TRAVERSE CITY, Mich.--Beat Mändli of Switzerland on Qoachella won the $340,000 World Cup CSI5*-W Traverse City for the American Gold Cup on Sunday, Sept. 20.
Beat Mändli on Qoachella (Photo by Natalie Suto)Alan Wade set a challenging track for the 37 entries, among them the reigning World Cup Finals champion Kent Farrington, 2024 Olympic gold medalist Christian Kukuk of Germany and two-time winners of this very class, Shane Sweetnam of Ireland on James Kann Cruz.
Under a tight time allowed, only five went clean in round one, with both Farrington on Greya and McLain Ward on Jordan Molga M, finishing .07 seconds over the time allowed, tying for sixth place and missing their shot at the jump-off.
Mändli was the first to go in the jump-off, and the 2007 World Cup Finals champion knew his time would likely be caught, so an efficient double-clear was his best path forward.
Going clean in 38.03 seconds, he waited to see where he would finish, and as riders tried to improve upon his time, rails fell, and Mändli emerged as the winner.
“I WAS definitely not thinking about the win today,” Mändli said. “I wanted a good round and to keep my horse confident. She was incredible today. The jump-off turned out totally crazy so sometimes it works out and it did today for me, my horse, and my whole team. I’m obviously very happy.”
Sweetnam, who might have been the class favorite, tried to leave a stride out going to the last and crashed though it but finished in 35.61 seconds to place second.
“‘Gizmo’ jumped great today in both rounds,” Sweetnam said. “It was a difficult course and the time was a factor. I think Alan had the right number of clears. In the jump-off I probably got greedy in the last line and paid the price but the horse jumped great. It would’ve been nice to get the win but it’s been a good class for me and the horse. Hopefully we’ll be back to try to win next year.”
Kukuk was on Akarad Tivoli Z, a newer ride, and his jump-off ended similarly, with one rail down in a slightly slower time of 37.68 to place third.
“I’m actually very happy with my performance in the first round because it was a tough challenge for my horse and myself,” Kukuk said. “He has a big stride but is a slow horse so I had to do something out of the box; I decided to leave strides out, but then I thought I could keep going like that in the jump-off and got greedy. We learned something from today but I’m super proud of the horse. It’s a special, special horse. I really believe in him and have a lot of hope for the future with him.”
“With Shane and Christian behind me there was no way I could have been fast enough at this stage of Qoachella’s career,” Mändli said. “I just tried to do my best and keep the jumps up and be efficient but obviously the time was beatable. That’s show jumping; you have to be clear as well.”
“She surprises me every time she goes to a bigger class,” he said of Coachella. “She’s a super intelligent horse. I’ll see what comes. For now I just focus and be happy for today. It was a bit surprising the win for me today but I’ve always liked the World Cup Finals, and I love indoors. Let’s see how it goes.”
“I haven’t actually won so many five-star grand prixs in my career,” he said. “I’ve had a couple big wins but this may be only the second five-star grand prix win. Obviously I’m super happy for the whole team, for the horse, the owners Grand Road Partners. I can’t hardly believe it, to be honest.”
