He might have switched up the horses, but the outcome was the same as Todd Minikus continued to dominate the winner’s podium for the second day in a row at the Split Rock Jumping Tour’s Columbus International CSI 2*, the first of two weeks of international show jumping competitions being held at the Brave Horse Show Park.
Todd Minikus and Luken Du Rouet. (c) Winslow Photography.
The $2,000 John Deere 1.35 m Jump-Off competition gave Minikus another trip to the top of the podium as Luken Du Rouet, owned by Erin Schiller and with Minikus in the irons, took the top honors with double clear rounds in 29.911 seconds followed closely by Chaco 34, owned by Maidensway and again piloted by Minikus, who crossed through the timers in 30.711 seconds. This result made it the third trip to the winner’s platform in two days for Minikus, taking not only first place, but second as well.
“Luken Du Rouet is a green horse,” said Minikus. “He has been going well and then he has a little breakdown like he did yesterday. We changed bridles on him and he was awesome.”
Minikus and Amex Z. (c) Winslow Photography.
Minikus continued his winning streak, earning the top placing in the $9,000 FEI Speed Cup, the feature event of the day, with Amex Z, a 10-year-old bay mare owned by the Bit By Bit Group. Minikus and the mare completed the course in 65.00 seconds.
“I am pretty proud of this mare,” said Minikus. “I’ve been working with her for a while now and this is her first FEI class. I hope this is the start of many more to come. She is very talented and very opinionated. Sometimes too opinionated. Today I just let her stay on her own pace and rhythm and it all came together.”
The course, designed by Brazilian Anderson Lima, tested both horse and rider but was designed to “prepare the horses to jump better and better all week, but also to have fun,” said the 39-year-old. Lima, an FEI ranked course designer, who has been designing for 22 years, but has only recently started designing in the US.
Lily Gottwald and Gaston Van T Steentje. (c) Winslow Photography.
In other action, Lily Gottwald and Gaston Van T Steentje won the $1,000 High Junior/Amateur Owner Jumper class, while Riley Newsome and Dakar VDL took home the blue ribbon for the $1,000 Medium Junior/Amateur Owner Jumper, and Victoria Zelch and Sniper won the $1,000 Low Junior/Amateur Owner Jumper class.