THERMAL, Calif.--A team competition, called Major League Show Jumping, is a year-long series begun by well-to-do parents to enable their offspring to compete alongside of show jumping stars, is one week away from its $1 million finale.
Natalie Dean on Oasis van de Bucxtale (Photo by High Desert Sport Photo)Top professional grand prix riders are paid on compete on the teams/
It's a difficult series to follow, as there are eight teams, but each team has up to 12 members and only three or four of those12 compete in each event, so although the team names remain the same there are different riders each week.
There is no central listing of the team members of the eight teams, so there's no way of knowing who competed on each team.
As the series draws to an end, it appears that in most teams only the professionals are competing.
On Friday night, Dec. 6, the Trailblazers team of Natalie Dean, Lillie Keenan and Conor Swail won the $200,000, 5* Team Competition, giving the Trailblazers enough points to move up to third in the team standings.
Maccabi United currently leads with 107 points over Roadrunners, a team whose members include McLain Ward, Richy Vogel and Erin Ballard, with 106 points, and Trailblazers with 97 points.
“IT WAS A very important night for us,” said Swail of the team competition held as part of Desert Holiday 1. “It is quite exciting as a spectator. There are at least four teams that are capable of winning next week. We do have a very, very strong team.”
On their way to Friday’s win, that team was one of four to stay above the “cutline,” qualifying them to advance out of the first, eight-team opening round to the four-team second round.
“The first round maybe didn’t go the way that we planned,” said Swail, as both he and Keenan had one rail down apiece. “I thought Lillie’s horse, Kick On, jumped great. She was a wee bit unlucky. I made a mistake on that rollback, so it put us on the back foot a little bit. Thankfully, Natalie was super all night, and she kept us in it for that first round. Thankfully, we hung on, and we got into the second phase. Then, it was all good!”
Once they’d made it into the second phase, Dean on Oasis van de Bucxtale, Keenan on Kick On and Swail on Casturano, all had clear rounds.
In phase two, Keenan and Swail represented the Trailblazers, with their clear rounds securing a spot for Dean in the Gold Medal Jump-Off against Vanessa Hood of Maccabi United.
“I really stepped up my horse this year,” said Keenan of Kick On. “He’d never jumped above a two-star grand prix before I got him. Now, he’s had some major results, and the team is important for us. So, I had planned to save him for the Trailblazers these two weeks. He’s a super horse, and it’s a lot of fun to be able to gain experience at this level, at this height, with the jump offs.”
Following Keenan and Swail, Dean turned in the fastest clear, clinching the win for the Trelawny Trailblazers , with Maccabi United second and Northern Lights third.
“We really thought that all three horses were in great shape, and we’re all pretty fast riders,” said Dean,. “I think I felt a little more confident that, if I had a rail down, I could be quick. I think we had a good strategy there. I really trust Oasis to go fast. I actually felt that I could have been quite a bit faster; I felt like I got stuck in a few of the turns, but she’s naturally such a quick horse I think I put enough pressure on Vanessa that it worked out!”
Dean also won the $62,500 CSI2* Grand Prix on Dotcom d’Authuit on Saturday afternoon.
During next week''s Desert Holiday 2, the $1,00,000 CSI5* MLSJ Team Final will close the series.
This class is worth double the points of all other team classes held this year – so the overall win, and the generous team bonus prize money, is anyone’s game.
At present, Maccabi United leads the way on 107 points, but the DIHP Roadrunners are in a close second with 106 points.The Trailblazers hold third place with 97 points, and the Northern Lights are not far behind them with 94 points.
