Sweetnam’s Earns Win in $10,000 Palm Beach Masters Open Jumper and Scott Stewart Continues Winning Ways at the Hampton Classic

Sweetnam’s Bold Move Earns Him the Win in the $10,000 Palm Beach Masters Open Jumper Class at the Hampton Classic

Bridgehampton, NY – August 30, 2017 – As the week progresses and the jumps go up, clean rounds become hard to come by in the grand prix ring. Wednesday at the Hampton Classic was no exception.

Shane Sweetnam and Indra Van De Oude Heihoef took Wednesday's $10,000 Palm Beach Masters Open Jumper class at the Hampton Classic. © Shawn McMillen Photography
Shane Sweetnam and Indra Van De Oude Heihoef took Wednesday’s $10,000 Palm Beach Masters Open Jumper class at the Hampton Classic. © Shawn McMillen Photography

Of 45 starters in the 1.45 meter $10,000 Palm Beach Masters Open Jumper class designed by Ireland’s Alan Wade, just a dozen progressed to jump off rounds.

Early in the field, Mexico’s Santiago Lambre and D’Artagnan posted a blistering jump off time of 32.860 seconds. Ultimately, however, Ireland’s Shane Sweetnam would pull a rabbit out of his hat, in the form of a near-impossible inside turn with Indra Van De Oude Heihoef, owned by the Blue Buckle Group, to claim the top prize.

“Santiago was very fast and I knew I wouldn’t catch him by going around,” said Sweetnam. “I had seen the turn when I walked the course and I was thinking my horse could do that because she is quite nifty. It’s not an easy type of turn to make, you have to have a certain type of horse to try a turn like that. I knew we wouldn’t be as fast across the ground as Santiago. I knew we would have to try something like that, but she is good at that. I’m lucky it came up really nicely and she jumped it so I think it was worth the risk.”

Sweetnam, who won the 2015 Longines Leading Rider title at the Classic, and Indra Van De Oude Heihoef bested Lambre’s time with their 32.489 seconds, with United States’ Catherine Tyree and Enjoy Louis rounding out the top three with a jump-off time of 33.661 seconds.

Sarah Segal and Zelda won the $10,000 Wölffer Estate Open Jumper class at the Hampton Classic. © Shawn McMillen Photography
Sarah Segal and Zelda won the $10,000 Wölffer Estate Open Jumper class at the Hampton Classic. © Shawn McMillen Photography

Earlier in the day, Sarah Segal of Flemington, NJ, took the $10,000 Wölffer Estate Open Jumper class, riding T.K. Farm’s Zelda.

Segal had a nail-biting few hours as she competed third in the order of go, then had to wait for the rest of the field of 59 to compete to see if her time would hold up for the win.

Nobody was able to better her 57.112 seconds, and Segal came away with the blue ribbon. Second went to Katie Swindler with Christoffer Adriansson’s Quali Quanti with a time of 59.149 seconds, and third went to Ireland’s Richie Moloney on Rocksy Music, owned by Equinimity LLC, right behind Swindler with a time of 59.161.

Update on the $30,000 Longines Rider Challenge:

Richie Moloney of Ireland maintains the lead in the $30,000 Longines Rider Challenge with a total of 163.5 points. Brianne Goutal of USA is second with 110 points, and McLain Ward has taken over the third position with 99 points. The Challenge continues throughout the week, and will be awarded Sunday.

Thursday’s competition continues with open jumpers in the grand prix ring including the Rose Hill Farm Amateur-Owner Jumpers and the highlight of the afternoon, the $40,000 SOVARO® Speed Stake.

Scott Stewart Continues Winning Ways at the Hampton Classic

Scott Stewart has a long history of success at the Hampton Classic, and Wednesday saw another row of champion rosettes added to his collection.

