A Lil Evil and Kathryn Currey Make it Two in a Row in the Jumper Final
Edited Press Release
The team is the same, but the two horses who have gifted owner Polly Lampshire, trainers Ron Danta and Danny Robertshaw, and rider Hunter Kay with three TAKE2 Hunter Final trophies could not be more different. Lucca, the TAKE2 Finals Hunter champion in 2019 and 2020, was a teenaged chestnut with an attitude. This year, it was the sweet-tempered 8-year-old Capture the Music who defeated 23 rivals in the $10,000 TAKE2 Hunter Final at the Kentucky National Horse Show in Lexington Sept. 22.
A Lil Evil and Kathryn Currey, the heroines of the 2023 $10,000 TAKE2 Jumper Final, were back with double clears to repeat against 19 competitors at the Kentucky Horse Park on Sunday.
With sunny skies and temperatures over 90, it felt more like summer than the first day of fall as a record 44 Thoroughbreds from 16 states converged on the Bluegrass State for the 2024 $20,000 TAKE2 Hunter/Jumper Finals. It was the perfect setting to showcase the success of two former racehorses in their second careers.
Capture the Music was bred in Canada and raced five times, winning once, before leaving the track to try his luck in the sport horse world. After a brief stint as a Novice Level Eventer, the gelding was training for the hunt ring at a show in North Carolina when something made Danny Robertshaw turn his head.
“Danny just happened to look down a hill and he saw a horse lungeing; the horse caught his eye, so he drove down the hill and asked about him,” Lampshire recalled. “He was told, ‘No one wants him, he’s a Thoroughbred,’ but Danny said, ‘I want him!’
“He called me and told me, ‘I’ve got your next horse!’ I was stammering – my husband had recently passed away, we had just retired Lucca, and I wasn’t looking for a new horse. But I fell in love with him right away. Someone was watching over us; if Danny hadn’t looked down the hill at that moment, we would have missed him.”
Lampshire immediately registered “Cap” for the TAKE2 Thoroughbred League, and he had a solid first season, finishing tied for 8th in the Hunter standings. His intelligence and his ability mirror Lampshire’s former champion, but the similarities end there.
“Lucca has a grumpy personality; Cap is sunshine,” the South Carolina horsewoman said. “If Lucca was in a mood, he would wait til the last fence and then kick out at the middle rail and knock it down, on purpose. Not the top rail, the middle rail. He’d have a straight up temper tantrum. Cap is so different. Cap says, ‘What do you want me to do? I’m here. Let’s go!’”
Capture the Music was a model of consistency in the TAKE2 Hunter Final, scoring an 83 in the first round and an 84 in the second to win narrowly over Reserve Champion Nickel Ride and TAKE2 Junior Hunter champ Breanna Moore. Moore earned the $500 TAKE2 Award for the top Junior Rider. Gabby Danz aboard Absolute Bullet Proof finished 9th and took home the $1,000 bonus for the top Amateur Rider.
“Can you believe Cap?” Lampshire enthused. “In just his first year with us.”
What Cap’s owner appreciates most about the TAKE2 Program is sharing the experience with her “family” from Beaver River Farm.
“Being part of the team with Ron and Danny and all the people who work and ride in our barn, it’s heaven,” she said. “They are all amazing. I don’t know what I would do without Ron and Danny, we are best friends. I love them to pieces.”
Lampshire, who grew up in horse country and rode from a young age, feels just as strongly about the Thoroughbreds she is privileged to own.
“Thoroughbreds think – they are intelligent, and they have such personality,” she said. “There’s something about them that’s a little bit magical. With Lucca, I put my hand on his shoulder, and he turned around and looked at me, at just 2 years old, and there was such wisdom in that eye. It’s the same with Cap. Thoroughbreds are something special.”
Kathryn Currey wholeheartedly agrees, especially when it comes to her TAKE2 partner, A Lil Evil. “She’s amazing,” Currey said.
The two connected back in 2016 when “Eve” was retired from a winless racing career. They joined the TAKE2 League in 2020 and earned Reserve Champion in the Finals for three straight years before breaking through with the victory in 2023.
But work and life had kept her out of the show ring since, and Currey was not expecting to repeat this year.
“I hadn’t jumped a course since this time last year; the 2023 TAKE2 Jumper Finals jump-off was my last round,” she explained. “My ex-husband had Eve; I had ridden her a couple of times a month and jumped her over maybe five jumps before coming here.”
The Nashville equestrienne decided to take another shot at the TAKE2 Finals to mark a milestone birthday.
“It was my 40th birthday last week and I wanted to compete in the TAKE2 Finals,” she said Sunday. “I just came here to enjoy myself, enjoy the process, and to be with Eve. I had no expectation of winning.”
Expectations changed when Currey saw how the course for the jump-off was designed.
“The stars aligned for the jump-off,” she said. “With Eve, if she gets too fast, she gets flat, and when she gets flat, she has rails down. If we can make up time in neat turns, she does very well.”
A Lil Evil edged out Cathy Hoeft’s Mariner and Kendra Gohr in the jump-off, with Lori Miller and Alien Invasion third. Raines Gammon and The Girl Next Door finished fourth and picked up the $500 award for the top Junior Rider. Currey, who was also the top Amateur Rider and earned an added $1,000 bonus, was thrilled to take home the trophy once again.
“It was very exciting,” she said, adding, “I am honored to participate in the TAKE2 Program. It’s so much fun and does so much good in promoting the Thoroughbreds.”
Will she be back for the 2025 Finals?
“I’ll have to see what the future looks like,” Currey said. “This is a lot of fun; I want to see how I can incorporate this into my life again.”
Looking ahead for her team, Lampshire remarked, “With Danny and Ron, the horse is always first; we don’t show, show, show. Cap is really interested in showing, but we’re not pushing him. We will take our time and figure it out.”
As for Lucca, Lampshire said, “He is fat and happy now. He’s turned out, he’s 20 years old, he’s not doing anything except to be spoiled.”
