Maclay Finals

He is Elizabeth Bensen’s horse. I remember her riding him and doing very well. Did she have a brother who also rode him? Or am I confused again? (Seems to be my MO today).

Although I would have loved to see Jordan and Maddy test, I agree completely with #1 and 2. Both absolutely gorgeous rounds from both girls but Maddy’s transition from hand gallop to working canter was smoother. San Remo is incredible… could watch him all day and he should indeed have a trophy named after him. Super confused / peeved about 3 things:
I LOVED Tanner Korotkin’s ride. I didn’t take notes… I remember feeling like there was something he could have executed better… but I thought he would have moved up more.
Coco ending up as she did is kinda BS. She made a huge mistake and perhaps could have fixed it… it looked like she did just give up. That horse is quite capable.
Annabel’s ride was beautiful and she was one of my favorites… but that last jump was UGLY. It’s very sad to see that happen, but I don’t understand that not impacting her result much.
Also heartbroken for Ally Worthington. : /

The only think I can come up with regarding Coco is that I think Coco must have been winning after the flat. Her flatwork was lovely. I noticed the announcer did not give her previous placings when awarding her the ribbon. I think Cooper should have scored much higher. I love his equitation. (FWIT - I think Cooper agreed with me based on his reaction - LOL)

EDITED to say: Had a post-post recollection that Maddie was in the lead after the flat and Jordan second - therefore, I have NO IDEA why Coco finished so high. What are her connections? - You know, the politics of the hunter ring and all.

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Coco was in fifth after the flat… just doesn’t make sense to me. So many other kids executed the test and had nice rounds

Coco was fifth after the flat and sixth after the first round.
The confusing thing to me was that the left lead after the trot fence was the counter canter.
You would come to the trot fence from a right lead and want to leave that line on the left lead (in theory) so what made the left lead after the trot fence the counter canter? I guess I need to find the course specs and watch the tour by the course designer.
Is there a counter canter in a straight line?

ETA. I did go back and look at the course diagram where the fence after the trot fence was well over and angled to the right, but the way they filmed it on the live feed it looked like it was a straight line, so nevermind :o.

Do not understand how Coco got any ribbon given that she did not complete the required counter canter between those fences- even George and Anne said she “gave up” on the feed. And that horse would swap a stride before a jump if you asked it to. Shouldn’t that be an automatic 40?

Also do not understand how Annabel was placed as high as she was since her destroying the last jump was because of a weak distance. That wasn’t a rail because of a rub.

And also thought Cooper should have been higher than 10th.

Perhaps because Coco is from Zone 2 (as is Maddy- though she totally won it to me)- Ralph is/was/has always been all about Zone 2 junior jumper kids.

If you looked at the course diagram, the line had a pretty good right bend to it. More so than it seemed to have in the actual ring. The way it was actually set, it could almost be ridden on a straight line in order to hold the left lead, if the horse landed left.

Ok, here’s his off season fitness regimen. Same as we used for our finals specialist. :slight_smile:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2085594911454582&id=128259900521436

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Are you thinking of the one Samantha Cohen rode? Which was TJ O’Mara’s old horse, according to Hunter Holloway. Maybe TJ’s older sister Meg rode that one.

Yikes, that snow! That looks like more work than the EQ ring!

Yes, maybe, MHM. Thanks for helping me out today–gheese, I’m blaming it on the time change.

Yay!!! I have one of her old mediums :wink:

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Think of it as months of nonstop cold therapy! :lol:

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He had a nice round but it was conservative. He did have a swap yesterday and still got to the top ten. So maybe it all evens out? I thought Maddie was just smooth as glass. Her position and feel are just dazzling.

Conservative but not making any major mistakes should certainly place above missing the counter canter or biffing it to the last fence.

I mean yes, but I’m sure some others felt the same way yesterday. It’s a crazy big eq world out there.

It always makes me happy when kids give proper credit to the horse. :slight_smile:

http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/goetzmann-goes-big-to-win-aspca-maclay-final

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I’m looking forward to it.

Remo is absolutely beautiful and means so much to the Benson family. I’m so glad he has had continued success.

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Tanner was excellent in all aspects of his test with the exception of his counter canter from 9 to 10. He executed a simple change, which was done correctly, but in my opinion it was late and it was a “determined” change rather than an “effortless” change. As a result he rode a conservative line from 9 to 10. I thought that having come from 21st place, and with the exception of Coco, he placed correctly.

As re. Annabel, I heard the horse make contact with the last jump but I think my feed must have staggered because I didn’t see the “ugly.” There were a lot of horses jumping that one by braille and because of that, for what I saw, I wasn’t going to nail her on that. Clearly, I missed something.

Alexandra Worthington was a darn shame. I didn’t have the first part of her course in the ribbons so IMO it was a wash, but my opinion wasn’t being paid for today, and no one likes to stop out in the test.

Love it!!! Thank you for responding!!!