New top classification for Samuel Hutton and Melusina BVL Z!

A week after their handsome ^3rd place at the CSI4* GP of Saugerties, British rider Samuel Hutton and his 10-year-old mare Melusina BVL Z ensured another top ranking yesterday! The duo competed at the five-star competition at the Travers City Horse Center in Williamsburg over the past few days, securing a podium place at the Longines FEI Jumping Word Cup there yesterday.

Hutton and Melusina BVL Z, a daughter of Mylord Carthago and Air Jordan Z who was bred in the Netherlands by H.L.M. van Lier, were one of seven combinations who managed to go clear in the basic round ridden by Irish track rider Alan Wade and his team, securing a place in the jump-off. As the penultimate combination to reappear at the start, they once again managed to ensure a flawless round and with a finishing time of 37.36 seconds, they had thus secured another top ranking with^2nd place.

Samuel Hutton: "I was lucky to have a good starting number so I saw Kent (Farrington) ride. I gave it my all. This is actually her first five-star competition that she has jumped clear. I am very happy with her. It was a very competitive week. Nothing is given away here."

However, besides the^2nd place for Melusina BVL Z, we also saw 2 other Zangersheide horses at the top of the standings during this first World Cup of the North American League. Thus, ^4th place went to Israeli rider Daniel Bluman and the 9-year-old mare Corbie V.V. Z, a daughter of Cornet Obolensky and Chacco Blue bred by Evelyne and Colin Van Vreckom, whom Bluman was also good for ^8th place during the 1.55m class on Friday. Bluman and Corbie V.V. Z also stayed clear again in that 7-strong jump-off, but they needed 38.74 seconds to cross the finishing line.

^5th place was then taken by American rider Charlotte Jacobs and the 9-year-old gelding Playboy JT Z, a son of Presley Boy and Plot Blue who, as his name suggests, was bred by Johan Thijs of Horsestud Thijs BVBA. Jacobs and Playboy JT raced to the finishing line in 39.56 seconds in that jump-off.

In the 1.55m main class on Friday, American rider Kent Farrington managed to secure a place on the podium with the 10-year-old mare Toulayna, daughter of Toulon and Parco who was born as Toulayna van het Bloesemhof Z to breeder Jasper Doucé. In a jump-off for which 16 combinations managed to qualify, Farrington galloped to the finish in 35.15 seconds, which earned him ^3rd place in the standings.