UPPER MARLBORO,Md--Scott Stewart of Fleminton, N.J., won the $30,000 World Championship Hunter Rider Professional Finals on Friday, Oct.4 at the Capital Challenge Horse Show, which runs at the Prince George’s Equestrian Center through Sunday, Oct. 6.
Scott Stewart on RSH Kallahan (Photo by Shawn McMillen)The evening competition featured the top four hunter riders in the country going head-to-head in the Finals in which each of the four rides four unfamiliar horses.
Stewart's win was his eighth win out of 23 appearances in the 31 years of the class.
The top three riders in the United States Hunter Jumper Association National Professional Rider standings – Nick Haness, Geoffrey Hesslink, and Scott Stewart – qualified for the Professional Finals along with Wednesday’s Professional Challenge winner, Amanda Steege.
The riders competed on four horses chosen from a donated group of horses that were presented to the judges and ground jury on Friday morning.
Six were chosen to move forward to the schooling round in the ring before the start of the class, and from there, four were used in the class.
Stewart rode Chantino PS, owned by JT Equine LLC, to his “lowest” score of the night – a 94.33 – and moved up to a score of 96.33 on his second ride, Ton Amie Van Spieveld, owned by Ellie Goodfriend.
“THE FIRST horse was awesome,” said Stewart. “I, for some reason, couldn't remember seeing him school, even though I did, so I sort of went in and didn't really know what to do. He was was absolutely perfect and relaxed for me, so he gave me a lot of confidence.”
With a 95.66 on Goodfriend’s RSH Kallahan and his highest score of 96.66 on his final horse, Hello Houston Z owned by Williams Sport Horse, Stewart held the lead through all four rounds.
He gave a masterful performance, earning a total of 382.98 and winning by more than 20 points.
Hesslink placed second after his final round of the night where he received his highest score of 94.66 on Chantino PS.
He finished on a total of 362.66.
“I was just happy to be in the top three,” said Hesslink. “I grew up watching this class as a young kid and remember idolizing every rider, literally dreaming of one day doing it, and thinking it was so out of reach. To be here means a lot to me, and I'm really grateful for every time I get to do it.”
Third place went to Steege, who had a total of 360.98, with her high score of 92.66 coming on Ton Amie Van Spieveld, aka “Tommy,” a Belgian Warmblood gelding by Le Blue Diamond van’t Ruytershof.
“All the horses were wonderful,” said Steege. “I was really impressed with Tommy. He is only a 5-year-old horse, which I think is incredible. We were so thankful to the owners and trainers and people that spent all day getting those horses ready so that we could have so much fun.”
With less than a point separating him from Steege, Haness was fourth with a total of 359.99.
He had his high score of 94 from Ton Amie Van Spieveld as well.
“I think that we were lucky to have consistency throughout the class, and you can really showcase each rider's strengths,” said Haness of the horse power in the class. “It was a really nice selection of horses. We are so grateful to have such solid horses to ride, and they were all brave and very straightforward in their own way."
“Honestly, it feels great to win,” said Haness, who won this class in 2022, “but it feels great to watch what just happened, and Scott just gave us all a riding lesson. It was great to see him be so magical out there. It was really admirable to see what he could accomplish with those horses, and that inspires me as a young professional to look forward to trying to do more.”
“I still get nervous,” said Stewart. “It's a great honor to be included in this group of riders. I'm hopeful that I'll get to keep doing it. I've won it enough, and I just enjoyed doing it, so I wasn't really expecting to win, but I was, I would say, probably the most relaxed I've ever been.”
Stewart, at the age of 60, has no intentions of slowing down.
“Hopefully, I’ll have enough great horses to keep me up in the loop, so yeah, I'm going to keep trying,” he said.
