Agatha Lignelli and JJ Torano Score Children’s and Pre-Junior Individual NAYC Gold
Individual jumping finals at the 2024 Gotham North/FEI North American Youth Championships, presented by USHJA, kicked off Saturday morning at Flintfields Horse Park with the children’s and pre-junior jumping sections. Up-and-coming athletes entered the Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel International Ring one final time to determine individual medal placings.
Children’s Individual Final
One of seven children’s jumpers returning for the individual final on fault-free scores, Agatha Lignelli (New York, N.Y.) and her own 2011 KWPN mare, Girl Scout, kept their perfect score alive in a gold-medal jump-off against Sophia Segesman (Aiken, S.C.).
“I’m feeling very grateful. I’m beyond impressed with my horse,” said 14-year-old Lignelli, who stopped the clock at 26.50 seconds for the victory. “I couldn’t be more grateful.”
Segesman and Quitana 11 (Quick Star x Lucky Lionell), owned by Georgy Sarah Maskrey-Segesman, pulled the final rail of the jump-off from the cups to settle for a silver medal.
Girl Scout (Quasimodo Van De Molendreef x Corland) has been a family horse for the Lignelli’s for the past five years, originally starting with Agatha’s sister Alexa. “My sister had her for about three years and then I started with her in the low childrens,” said Lignelli. “This past WEF season she was out with an injury and has only done two other shows before this.”
It was the ultimate comeback week for Girl Scout and Lignelli, who noted, “My whole barn cherishes her, so we all worked together and spent so much time with the vets to get her back to this level. We knew she wanted to recover and she fought for it.”
Segesman and her 18-year-old Holsteiner mare stopped the clock at 27.44 seconds for the runner-up medal. “For my first time being here, it’s been an amazing experience,” said the 14-year-old. “I was a little nervous, but it’s been amazing”
Taking home bronze was Eva Mackenzie (Darien, Conn.) and her own Debbie Harry. The pair didn’t pull a rail all week, and came home with two time faults in Saturday’s final round. Mackenzie and the 2014 Swedish Warmblood mare returned to the podium after helping their combined Zone 1, 2, and 10 team claim gold in children’s team competition earlier in the week.
“I’m so happy I got to come here with her for my first time,” said Mackenzie, 14, of her mare (Diamantino and Cardento 933). “She’s amazing. I haven’t had much experience on her yet, so I’m really happy that this is our first championship together.”
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