Lexington, KY - May 13, 2025 - At today’s $50,000 Commonwealth Grand Prix, CSI 3*, Lauren Hough of Wellington, FL, and her mount Casadora took home the blue ribbon over a field of three in the jump-off. In his best grand prix finish, Derek Braun and Jestar du Lozon were double clear to finish second, while Niall Grimes and Mr. President were third.
Today’s course featured 14 numbered obstacles in the Sheila C. Johnson Grand Prix Arena and was designed by Richard Jeffery of Great Britain. Only three out of 36 competitors in the class were able to clear the course and come home within the 100 second time allowed. Two other riders, Ali Wolff on Lanoo and Kent Farrington with Up Chiqui, were clear but had one time fault. There were ten rounds that each had one rail for four faults.
Niall Grimes of Ireland, riding out of the third spot in the order, was the first to go clear on Mr. President, a big grey gelding owned by the Shannon Group. Grimes returned first for the jump-off. He started out with a good pace and galloped across the first three jumps. As he made the rollback to the Hagyard oxer, he made a miscalculation in the approach. Mr. President took off too early to the jump, launching Grimes out of the tack. Both fell to the ground, but the horse and rider were able to stand up again. Mr. President had a slight limp, so precautionary measures were taken. The HEART ambulance transported the horse out of the arena.
After a shaky start, the jump-off continued with Braun. He and Jestar du Lozon, a ten-year-old Selle Francais gelding by Papillon Rouge, carried a forward pace through the jump-off. They smoothly cleared all of the jumps and crossed the timers with a clear round in 46.92 seconds.
Hough and Casadora, the most experienced pair in the jump-off, were the final combination in the tie breaker. Hough and the 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare by Indoctro galloped quickly on the long line from fence one to two. They made the turn to the final line in the jump-off neatly and came home with no faults in 45.50 seconds for the win.
Braun was happy to have placed second, his best finish in grand prix competition. He and Jestar du Lozon, who is owned by Split Rock Farm, have been together for nine months. The 22-year-old stated, “I got him last summer in Germany, and I did some 1.50m classes there. We took it slow at the beginning of WEF and built up towards this summer. He’s just incredible. He’s got all the heart in the world. He’s just an excellent horse. I couldn’t be happier with him.”
For today’s class, Braun said, “I wanted to ride the plan that my trainer, Debbie Stephens, and I walked. From the beginning, he just felt so loose, elastic and smooth. I knew he was going to be solid, so all I had to do was just not let him down. That’s how it played out.” He went on to say, “In the jump-off, I followed Niall who had an unfortunate accident. My plan was just to go smooth and clear and hope that Lauren had a fault or was maybe a little slower. She had to chase me a little bit. She rode great. I’m very pleased with the result.”
Hough was also pleased with her horse Casadora, who jumped three grueling rounds at the 2007 Rolex FEI World Cup Finals in Las Vegas just two weeks ago. Of the course today, she commented, “Honestly, I didn’t think it was so difficult walking it, and there were some very good horse and rider combinations in the class today. With the time allowed being a little bit short, I think it caught some of the riders. Five jumped it clear with no poles down, and I thought there would be six or seven.”
“He’s very clever,” Hough said of course designer Jeffery. “It certainly wasn’t difficult or un-jumpable, but the way he places the jumps makes it tricky enough. Derek rode a smart round and put the pressure on me to go clear. I thought I made up the time in the beginning from one to two and from the oxer down to the double. She’s quite fast across the ground, so I thought I would be safe. I didn’t want to risk going all out today.”
Although the Kentucky Spring Horse Show has concluded, equestrians in the bluegrass region have more to look forward to next week when the Kentucky Spring Classic Horse Show starts on Wednesday, May 16 and runs through Sunday, May 20.
For a full set of horse show results and further information, please visit www.kentuckyhorseshows.com.
Results of Class 232 $50,000 COMMONWEALTH GRAND PRIX
Kentucky Spring Horse Show
May 9-13, 2007
T/A: 100.00 T/A: 53.00
1 402 CASADORA LAUREN HOUGH USA 0.00 95.32 0.00 45.50
LAURA MATEO
2 181 JESTAR DU LOZON DEREK BRAUN USA 0.00 96.91 0.00 46.92
SPLIT ROCK FARM
3 363 MR. PRESIDENT NIALL GRIMES IRE 0.00 92.43 elim.
THE SHANNON GROUP
4 229 UP CHIQUI KENT FARRINGTON USA 1.00 100.15
ALEX BOONE, RICHARD BASS, JAMES MCNERNEY
5 43 LANOO ALI WOLFF USA 1.00 101.75
BLACKLICK BEND FARM
6 27 VICOMTE D MOLLY ASHE CAWLEY USA 4.00 92.49
JANE CLARK
7 1108 HIDDEN CREEK’S PERIN MARGIE ENGLE USA 4.00 93.50
HIDDEN CREEK FARM
8 1338 MARLO JIMMY TORANO USA 4.00 94.20
JIMMY TORANO AND SIR RULY
9 969 TRIOMPHE DE MUZE CHRISTINE MCCREA USA 4.00 95.10
CANDY TRIBBLE & WINDSOR S
10 409 CRABAMBOLI MICHAEL MORRISSEY USA 4.00 95.30
EUGENE MISCHE
11 1305 FATALIS FATUM FEDERICO SZTYRLE ARG 4.00 96.29
CHRISTIAN WOLFFER
12 439 MAESTRO ANDREW WELLES USA 4.00 97.32
PETER WELLES
13 851 CLAUS ANGELA MOORE USA 4.00 97.46
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