Kristen Vanderveen Secures Seat to Paris with $100,000 Longines FEI World Cup™ Grand Prix CSI3*-W Win

Kristen Vanderveen and Bull Run's Faustino de Tili
Kristen Vanderveen and Bull Run’s Faustino de Tili

Ocala, Fla. – Mar. 18, 2018 – Concluding the final day of combined driving and show jumping competition at Live Oak International, crowds gathered to watch the last qualifying leg of the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping North American League. The beautiful Live Oak Plantation in Ocala, Florida hosted the $100,000 Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Qualifier Grand Prix CSI3*-W, where Kristen Vanderveen rode Bull Run’s Faustino de Tili to victory, earning a spot in the 2018 Longines FEI World Cup™ Final in Paris, France in April.

Kristen Vanderveen and Bull Run's Faustino de Tili
Kristen Vanderveen and Bull Run’s Faustino de Tili

The audience anxiously awaited a clear round as 24 horse-and-rider combinations contested Kelvin Bywater’s (GBR) difficult track. Sixteenth into the ring under a brief but heavy rain, Vanderveen completed a careful and quick round to the delight of the crowd to produce the first fault-free finish. Vanderveen and Bull Run’s Faustino de Tili, owned by Bull Run Jumpers Six LLC, returned first for the jump-off delivering an unbeatable time of 45.93 seconds to capture the win by over seven seconds. Sunday’s victory secured Vanderveen a spot at World Cup finals as she climbed the rankings by ten spots. Vanderveen and the 12-year-old Belgian Warmblood stallion now look towards Paris where they will showcase their speed indoors.

Brianne Goutal-Marteau and Viva Colombia
Brianne Goutal-Marteau and Viva Colombia

A jump-off was guaranteed soon after when Brianne Goutal-Marteau entered the ring aboard Rose Hill Farm’s Viva Colombia to deliver a clear first round. Goutal and the 13-year-old Oldenburg mare completed the only other double-clear round in 52.99 seconds to earn second place.

Beat Mändli and Galan S
Beat Mändli and Galan S

With many accolades to his name, Switzerland’s Beat Mändli was a favored contender. The two-time Olympic veteran has competed in eight World Cup Finals, winning the 2007 Final in Las Vegas and currently leads the North American League standings. He rode Grant Road Partners LLC’s 12-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding, Galan S, to third place with 8 faults in 56.59 seconds during the tiebreaker.

Kristen Vanderveen
Kristen Vanderveen

Sunday’s event concluded the final qualifying competition of the North American League as the seventh leg of the Eastern Sub-League. The 2018 Longines FEI World Cup™ Final will take place in Paris, France from April 11-15.

FROM THE WINNER’S CIRCLE

Kristen Vanderveen – $100,000 Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Qualifier Grand Prix CSI3*-W winner

Kristen Vanderveen

On her win and qualifying for the 2018 FEI World Cup™ Finals in Paris:
“It’s really very surreal for me right now. I’ve always wanted to go to World Cup Finals, and this was a bit of a last minute decision for me to come here and see if we could do something special today. I’m over the moon excited about it, let alone just winning the grand prix is a big deal to me, but going to Paris I’m really excited.”

“It was just on the back of my mind and it was actually brought to my attention by a fellow competitor that coming here would make or break possibly the difference for me. That’s when it became a little more real. We kind of used this as a turning point of whether we would go that direction or not. I actually haven’t made plans for the next few weeks because of this. We’ve been waiting to see how this weekend would go before I’ve made any concrete plans.”

On Bull Run’s Faustino de Tili:
“It’s really special [to earn this win with Frosty] because Frosty is the specific horse that I really believed would be great at a World Cup Finals setting. He does great multiple days in a row, he is very fast and particularly good in small rings and in indoors so it really was the perfect setup. He’s always been good also in the rain and he’s a good mudder so that didn’t bother me too much. I put some gloves on so I could slow him down.”

Kristen Vanderveen and "Frosty" jump over the interesting black fence.
Kristen Vanderveen and “Frosty” jump over the interesting black fence.

On the course:
“I thought [the first round] rode very careful. There were a lot of careful verticals that seemed to be tricky and I did get a lucky rub at one of them. There were some cool, interesting jumps. The black fence jump I thought was interesting and the angles they were on – I think all of that played into it.”

Brianne Goutal-Marteau – second place

On competing with her sister Clementine:
“It’s been really fun to work with [Clementine]. It’s great to work together. We bounce ideas off of each other and I try and share my experience with her and vice versa and it seems to work well.”

