Edited Press Release
Continuing her winning streak, McKayla Langmeier of East Grandby, CT, captured another big win Saturday in the $25,000 Traverse City National Grand Prix, this time aboard Chadina. Opening the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival (GLEF), presented by CaptiveOne, with two wins, the young rider is quickly accumulating points toward the CaptiveOne Leading Open Jumper Rider Bonus to be awarded at the end of the season.
Despite just three entries jumping clear over Catsy Cruz’s (MEX) first-round track and advancing to the jump-off, the pace was quick and competition kept getting more intense as the riders came forward. Mimi Gochman, winner of Friday’s $37,000 Innovo CSI3* Welcome Stake, jumped off first with Andretti BH, but pulled the first rail to finish on 4 faults. Cathleen Driscoll, second in the Welcome, produced the first double-clear in a very quick time of 39.428 seconds.
Topping Driscoll was going to take nerve, but Langmeier stepped up to the plate and shaved off two seconds, navigating the 9-year-old Oldenburg mare (Conthargos x Narew) to a clear-round time of 37.447 seconds for the win. Driscoll claimed second place while Gochman took third.
“She’s a really fiery mare being chestnut, so she has a lot of attitude and personality which makes her a lot of fun,” Langmeier said of Chadina, owned by Rafferty Farm, LLC. “got her from Plain Bay Sales, from Katie, Henri, and Adam Prudent about a year and a half ago.”
Since their start together, Langmeier has strategically developed Chadina to ultimately bring her up to the higher levels. “We’ve gone very slowly,” she continued. “We’ve put her in bigger classes and stepped down, then repeated up until now to give her confidence and develop her at this height. This is definitely a highlight of mine on her. She’s just starting to be really competitive at this height. Hopefully we can do some two- and three-stars.”
The first-round course was challenging, producing only three clears. Langmeier commented on her plan for the first round, “I [identified] the spots where I had to take more time and think through what I needed to get done. The skinny and the plank were both very careful jumps that you had to respect.”
Saturday marks two wins in one week for Langmeier, and both were aboard fiery mares. “As a typical chestnut mare, she’s opinionated but also very sweet,” she said of Chadina, echoing a bit of sentiment she felt for Bahira S, who won the CSI3* Speed on Thursday. “I have all mares and one gelding. It’s not so much [that I prefer them,] I just seem to have acquired a lot of mares.”
Final Results: $25,000 Traverse City National Grand Prix
1. Chadina / McKayla Langmeier / Rafferty Farm LLC / 0/0/37.447
2. Magnolia / Cathleen Driscoll / Plain Bay Sales / 0/0/39.428
3. Andretti BH / Mimi Gochman / Gochman Sport Horses / 0/4/41.515
4. Escapado S / Jamie Sailor / Mountain View West Farm LLC 2/78.485
5. Wonder If / Amanda Derbyshire / Gochman Sport Horses / 4/72.071
6. Pewit Dezoito / Amanda Derbyshire / Ehs, LLC / 4/74.724
7. Honneur T&L Z / Cormac Hanley / Glynn Way Sporthorses / 4/75.126
8. Dame De Pique / Cathleen Driscoll / Plain Bay Farm / 5/77.962
9. Fata Morgana Di Villagana / Taylor Madden / Taylor Madden / 7/79.641
10. Deleyn / Sofia Cady / Sofia Cady / 8/73.099
11. High Nitro / Cathleen Driscoll / Margaret Frank / 8/74.018
12. Stakan 4 / Charlie Jayne / Ammann Equestrian LLC / 8/74.109