Scott Stewart piloted Dr. Betsee Parker's Lucador to the championship in the High Performance Hunter 3'9" division at the Hampton Classic. © Shawn McMillen Photography
Scott Stewart piloted Dr. Betsee Parker’s Lucador to the championship in the High Performance Hunter 3’9″ division at the Hampton Classic. © Shawn McMillen Photography

Victorious in four major divisions just as he was in 2016, Stewart has every reason to look forward to attending the Hampton Classic each August.

Stewart won the championship in the High Performance Hunter 3’9″ division with Lucador, owned by Dr. Betsee Parker. Reserve went to Koala, ridden by Victoria Colvin and owned by John & Stephanie Ingram.

Following the presentation ceremony, Stewart reviewed Lucador’s performances leading to the overall title:

“He went great, he won every class except for one, in which he was third. I’m really pleased with his performances, especially after all the rain last night. The footing today was actually even better than it was yesterday. This is the only time in the season we show in a grass ring, so it’s a little different and it’s something we have to practice for at home. When you have a good horse and the conditions are nice as they are here, they probably jump their best of the year at this show. It’s one of the nicest to come to.”

Jennifer Hannan rode Patricia Fulchino's Best Regards to the Green Conformation hunter championship at the Hampton Classic. © Shawn McMillen Photography
Jennifer Hannan rode Patricia Fulchino’s Best Regards to the Green Conformation hunter championship at the Hampton Classic. © Shawn McMillen Photography

Jennifer Hannan of Wakefield, RI, piloted Patricia Fulchino’s Best Regards to the championship in the Green Conformation hunters.

Said Hannan: “We’ve shown at the Hamptons many times but this is my first time being champion. Today he went just beautifully. The weather was a little windy and I think he handled the circumstances really well. He jumped a ’10’ and was really cooperative. I couldn’t be happier.”

While hunter competitions continue through Sunday, a number of divisions have awarded champion and reserve champion to this point:

Green Hunter 3’6″ CH: Wonderly RES: Luster both ridden by Scott Stewart and owned by Dr. Betsee Parker

Green Hunter 3’9″ CH: William Hill ridden by Scott Stewart, owned by Gochman Sport Horse LLC RES: Early August ridden by Patricia Griffith, owned by Deer Ridge Farms

Green Conformation Hunter CH: Best Regards ridden by Jennifer Hannan, owned by Patricia Fulchino RES: Private Life ridden by Scott Stewart, owned by Dr. Betsee Parker

High Performance Hunter 3’9″ CH: Lucador ridden by Scott Stewart, owned by Dr. Betsee Parker RES: Koala ridden by Victoria Colvin, owned by John and Stephanie Ingram

High Performance Hunter 4′ CH: Catch Me ridden by Scott Stewart, owned by Gochman Sport Horse LLC RES:

Children’s Hunter Horse 15-17 CH: Lovestruck ridden by Sophia Soja, owned by Kelly Stensland RES: Cabaret owned and ridden by Isabel Culver

Children’s Hunter Small/Medium Pony CH: Enchanted ridden by Caroline Cole, owned by First Blue LLC RES: Rosmel’s Stellar ridden by Ryley Kurau, owned by Ava Girdusky

Children's Hunter Small/Medium Pony champions Caroline Cole with Enchanted, owned by First Blue LLC. © Shawn McMillen Photography
Children’s Hunter Small/Medium Pony champions Caroline Cole with Enchanted, owned by First Blue LLC. © Shawn McMillen Photography

Hunters will continue in the Anne Aspinall ring with Junior hunters followed by the $2,500 Adult Amateur Hunter Classic, presented by Firefly.

Running through September 3, the Classic will feature over 200 classes in six beautifully manicured show rings; a Boutique Garden with more than 70 vendors for shopping, and a wide selection of dining options on the world-class 60-acre showground.

For complete horse show results and more information on the Hampton Classic Horse Show, please visit the Hampton Classic website at www.hamptonclassic.com. Complimentary live webcasts of all Grand Prix ring competitions air on the Hampton Classic website, produced by ShowNet.

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