Ballard Back on Top in $38,700 FEI 1.45m Jump-off presented by Fidelity Investments at 2024 Old Salem Farm Spring Horse Shows
Brody Wins Governor’s Perpetual Hunt Seat Cup presented by Lillie by Flying Changes and Chansonette Farm
Canada’s Erynn Ballard returned to the winner’s circle at the Old Salem Farm Spring Horse Shows on Saturday, finishing in first and second place in the $38,700 FEI 1.45m Jump-off presented by Fidelity Investments. She stopped the clock on the winning time of 35.61 seconds with Ginger Ask and followed closely behind in 36.17 seconds with Coconet.
The Old Salem Farm Spring Horse Shows are one of the premier stops on the nation’s hunter-jumper horse show circuit, offering a full schedule of world-class competition May 7-12 and May 14-19 that features the nation’s best in equestrian sport.
Ballard bested a field of 48 horse-and-rider combinations representing seven countries in Saturday’s $38,700 FEI 1.45m Jump-off presented by Fidelity Investments, where course designer Alan Wade set a sweeping 15-effort track for the initial round. Nineteen pairs returned to jump off for top honors, and Ballard’s two mounts –Ilan Ferder’s 10-year-old Holsteiner mare Ginger Ask and Wight Show Stables LLC’s 10-year-old Oldenburg mare Coconet – proved to be the ones to beat.
“When I came out of the ring on Coconet, I said to Ilan that I gave the class away from #1 to #2,” Ballard said. “If you’re counting strides, which we do in the jump-off, I did nine strides there after she jumped #1 a bit high and I just didn’t get my balance in time to turn her away from the gate. After we jumped #2, I went quite fast everywhere else, but then on Ginger, I did that same early turn in seven. I guess that’s the advantage of having two fast horses – you can do better on the second than you did on the first.
“Even though I took the lead on Ginger, I knew I had Conor Swail behind me, and he’s as fast as anyone in the world,” she added. “I wanted to make sure that I had to make him work for it. Today, it worked out in my favor. He had one down, and we ended up first and second.”
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Old Salem Farm – Horse Shows | North Salem, New York
