“I’ve been coming to the horse park since before it was cool to come to the horse park,” said Minikus. “Mary Rena was putting on the horse shows here and she used to give me a lot of grief. At the same time, she was very nice and helped me along quite a bit. She was an awesome lady and did a lot for the sport. It makes me very happy to win the grand prix with her name attached to it. Her entire family has been instrumental to the horse park and this whole facility for decades now.”
“Todd was one of my mom’s bad boys and she loved him,” said Renie Murphy, daughter of Mary Rena Murphy. “He’s been trying for 17 years since she died to win this grand prix so the family is really happy. It’s happy and sad, but we’re glad that Todd won it — for our family.”
Forty-one exhibitors went head-to-head over the challenging 14-fence first round course, designed by Olaf Petersen, where horses and riders were tested to their limits. Only three were able pass the test and jump clear to advance to the jump-off.
Minikus and Quality Girl, owned by the Quality Group, were nineteenth in the order-of-go and the first to jump clear.
“Tonight this was a proper course,” said Minikus. “You had the time tight and some of those lines were very sophisticated. The combination rode scopey, and I think it ended up being a great class for the crowd.”
Shane Sweetnam (IRL) piloted Chaqui Z, owned by Spy Coast Farm, to a faultless effort five rounds later to challenge Minikus in a jump-off.
“Olaf did a great job,” continued Sweetnam. “Time definitely played a factor and then you had a few tricky options. The lines got very tight coming home. I think the course tripped up people everywhere, but it was definitely a difficult last line.”
It looked as if the two would go head-to-head for the top prize once again, after Sweetnam already placed second to Minikus in Thursday’s $35,000 Welcome Speed CSI3* with Cyklon 1083, but Daniela Stransky (VEN) added herself to the good list as the last contenders in the first round aboard Stransky’s Misson Farms’ HH Donnatella.
“I just wanted to take it jump by jump,” said Stransky. “It’s my first big class on her; I really wanted to take it slow, jump by jump and just have a nice, cool head — no emotions. It really paid off — every single ounce of effort this whole weekend. I love that mare, and she loves me, thank God!”
Minikus and Quality Girl entered the ring once again as the first to tackle the jump-off course. They set the pace for Sweetnam and Stransky, producing another double-clear round, in 40.70 seconds.
Sweetnam and Chaqui Z tried their luck next but pulled an unfortunate rail to earn them a 4-fault jump-off finish in 43.92 seconds, which would garner them second place honors.
“Luckily, or unfortunately, I got to see Todd go so I knew I really had to go,” said Sweetnam. “I think I did one less up the first line and then the second line it made me very flat and then that flattened the plank. I could maybe try all day to beat Todd’s time because that mare is very, very fast and he did everything right. He did a great job.”
“I was nineteenth in the original order and no one had gone clear,” said Minikus. “It rode tricky and, between her and I, we’re not short of experience. She went great and Shane is a very fast rider so I really thought I needed to go in the first part of that jump-off and put enough pressure on Shane. He tried to do the leave-out and got his horse undone just a little bit and had the plank down so it worked out for us.”
It was all up to Stransky to catch Minikus. However, the new pair could not match the seasoned partnership of Minikus and Quality Girl. They finished with a 4-fault effort in 44.66 seconds, claiming a very respectable third place.
Daniela Stransky and HH Donnatella. PC: Taylor Renner
After winning both the $35,000 Welcome Speed CSI3* and the $35,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic CSI3*, Minikus and Quality Girl wrap-up a phenomenal Kentucky Spring Classic with their third win in a row.
“My mare was awesome this week,” said Minikus. “I was in Europe for the past couple of weeks and I haven’t really ridden her since the Ocala million. For a couple of months, I really didn’t ride her. I’ve got to thank my wife, Amanda, who was very diligent at home working her and giving her a couple of schools before we came here to the horse show.”
Next week Minikus heads back to Europe, where he will represent the U.S. next at CSIO5* St. Gallen in Switzerland along with teammates Lucy Davis, Margie Engle, Lauren Hough and Reed Kessler as he continues to compete for a spot on the 2016 U.S. Olympic Show Jumping Team.
However, he will return to the U.S. in June to compete Quality Girl in the $380,000 Tryon Grand Prix CSI5*.
The Kentucky Spring Classic, running through May 22, features a FEI CSI3* rating. The featured national classes will be the $50,000 Bluegrass Grand Prix, which counts towards the Rolex/USEF Show Jumping Ranking List, and the $25,000 Under 25 Grand Prix to be held on Sunday, May 22, in the Rolex Stadium.
EQSportsNet will be streaming live webcasts throughout the Kentucky Spring Horse Shows. EQSportsNet Full Access subscribers can watch all rounds of the Kentucky Spring Horse Shows series on demand at www.eqsports.net.
For more information on the Kentucky Horse Shows, please visit www.kentuckyhorseshows.com.
Results: $130,000 Mary Rena Murphy CSI3* Grand Prix
1 1482 QUALITY GIRL TODD MINIKUS 0 73.870 0 40.700
2 937 CHAQUI Z SHANE SWEETNAM 0 76.520 4 43.920
3 1026 HH DONNATELLA DANIELA STRANSKY 0 76.240 4 44.660
4 769 CATYPSO ERIC NAVET 1 78.270
5 654 AUCKLAND DE L’ENCLOS SHARN WORDLEY 1 79.280
6 491 VASCO ADAM PRUDENT 4 72.580
7 1297 BARNETTA SHARN WORDLEY 4 74.320
8 511 QUIDAM’S GOOD LUCK AARON VALE 4 74.780
9 408 CARRABIS Z RICHIE MOLONEY 4 75.390
10 603 BARIANO EUGENIO GARZA 4 76.290
11 526 FINOU 4 AARON VALE 4 76.310
12 64 HITCHCOCK VD BROEKKANT ALISE OKEN 4 76.800