LEXINGTON, Ky.--Devin Ryan of Bedminster, N.J., on Eddie Blue won the $213,300 National Horse Show Grand Prix CSI4* in the Alltech Arena at the Horse Park in Lexington on Saturday evening, Oct. 31.
Devin Ryan on Eddie BlueCourse designer Guilherme Jorge of Brazil set the course for entries from the seven nations of the United States, Great Britain, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, Israel and Brazil.
Leading the jump-off from start to finish, Ryan on Eddie Blue went to an early lead that could not be caught to win the Grand Prix.
Jorge's course included 17 jumping efforts up to the 1.60m height spread strategically across the ring.
With so much exceptional talent in the field, including Welcome Stake winner Kent Farrington, McLain Ward and Beezie Madden, it was anyone’s game headed into the onset of the contest.
AS THE THIRD in the original start list, Ryan served as the pathfinder with the first clear trip, and seven entries later Mario Deslauriers of Canada ensured there would be a jump-off with his fault-free effort on Uris De La Roque.
Continuing on through the order-of-go, Spencer Smith riding Quibelle, Kristen Vanderveen on Risen and Goldstein-Engle on Dicas added more American representation to the tie-breaker round, while Paul O’Shea of Ireland on Machu Picchu and David Blake of Ireland on Keoki also qualified.
Lillie Keenan on Fasther also was clean but incurred one time fault.
Once again leading the way, Ryan rode Eddie Blue , the horse he won a team gold medal with at the 2018 World Equestrian Games,to the pace-setting round in 35.13 seconds with all the fences still up.
Smith on Quibelle was the second, and ultimately final, clean trip just one-tenth of a second behind Ryan in 35.26 seconds to place second.
O’Shea on Machu Picchu was third place.
Ryan also won the Leading Rider Award, for which he earned a $5,000 cash prize as the rider with the most points in the International Jumper section throughout the week.
Kristen Vanderveen was honored as the Leading Lady Jumper Rider.
“Guilherme definitely put together a nice course tonight ,and I didn’t think as many were going to go clean," said Ryan. "There were some tall verticals and wide oxers out there, and some of the lines rode a little technical. I thought early on was the more technical part of the course, but it took a little bit of scope out there, some of those wide oxers – and he’s a scopey horse. It was my night.”
“My plan was not to do eight strides, from one to two; my plan was to do seven, but when I walked in the ring I saw the timer sort of in the way to get a good line to line up the first two jumps so I jumped fence one thinking I could get to seven," said Ryan. "I didn’t quite see it ,and I should have committed to it because it was right there so I ended up doing eight. The rest of it was right on plan. My plan was if I felt I got a good jump out of the double, I was going to do the six which was a leave-out, then turn back on the vertical. There was one less stride to the vertical, but it’s quite a tall vertical to be turning back and I thought he was going to be a little flat. My plan was to leave out and do six, then do seven to the vertical. He was really good turning away from the back of the oxers in the middle of the ring there after the last jump and the second-to-last jump in the jump-off. I think that’s where he was a little quicker than some of them, he really turned for me tonight.”
“I think for anybody, if you’re not in the show ring you get a little rusty." said Ryan. "With everything going on and with business, we went to HITS this summer up in Saugerties. I didn’t want to use him up too much, so I did a few shows up there then did the 4* last week in Tryon then brought him here. So really, he did three shows in Saugerties and these two in the fall. He hasn’t done much since Florida. Last year we were hoping to make a short list so I said ‘let’s not overdo it this year and gear him up to see if we can keep on coasting into this winter.’ We will see what happens with Tokyo next year.”
“He has a great brain," said Ryan of Eddie Blue. "His first indoor show of his life was Washington as an 8-year-old and by April that year we went onto World Cup Finals. He walked right in and jumped around, he didn’t care. I knew from that first indoor event that I ever took him to that was a 4*, that it doesn’t matter what atmosphere you put him in, he’s just a competitive horse.”
“I’m a big guy, we come in all shapes and sizes like the horses," said Ryan. "He’s a bigger horse and he fits me. He has plenty of blood when he’s in the ring, but when he’s not in the ring he’s actually sometimes a lazy horse. He always steps up a little bit going into the ring. I think for a person like me who is a big, strong guy, it is good to have a horse who can take a little bit more movement, leg or pressure. I think that’s why he suits me.”
“I think we will wait and see what’s happening with everything going on in the world right now," Ryan said. "There’s a couple 4* classes coming up in Wellington at the end of November that I am thinking about, because the next show after that wouldn’t be until the middle of January. I don’t jump too many smaller classes with him, I try to save his jumps. Because of his brain, he doesn’t need too many warm up classes. He can just jump right in and do what he’s good at.”
“It was great, everything went smoothly," Ryan said of the National Horse Show. "You had your temperature checked, everyone wore their masks and you felt really safe. Everyone is in a good mood. It doesn’t feel much different except that you don’t have many spectators.”