On Viva Colombia:
“I bought her from my student, Cloe Hymowitz, about a year ago and then when Cloe went abroad this summer I took over her horses to campaign them a little bit and subsequently just kind of fell in love with the horse. Then Cloe took a little bit of a step back and I said I’d love the opportunity to purchase her for myself and they were kind enough to help me out with her. I’m really grateful to have her because I think she’s really, really special and a great match for me. I think every horse benefits from coming to a show like this. The horse is really the focal point of the weekend.”

Beat Mändli – third place

On Live Oak International:
“This is the fourth year I’ve come back to this show and every year it’s a really nice experience. There’s always good sport here. Obviously the place is amazing. This year it was the first time on sand and it was a little bit different than normal. I like to come back here and it’s very nice.”

On Galan S:
“Galan is 12 years old now and we’ve had him for four years. He’s been good all the time and I started to ride him now in the last six months maybe and he’s just a really nice horse. He just tries his best every time he goes in the ring and he really stepped up the last few weeks, so I thought give it a try here and it worked out well. He’s a really nice horse.”

Chester Weber – Co-President of Live Oak International

On the change in footing from grass to sand:
“This year we had some challenges with frost and the weather. My family is all about horses and horsemanship and horse sport. We made the decision at the end of January to put in an all-weather arena because we felt like that was going to be in the best interest of sport and horses and that’s what we’re about. It was without question we should do the right thing by the horses. On a global level some of the best grass rings now are taking these technical sand fiber arenas and just seeding them so at the beginning of May this arena will be seeded and hopefully it’ll become the best grass field in North America.”

Our family is all about horses and horsemanship and that is really important to us. We feel like this piece of ground with oak trees and green grass horses are all about these kinds of things. It seems like every horse gets off the truck at Live Oak and takes a big deep sigh and puts their head down and has some grass. On behalf of my whole family, we feel a lot of pride for that. There’s really good energy here. I saw a lot of horses improve the way they jumped all weekend. I think this place is a little slice of heaven for horses and it’s my family’s pleasure to share that with these great international athletes.”

Kelvin Bywater – Course designer

On the course:
“It’s a World Cup qualifier so [the course] has to reflect that. I personally would’ve liked six clears and at the end of the day we had 8 or 9 on four faults. There was a whole bunch that were very close to the wire and you can’t predict how people will jump on the day. You can do what you think is fair. I think it was a fair course and a fair test. I think it was very jumpable. My heart was going quite fast midway through as I was beginning to wonder if we were going to get a clear round and I was very pleased when it did happen.”

RESULTS

$100,000 LONGINES FEI World Cup™ Jumping Qualifier Grand Prix CSI3*
Place / Horse / Rider / Country / R1 Faults | Time / R2 Faults | Time
1. Bull Run’s Faustino de Tili / Kristen Vanderveen / USA / 0 | 79.38 / 0 | 45.93
2. Viva Colombia / Brianne Goutal-Marteau / USA / 0 | 81.26 / 0 | 52.99
3. Galan S / Beat Mändli / SUI / 0 | 79.80 / 8 | 56.59
4. Ohlala / Lauren Hough / USA / 4 | 76.99
5. Charmed / Markus Beerbaum / GER / 4 | 77.66
6. Eristov / Jordan Coyle / IRL / 4 | 79.64
7. Cassinja S / Charlie Jacobs / USA / 4 | 80.62
8. Luebbo / Jamie Barge / USA / 4 | 81.74
9. Darlon van Groenhove / Clementine Goutal / USA / 4 | 82.21
10. Papa Roach / Victoria Gulliksen / NOR / 4 | 82.49
11. Eddie Blue / Devin Ryan / USA / 4 | 83.64
12. Bokai / Catherine Tyree / USA / 8 | 77.67

For full results, click here.

RANKINGS

Longines FEI World Cup™ 2017/2018 – North American Eastern Sub-League
Standings following the 7th leg in Ocala, Fla., USA
Rank / Rider / Country / Total Points
1. Beat Mändli / SUI / 53
2. McLain Ward / USA / 52
3. Alison Robitaille / USA / 52
4. Devin Ryan / USA / 47
5. Elisabeth Madden / USA / 46
6. Kristen Vanderveen / USA / 41
7. Isabelle Lapierre / CAN / 40
8. Conor Swail / IRL / 40
9. Sarah Scheiring / USA / 39
10. Andrew Kocher / USA / 38

For full rankings, click here.

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