Lexington, Kentucky, USA – May 16, 2024 – An international field of athletes gathered at the Rolex Stadium on Thursday night to compete in the $62,500 Spring Classic CSI 3* during the Kentucky Spring Classic at the Kentucky Horse Park. Forty-four combinations were narrowed down to nine for a test of speed and accuracy during the technical jump-off. 

Sloane Coles (USA) and Ninja JW van de Moerhoeve placed second, just 1/100th of a second ahead of third-place finishers Cathleen Driscoll (USA) and Arome.

Course designer Guilherme Jorge (BRA) asked questions throughout the 13-obstacle track in the Rolex Stadium. An early triple bar was followed by a vertical-oxer double combination directly to a delicate vertical liverpool. The final line proved to be the most challenging, beginning with an oxer-vertical-vertical triple combination to the penultimate oxer, and riders finally did a bending line past the gate to the last oxer. Nine combinations had all the answers in the first round and advanced to the tiebreaker where they had to jump the double combination again, before jumping to verticals with a tight rollback and galloping home over the same final oxer.

Five of the jump-off qualifiers were able to produce a second clear round, the first of which was Cathleen Driscoll (USA) and Arome, who left all of the rails intact and stopped the clock at 40.33 seconds. Her early lead did not hold up for long, as Ali Ramsay (CAN) and Conrado 12 took to the track next. A very tight rollback to the penultimate verical before a fast gallop to the final oxer did just the trick as they dash across the finish line in 39.10 seconds to move to the top of the leaderboard. Only the final pair in the ring would come close to taking the top spot.

Sloane Coles (USA) and Ninja JW Van De Moerhoeve were smooth and accurate as they quickly made their way through the course, following Driscoll’s path perfectly. They broke the beam in 40.32 with all the rails in place, edging out Driscoll by 1/100th of a second to earn the red ribbon. Driscoll took home third place, while Ramsay returned to lead the lap of honor.

Final Results – $62,500 Spring Classic CSI 3*

1) Ali Ramsay (CAN) & Conrado 12 – 0 / 0 – 39.10

2) Sloane Coles (USA) & Ninja JW Van De Moerhoeve – 0 / 0 – 40.32

3) Cathleen Driscoll (USA) & Arome – 0 / 0 – 40.33

Source: Press Release from Kentucky Horse Shows

Photos: © Shawn McMillen Photography

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