second placed Kimbrly Beattie on Sligo Balou Boy, clean in 28.821, while Dawn Vileno on Beluga Fonfreide was third, clean in 28.672.
Michelle Korcz shared the Thoroughbred Jumper Championship at the 2025 Devon Fall Classic, so this year, riding Neal Shapiro’s Will Scarlett, she returned to Devon this year and won two classes to win the 2026 championship title outright.
Korcz on Thursday won the first $500 Thoroughbred Jumper 1.00–1.05m class of the division.
On Friday, she won the second $500 Thoroughbred Jumper 1.00–1.05m class, clean in 45.121 seconds, besting the second-place finisher by more than a second.
“This whole year, we’ve been showing and I’ve been building a connection with him,” Korcz said. “As soon as we go in the ring, I can trust him, and I feel like he can trust me. If I’m good, he’s good.”
Closing out the Thoroughbred Jumper competition was the $1,000 Thoroughbred Jumper Stake 1.00–1.05m, where Liam Durm on Quite a Journey completed Phase 1 in 24.259 seconds before crossing the finish in Phase 2 in 24.086 seconds to win.
