52/ SEPTEMBER 2019 THE RIDER


Sam Walker Walks Off With Lindsay Maxwell Charitable Fund WIHS Equitation Finals


Sam Walker simply could not be beaten in the


Lindsay Maxwell Charitable Fund WIHS Equi- tation Finals on Saturday. Walker, 17, and from No- bleton, ON, led the three-phase competition from start to finish riding Waldo, becoming the first Canadian rider to win the class. A field of 40 started the competitive, year-end


equitation final, which spanned two days. Riders started with a hunter phase held on Friday, then completed a jumper phase held on Saturday after- noon, and then 10 riders qualified for a final work- off held during Saturday night’s featured session. Riders’ average scores from the first two rounds were combined, with the 10 top-ranked competitors then swapping horses in the work-off. The highest combined total score won the class. Walker joked that his preparation for this


year’s win began immediately after the class last year. “I was 10th place here last year and third the year before, so I was a little bit hungry to get back in the ring here,” Walker said. “I just wanted to say thank you to the Lindsay Maxwell Charitable Fund for sponsoring this class and always making it a great event every year.” Walker set the tone early with Waldo, a 12-


year-old warmblood gelding owned by Missy Clark and North Run. The judges, Chance Arake- lian, Laura Kraut, Timmy Kees, and Sue Ashe, scored him with a 93 in the hunter round, giving him the blue in that phase. In the jumper round, Walker finished second with a score of 92, but re- tained his lead in the overall standings with a 185 total. Ava Stearns, who won the jumper phase with a score of 93.5, was hot on his heels in the stand-


ings with a 182.5 total. In the work-off, Walker and Stearns switched


horses, with Walker getting on Stearns’ mount Acer K, an eight-year-old gelding also owned by Clark and North Run, and Stearns getting a leg up onto Waldo. Walker and Stearns both train with Clark, John Brennan, and their team at North Run, so they were familiar with each other’s horses. “I think that knowing the person in your barn


whose horse you’re swapping onto and seeing the horse every day is a big advantage,” Stearns said. “I watch [Waldo] go all the time, and Sam watches mine. I know that Sam has my best interests at heart, as I do for him, and he’s going to tell me what I need to know. They’re both such top-notch horses that you really couldn’t go wrong.” Stearns put the pressure on Walker with a solid


round with Waldo. It was a bit of redemption, as the year before, she had also switched horses with Walker and did not have as good a round, leaving her in ninth in the class. Walker answered her challenge with a seam-


less round of his own as the last to go. The judges rewarded him with another score in the 90s, a 93. Stearns posted a score of 86.5 in the work-off, giv- ing the win to Walker with a 278 total score and putting her in second place with a score of 269.5. For the win, Walker was presented with the WIHS Equitation Classic Trophy, donated by Mr. & Mrs. G. Ralph Ours, III, and, as the winning horse, Waldo was awarded the Lugano Memorial Trophy, donated by Stoney Hill. “When the scores get as good as they got at the end, that’s so much fun to watch, and it’s a


Sam Walker and Waldo. Photo by Shawn McMillen Photography


pleasure to judge,” said Kees. “I’ve been very, very grateful to have the ride


on the same horse each year,” said Walker. “I al- ways look forward to coming to this horse show. It’s extremely well organized. It’s a great atmos- phere. It’s a real show. In regard to my horse and preparation, we just kept it simple and tried to stick with the plan. I’m just really happy with how today went.” Walker has had the ride on Waldo for three


years, while Stearns, of Chilmark, MA, has just been showing Acer K since March. “These two are so well schooled, and in the whole scheme of things, veterans of equitation,” Clark said of the two riders. “I’m so proud of them. Ava’s horse is only eight years old; this was his first year doing [equitation finals], and Sam has helped develop Waldo, another horse that we also own. Waldo had never done equitation at this level until Sam


started with him. It’s been fun working with both kids and both those horses.” Judge Arakelian addressed Walker and


Stearns after the class. “I’m a big fan of Sam’s,” he said. “I think he rides so forward and light with a great hand. Sam, your third round was absolutely beautiful. Ava, your second round was unbeliev- able as well. You’re a very strong rider, and you ride that horse beautifully.” Finishing in third with a total score of was


Dominic Gibbs, 16, of Colorado Springs, CO, rid- ing Cent 15, an 11-year-old Hanoverian owned by Mountain King Ranch LLC. Gibbs is in his first year of the prestigious fall indoor equitation finals, and trains with Stacia Madden and the Beacon Hill team.


Laura Kraut and Fleurette topped the $136,300 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Washington, presented by Events DC for the President’s Cup at WIHS. Photo by Shawn McMillen Photography


Laura Krout Continued from Page 51


got on a truck and came straight here. She’s just amazing because not a lot of horses could put up with that,” Kraut said. “I didn’t know how this show would suit


her,” Kraut continued. “I don’t know how much she has done indoors. One thing I do know is that she’s just such an intelligent horse. She takes every- thing in stride; nothing really bothers her. She’s handled jumping in a big ring like Aachen beauti- fully. She’s handled pretty much anything I’ve asked of her so far, and that’s just a little bit her per- sonality. She’s a work horse.” Kraut makes a point of adding WIHS to


her schedule even though she’s based in England. “This is a fantastic horse show,” she said. “I come back for it every year. Normally I’m in Europe, going full throttle, but I always have taken the time to come back and jump at Washington because I think it’s one of the shows we don’t want to do without.”


The show’s president, Vicki Lowell,


noted that the spectator numbers were strong. “I think it was a super exciting class,” Lowell said. “I’m just awed by these riders and what they’re able to do and these horses. I think we had fantastic crowds. The enthusiasm here is building. There were a ton of people here and a lot of buzz, and I think it shows how much D.C. loves equestrian sport. I can’t wait for 2020.” For her victory, Kraut was presented with


The President of the United States Perpetual Cup, donated by Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy in 1961. Ad- ditionally, she collected The Margaret Chovnick Memorial Trophy as winner of the $10,000 Lead- ing International Rider Award and the Leading Lady Rider Award, sponsored by Longines. Fleurette’s owners, Barb and Dave Roux, were pre- sented with Leading Jumper Owner Award. For her two wins earlier in the week,


Sydney Shulman of Israel was presented with the Juliet Weber Reid Trophy as winner of the $10,000 Leading Under 25 Award. Shulman also was awarded the Leading Foreign Rider Award.


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