By Sarah Madden for TIEC
October 7, 2021 – Samuel Parot (CHI) and Koblenz van de Vinusakker collected top honors in Thursday’s $37,000 Horseware Ireland Welcome Stake CSI 2* during Tryon Fall 3 at Tryon International Equestrian Center & Resort (TIEC), stopping the jump-off timers in 40.766 seconds. Paul O’Shea (IRL) and Imerald van’t Voorhof, the 2008 Belgian Warmblood gelding (Emerald x Bacardi Orange De Muze) owned in partnership with Imerald Partners LLC and Tequestrian Farms LLC, earned reserve on a time of 40.921 seconds, while third place also went to Ireland: David O’Brien piloted El Balou OLD, the 2012 Oldenburg stallion (Eldorado VD Zeshoek x Balou Due Rouet) owned by Chansonette Farm LLC, to a 41.008-second clear jump-off performance.
Sixty horse-and-rider pairs walked into Tryon Stadium to contest the Guilherme Jorge (BRA) course design, with 12 entries qualifying for the opportunity to ride the short track. Parot and the 2010 Belgian Warmblood gelding (Toulon x Leader ‘M’) owned by Aleksander Smolnik are a new pairing with only a few shows behind them, but already to great success, Parot revealed:
“He’s new, and it’s only his fifth or sixth show [with me]. He’s a really easy horse: very fast, careful, and with a lot of scope,” Parot emphasized. “I jumped him three weeks ago in the five star at Saugerties and he did very well. He’s nice and has a very good personality. He’s amazing!”
Despite piloting an easy mount, Parot continued, the course was anything but, in order to challenge a stacked field of competitors. “The course was not easy, and there were lots of riders! Normally for a CSI 2* you have [fewer], but the course design was very good.”
Parot was able to watch O’Shea take a shot at the course that helped him strategize, he recapped. “I saw Paul O’Shea go very fast [on Hellcat] and he turned close to the Liverpool and had the rail down. I preferred to go for the outside,” Parot explained, “but I went fast [throughout the course] and did two [fewer] strides on the last line.”
McKayla Langmeier and Bahira S Scoop Up $10,000 Power & Speed Stake CSI 2* Win
October 6, 2021 – McKayla Langmeier (USA) and Bahira S knocked two seconds off the previous leader’s time to claim a win in Wednesday’s $10,000 Power & Speed Stake CSI 2*, topping a field of 50 entries and finishing on a speed phase time of 25.919 seconds. In reserve, Roberto Teran Tafur (COL) and Gabrovo, the 2012 Hanoverian gelding (Grey Top x Graf Sponeck) owned by Susan Van Lammers, cruised the speed phase of the Guilherme Jorge (BRA) track in 27.74 seconds. Taylor Land (USA) and Get Go, the Pinetree Farms Inc. entry and 2012 Hanoverian gelding (Grey Top x World Diamond O), cleared the track in a time of 28.504 seconds for third place.
©TIEC/Natalie Suto
Langmeier and Rafferty Farm LLC’s 2010 Oldenburg mare by Balou Du Rouet, formerly owned and ridden by Samuel Parot, have been paired together since the beginning of the summer, but have already built a strong partnership. “I really trust my horse, and she trusts me,” she shared about her jump-off strategy. “is already really fast, and when I walked the course with Henri and Katie [Prudent] we saw that there was an inside turn to the second-to-last jump, and nobody had really done it yet. I figured I’d give it a try!”
The result was a comfortable lead for the win, but Langmeier is taking things day by day with her new mount and her new phase in life as an emerging professional at the age of 21, she explained. For the moment, she’d like to repeat more positive experiences in FEI competition while building a string of horses:
“It’s been really awesome [becoming a professional]. I work with Katie and Henri, and my parents are professionals, so they help me as well. It’s been really exciting to be a professional and get my career started.
“I want to be moving up in the FEI classes, and starting to get a group of horses that can help me out with that. I haven’t been doing a ton of FEI classes – mostly just this summer,” Langmeier acknowledged. “I had a little break there because I was at college, so I did FEI when I was a junior rider, but now I’m really starting to focus on some of those bigger classes again.”
As part of that educational experience, Langmeier noted that it was a “no-brainer” to choose to compete in the Tryon Fall Series at TIEC. “It’s such a great venue. They do an amazing job with the facility, and it’s so nice to show here,” she concluded. “It was a no-brainer to show here!”
For full results from the $10,000 Power & Speed Stake CSI 2*, click here.
For full results from the $37,000 Horseware Ireland Welcome Stake CSI 2*, click here.
