Beezie Madden and Ian Millar Share California Split Win at Palm Beach Masters

Wellington, Fla. – Feb. 3, 2017 – The 2017 CP Palm Beach Masters, presented by SOVARO®, highlighted the $35,000 SOVARO® Longines FEI World Cup™ Qualifier CSI3*-W on Friday in the Hollow Brook Wealth Management Grand Prix Field. Ninety-eight international horses and athletes vied for the top 40 spots to advance to Sunday’s grand finale: the $216,000 Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Wellington CSI3*-W, presented by SOVARO®.

Olympic silver medalist and four-time Pan American Games gold medalist, Ian Millar (CAN), also known as “Captain Canada,” piloted veteran mount Dixson, owned by Susan and Ariel Grange, to the fastest jump-off time of 38.260 seconds to secure the win.

 Due to the large number of entries in Friday’s qualifier, the second fastest duo, Beezie Madden (USA) and Breitling LS, owned by Abigail Wexner, shared the top spot and prize money with Millar in a California Split. They crossed the finish line in 39.800 seconds.

It was a deeply special victory for Ian and Dixson after a sinus health scare almost ended the horse’s career three years ago.

“It makes [this win] obviously so much better,” Millar said. “It gets quite personal and quite emotional at this point, because at one point I thought maybe I’d never ride the horse again, and that he’d never be able to do this. Then he gets out there, and he does it for fun. It’s extremely rewarding. We live for these horses.”

Twelve combinations jumped clear around the first round course, designed by Alan Wade and Nigel Jess, yet only nine decided to return for the tiebreaker, while others opted to save their mounts for Sunday’s competition.

“It was a very good, timely jump-off, and I hope it was exciting to watch,” Millar said. “The course was not easy. It was big enough, it was technical enough, it was certainly careful enough; it had all of the ingredients. This is one brilliant course designer, I might add. I didn’t think the time-allowed was crazy. It was certainly demanding, but there are other course designers in the world that might have dialed it even a little harder. When you look at the results, nearly 100 horses through the gate and 12 clear and nine jumped off, he certainly got his numbers.”

Beezie, too, had her work cut out for her to share the winnings in the World Cup Qualifier.

“I was trying to gallop along and get a good piece of it, but not trying to go crazy,” she said of her round. “I wanted to work on turns and the pace between the fences and letting him back up a little by himself. I did the jump-off thinking it would actually help him for Sunday, and the footing was fantastic. I was really pleased; I thought he jumped even better in the jump-off.”

Laura Kraut (USA) and Taylor Land (USA) took second place honors with their mounts Zeremonie, owned by Old Willow Farms LLC, and For Edition, owned by Jay Land. Kraut finished in 41.060 seconds, while Land tripped the timers in 41.370 seconds.

 Laura Kraut and Zeremonie. PC: Lauren Baker

After a top finish on Friday, Kraut is looking to do the same on Sunday in an effort to gain valuable ranking points in order to qualify for World Cup Finals in Omaha. Currently Kraut sits in second in the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping North American Eastern Sub-League rankings behind Kent Farrington.

“I was not trying to win; the first and foremost thing was to qualify for Sunday because I’m very interested in going to Omaha, and I really wanted the opportunity to get a few more points,” Kraut said. “I never like to rest easy so I was thinking it would be nice to have the opportunity to jump Sunday. It was no small feat today with as many riders as there were. I was really pleased with the way Zeremonie jumped the first round; she’s amazing. I’ve been so lucky to have such great horses, but I’ve never had a horse that jumps like her. It’s easy for her.”

A total of 14 athletes from the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping North American League will qualify for the 2017 Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Finals in Omaha, Nebraska, on March 29–April 2. The top seven athletes from the East Coast sub-league and top three from the West Coast sub-league, and the two best-placed athletes from Canada and Mexico, will qualify for the final, alongside winners from 14 other leagues around the world.

Jessica Springsteen (USA) and Katie Dinan (USA) rounded out the top three of Friday’s class with Cynar VA, owned by Stone Hill Farm, and Dougie Douglas, owned by Grant Road Partners LLC. Springsteen rode Cynar VA to a time of 41.930 seconds, while Dinan finished in 43.100 seconds.

Millar is returning to the Palm Beach Masters for the second year, and is thrilled to be competing on the grass field.

“This year the field has really been brought up to modern standards, and it would be able to take serious rain if it had to,” Millar said. “Look at the traffic the field has had in two days, and it looks pretty darn fresh. What do we know about the Jacobs? If they’re going to something, they’re going to do it right. Everything they do is done first class, and this is no exception.”

The top 40 riders advance to Sunday’s $216,000 Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Wellington CSI3*-W, as listed below:

Competition on Saturday, Feb. 4, will commence at 8 a.m. with the $2,500 1.10m Jumpers, $5,000 1.25m Jumpers and $10,000 Trelawny Farm 1.30m Jumpers in the Deeridge Jumper Ring. The Hollow Brook Wealth Management Grand Prix Field will kick-off at 12 p.m. with the $25,000 Upperville Colt and Horse Show 1.40m Jumpers, presented by Attention Span Media.