MILL SPRING, N.C.--Israeli rider Sydney Shulman of Greenwich, Conn., on Villamoura won the $50,000 International Jumper Speed Friday evening, Oct. 29 at the Washington International H.S., held at the Tryon International Equestrian Center due to Covid.

Sydney Shulman on Villamoura (Photo by Shawn MacMillan)Later in the evening, McLain Ward on Catoki, Daniel Coyle of Ireland and Imar, and Santiago Lambre of Brazil on The Diamant Rose Z tief for the win in the $25,000 Puissance class.

Forty-four competed in a faults converted format over the track designed by Bernardo Costa Cabral of Portugal  in Speed Final. 

Shulman was 17th to go in the order and could not be caught after stopping the timers at 53.25 seconds.

 Shulman and Villamoura also won this class in 2019 as well as the $36,000 International Jumper Accumulator Costume Class.

“I definitely planned on aiming for this class tonight for her to try to win,” said Shulman. “I’ve had her a little over six years now. She’s unbelievable. She’s as fast, brave, and careful as any horse in the world really.”

Shulman knew she would have to go all out after McLain Ward and Catoki set the pace early on with a quick time of 53.92 seconds.

“After McLain went on Catoki, he came out and started to fire me up,” said Shulman. “Little did he know he actually gave me more of a fire inside me to try to beat him. Catoki and Villamoura are probably the two fastest horses that show consistently against each other. It’s a little bit of a fun game at this point, and we joke around about it.

 

IN AN HISTORIC turn of events, the $25,000 Puissance class ended up with three winners tied: Ward, Coyle and Lambre.

Puissance Wall  )Photo by Shawn MacMillan)While all three had faults in the third jump-off round with the wall at 1.95 meters, they agreed to return for the fourth and final round and all cleared it.

It was the first Puissance for all three horses, and all three riders agreed that they wanted to come back and give it one final try.

“Who would have thought – Puissance specialist Catok," said Ward. "He’s 15.1 hands, and he’s a speed horse. We thought we’d maybe jump a couple rounds. Honestly, he was jumping it easy and felt very in hand. I saw a couple had trouble in that third round, and I really overrode it. I was also a bit upset with myself, so when we had the opportunity to go again, he jumped it beautiful. We’re all a bunch of top, competitive riders, and the horses were doing it pretty handily. It was worth a try.”

“It was the first time she’s jumped a wall I think," said Lambre. "The first round she was spooky, but then she started to improve every round. I feel that she finished very solid. I was confident coming back in the final time because she was very good. She had a little touch, but the fault was unlucky. I thought she could do one more round.”

“He actually doesn’t jump walls particularly well," said Coyle. "That’s why I decided to put him in the puissance. Usually when you do it once or twice, you get a little more confident. When we had it down, I was very disappointed because I didn’t get the stride I wanted. The first time I didn’t have a great stride in the corner, and he went a little green on me. I ended up too far off. Thankfully they let us go back and make it right. The next time, I made sure that I was riding a little more confident. The last Puissance I did was in Dublin four years ago. I wasn’t nervous, but I felt old going in! The crowd loves it, so it always makes it better for us, no matter what happens.”

Junior hunter divisions wrapped up on Friday with Mimi Gochman of New York, New York, riding Commentary to win the Grand Junior Hunter Championship.

The pair was awarded the title after receiving champion in the Small Junior Hunter 16-17 division.

After taking a small break from the hunter ring, Gochman has made a strong return this year.

Commentary, a 10-year-old Warmblood gelding by Cooliage, is a catch-ride for Gochman, 16, who has only shown the horse twice before.

With the help of trainers Scott Stewart and Ken Berkley, Gochman and Commentary placed first in every class of the division.