NORTH SALEM, N.Y.--Simon McCarthy of Ireland on Gotcha won the $65,000 FEI 3* Welcome Stake on Friday, Sept. 20 at the Old Salem September Horse Shows, Week 2.
Simon McCarthy on Gotcha (Photo by SEL Photography)Ireland was represented by a number of top riders that won countless competitions last year, both in the U.S. and internationally, and now McCarthy has added his name to the list.
Friday’s Welcome Stake featured 54 entries representing nine countries, including six riders from this summer’s Paris Olympic Games.
Of the 12 entries that advanced to the jump-off, McCarthy finished nearly a full second faster than his competitors to win with a clean round in 37.39 seconds over the course set by Alan Wade.
Darragh Kenny of Ireland, first clean in the jump-off, set the time to beat at 38.37 seconds on Chaccoletto.
McCarthy immediately followed and finished in 37.39 seconds.
“MY HORSE is naturally very, very fast,” McCarthy said. “I’ve ridden her for three or four years now, so we know each other very well. We’ve won quite a lot of classes together all over the world, and she’s been an amazing partner to me. Darragh Kenny went into the jump-off round directly before me, and he’s always very fast. I luckily was able to watch him go and knew that I had to be a bit tighter than him everywhere. Gotcha’s also naturally very careful, so I knew I could dare her at the jumps and she would most likely leave them up. We had a full gallop all the way from the first jump to the last. I’m very thankful that she was with me all the way.”
Kenny was second in 38.37 seconds, and Elena Haas was third in 39.49 seconds on Claude.
“I love it here,” McCarthy said. “I’ve been living 20 minutes up the road all summer, so this is kind of our home show. The facilities here are amazing, and it’s nice to get to sleep in my own bed every night. Our horses have jumped amazing these last two weeks, and with Alan Wade building this weekend, we’ve got some tough courses that are always fun to jump. It’s a really top-notch horse show.”