Michael Hughes on KMS Ali won the 7-year-old Final at WEF (2)
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March 15, 2025
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By Staff Writers
WELLINGTON, Fla.--Michael Hughes on KMS Ali won the $25,000 Future Challenge 7-Year-Old Developing Jumper Final on Friday, March 14 at the Winter Equestrian Festival.
Michael Hughes on KMS Ali (Photo by Sportfot)The Future Challenge is a well-established Swedish concept for talent development aimed at young grand prix horses in both dressage and jumping.
As a testament to the ability of these 7 year olds, eight of the 14 in the jump-off were clean, with no horse having more than 4 faults in the jump-off.
Hughes on KMS Ali was the fastest by almost two seconds, finishing in 37.888.
“I’ve been riding him for about six weeks only,” Hughes said of the Irish Sport Horse gelding. “At the end of last year Shane Sweetnam got him and his daughter Olivia was riding him. She did a great job giving him experience and I took over the ride to work on the dressage. He has improved so much. You can see in the jump-off today; I would not have been able to do that six weeks ago.”
KMS Ali was spotted by Sweetnam at the Dublin Horse Show in 2024, jumping nothing but clear rounds in the 6-year-olds as well doing some eventing.
FOR BEING only 7 years old now, Hughes believes he has vast experience already.
“He’s a real fighter in the ring,” he said. “When you jump single jumps at home, he doesn’t feel like he has a lot of scope but when you go in the ring he feels like he could jump anything you put in front of him. He’s super careful; the faster I went the more careful he was getting. That was a nice feeling.”
Hughes, who is from New Jersey, spent the past five years working for training operations in Europe, coming back stateside this year with Sweetnam’s Sweet Oak Farm.
“I think the young horse division has changed a lot since I was here before,” he said. “There were 50 that qualified to do the final this week. Last time I was here you wouldn’t see more than 15 doing the young horse finals.”
Charlotte Jacobs, clean in 39.367, was second on Nadim il Faut, a horse that initially appealed to her because of similar breeding to another young one of hers, Miro NS, who placed well in the 7-year-old final in 2024.
“The 7-year-old I jumped last year is also a Comme il Faut,” Jacobs said. “This is one we bought just after Dublin last year and he’s Comme il Faut out of Kannan but he’s also a stallion so maybe he’ll do some breeding after this.”
Jacobs and her family are champions of young horse development, sponsoring the 6-year-old final at WEF as well as throughout the country, and bringing talented young horses up through the levels.
Jacobs enjoys these finals every year and is pleased when she can develop a horse with this as a goal.
“This final is always a goal for me so when I jumped him the first week I thought I’d get him qualified for this,” she said. “I focused on the rideability and didn’t jump a lot at home. He’s only shown maybe three or four weeks down here. I don’t think the young horses need to be overjumped, so the way you qualify for this final is great because you can really design it based on your horse.”
Michael Tokaruk was third on Napardi, clean in 39.567.
“He’s one of those young horses that just gets it,” Tokaruk said of the Dutch Warmblood gelding. “He’s very smart and has a heart of gold. It’s really a lot of fun last year showing him in the 6-year-olds and then stepping up to 1.35m. He’s risen to every occasion we ask him to.”
NORA NAUSS on Unstoppable won the $15,000 6-Year-Old Young Jumper Final.
“This was his first jump-off format and he handled it so well,” Nauss said. “He hadn’t been in this ring before Wednesday. He won that class as well, and his big stride is really suited for the big ring. It was fun to go in there with him and take a shot at it today.”
Nauss has ridden“Uno” since the beginning of the season in Wellington, and she rode him to his first 6-year-old start as well as his first victory.
“I bred Uno about six years ago, and I’ve had him ever since,” said his owner Jessica Rosenfeld, breeding her own eventing mare to the stallion Untouchable. “It’s very special because I never thought we’d be here today. He's won so many classes this season so I’m really proud of him.”
“I spent a lot of time with him on the ground,” Rosenfeld said. “He’s become my best friend. I’m so attached to him and he’s known me since birth. He has the most amazing brain and knows his job. He wants to please and he’s game.”
Eighteen-year-old Nauss is gaining an extra perspective from riding young horses that she’s carrying over to her mindset at the higher levels.
“I’ve learned a lot from riding young horses and it translates into my made horses as well,” Nauss said. “It’s really helpful to learn horse development and how you can produce a horse because you can carry that into the higher jumpers. It’s special to get to do this on a young horse and see them succeed."
“I’ve learned a lot of patience and learned how to focus a lot,” she said. “I struggle with getting a little ahead of myself but the young horses force me to take a second and take a breath and really think about what I’m doing.”
In the spring, Nauss and Rosenfeld hope to debut Uno on the grass derby field at Wellington International and let the horse continue to develop through the levels.
CORMAC HANLEY of Ireland on Pavarotti won the $10,000 5-Year-Old Developing Jumper Final.
“What he’s done today is pretty special,” Hanley said of the Dutch Warmblood stallion. “He was purchased by Heathman Farm as a 3-year-old; they bought him off a video. He came to the States at the start of this year, and jumped his first 5-year-old class last week. We thought he was ready to go straight into the big stuff this week. He handled it unbelievably. This was his first ever jump-off and to win it in the style he did was pretty incredible.”
The horse’s winning style was enough to land him the Champion Equine Insurance Jumper Style Award.
He won the class convincingly, about three seconds ahead of second place.
“He’s so smart,” Hanley said. “He’s quite a big horse so he’ll take time for his body to develop but he’s got all the scope. It’s a little unexpected that he was able to go as quick as he did in the jump-off today. I didn’t know how much I could’ve asked of him, but everything I asked he kept giving it to me.”
“These finals are very important to try to grow the grassroots level of horses in the U.S.,” Hanley said. “It's getting harder to find the top horses. Even if you find them you can’t afford them, so you have to find them younger and younger. You need a platform to develop them and that’s what we’re doing at Heathman Farm; trying to aim for the future. The young horse finals are growing and getting more difficult, but that’s what it needs because if you don’t develop the young horses you have nothing for the bigger sport in the future.”
Later in the day at WEF, Mexico’s Eugenio Garza Perez on Victer Finn DH Z won the $32,000 CSI4* 1.50m speed class, clean in 58.40 seconds.
Bertram Allen of Ireland on Gary de Cerisy was second in 60.15, and Alessandra Volpi on Glamour was third in 60.18..
This year, the Budweiser Clydesdales will make appearances in the Dixon Oval on Thursday, May 29, Friday, May 30 and Saturday, May 31.
