By Sydney Lowe
Shawn Casady (USA) and Lyranta Van’t Gebroekt (Lord Chin x Gyranta) captured the win in the $5,000 FEI 1.40m CSI3*. The FEI competition consisted of thirty athletes who contested the 1.40m course built by Wade. The class was formatted as a two phase special; phase one had obstacles from one through six with a time allowed of forty seconds. After fence six, riders continued directly onto phase two. With a thirty-four second time allowed, riders jumped fences seven through eleven and officials used phase two’s time to determine the winner.
Casady was tenth in the order of go on his first mount Captain Jack and mastered the course with a phase two time of 33.75 seconds. He bested his original time with his second mount Lyranta Van’t Gebroekt. The pair conquered the field with a quick time of 25.28 seconds to claim the winning title.
“I rode some of the tracks earlier in the day. I was thinking I could get four strides off the double combination. I went for two strides and realized I need to fit in three more strides. She fit it in well. I watched a bunch of people do seven strides in the last line. I asked a few people who rode the course and they said I could probably do six strides. I know the horse, so I was confident in riding in six,” recounted Casady. “I didn’t want to be seconds not trying my best. I got a little bit lucky; I was a little sharp off the ground with my hand and she rubbed the front rail. It was a nailbiter.”
Casady’s mount Lyranta Van’t Gebroekt is a ten-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare owned by Stephex Stables. The pair were just recently matched in October of 2020 and Casady has enjoyed his time getting to know her.
“She has a crazy amount of scope, loves to be careful, and is as brave as it gets. When I first started riding her I thought she was a bigger and slower type of horse, but she keeps beating second place by multiple seconds,” expressed Casady. “She always has the time. She covers so much ground; you can leave out strides. I’m just having a really great time working with her.”
Second place in the FEI competition was awarded to Mavis Spencer (USA) aboard Georgy Maskrey-Segesman’s Castelissimo for their phase two time of 27.61 seconds. Castelissimo is a ten-year-old Holsteiner gelding by Castelan 3 out of T-clintissma. Completing the podium was USA’s Susan Artes and California Sunshine (Captain Future Z x Nashville), an eight-year-old mare owned by Alix Fargo, with a speedy time of 27.77 seconds in phase two.
For full results of the $5,000 FEI 1.40m CSI3*, please visit Showgrounds Live.
