Canada Equine ...On-Line News: Spectacular Outright Win for Beezie Madden in the U.S. Dominated Shell Cup Derby, Richard Spooner Breaks the C$1,000,000 Barrier

• Home	• FAQs
• Site Map	Weather
• Contacts	Weather

We Accept:

Directory Listings:

Pick of the Best!
Horse Industry Association of Alberta

Spectacular Outright Win for Beezie Madden in the U.S. Dominated Shell Cup Derby, Richard Spooner Breaks the C$1,000,000 Barrier

Jean Llewellyn (Phelps Media Group, Inc.)

June 11, 2006

Calgary, Alberta, CAN --- Following a late-morning cloudburst on ‘National’ Sunday at Spruce Meadows, course designer Bob Ellis made some adjustments to the obstacle dimensions ahead of the C$175,000 Shell Cup Derby, which was fortuitous given the downpour that subsequently engulfed the ring towards the end of the first round. As it happened, a jump-off was avoided when last to go Beezie Madden produced a time-capsule round with Judgement for outright victory. She said, “He’s had some practice at doing these derbies so that makes a big difference.”

Kicking off this concluding showcase class at the ‘National,’ pathfinder Kyle King from Mobile, Alabama, threw down the gauntlet with a round free of jumping faults with his Holsteiner stallion Capone I … then he noticed that the clock had ticked over the time limit and an expensive time penalty was posted. “I thought it would be decided on time. I didn’t realize there would be a jump-off with equality on one fault, then I hoped there might be when I saw I was slightly slower … but we all knew Beezie was going to be on form today.”

Following, the ever-popular veteran Robinson, now 18, was on his way to producing a similarly impeccable performance for Richard Spooner until the gray dropped a foot in the water for a four-fault round, and his rider later admitted, “The foot in the water was my mistake because I came in on a bit of an angle so he stepped on the tape, but jumped fantastic.”

A former winner in 2004 with McGuinness, Rich Fellers, recovering from a fall and stomach flu, also finished with four faults, having lowered a rail at the fence eight rustic oxer, which was good enough for 5th place. Ironically, Madden’s first ride with Play On turned into a momentary demolition derby after the gelding stopped at the same oxer, then dropped rails at nine and the ‘in’ and ‘out’ elements of devil’s dyke (13a and 13c). Their resulting score was 24 faults, including four penalties for exceeding the time allowed, but Madden later explained: “I pulled him up at the oxer because he was getting too strong on me. I was happy that he came together after the dyke though because he’s always been a bit of a nervous horse in general, but now he’s figuring out that everything can be okay.”

As the weather deteriorated, Richard Spooner entered the ring with his second ride, the Irish-bred Hilton Flight and the pair produced a textbook performance … but suffered the same fate as Kyle King when they incurred one time penalty. This prompted an untimely announcement to the large crowd of spectators that they could likely anticipate a jump-off between the two horses – Capone I and Hilton Flight –with one fault apiece. Richard Spooner later confessed, “I didn’t think there was going to be a jump-off. Although the weather turned south towards the end of the day, the footing was superb. The grass felt fantastic and the horses jumped very well, but when I looked up and saw one fault I knew I was in trouble.”

In hindsight, the commentator had not bargained for the possibility of a flawless performance which was produced by last-to-go Beezie Madden and Judgement. Earlier, however, they had been tipped to win by FEI Technical Delegate and long-time course builder at Spruce Meadows, Leopoldo Palacios. Despite taking the longer left-hand route down the derby bank, giving themselves more space to negotiate the white vertical rail that claimed several scalps throughout the class, Madden and Judgement also completed the 970-meter course in the fastest time of 137.40 seconds.

Richard Spooner’s C$52,500 combined purse for 2nd and 4th places carried him over the C$1,000,000, to C$1,006,763 for prize money won at Spruce Meadows, a target he’d not anticipated to reach until the North American at the end of the tournament series. “That’s great. I’ll have to set myself another goal now,” he said, grinning.

Commenting on his two rounds, Spooner said, “I was very happy with Robinson. He’s not getting any younger but he’s jumping just as well. I’m very proud of him.” Ironically, he admitted, “I wasn’t going to show the Irish horse (Hilton Flight) very much at all this first week, but he’s gone clean all week, and the time fault was my fault, so I was really happy with his performance.”

Kyle King, who had been in the unenviable pathfinding position with Capone I said, “I’ve ridden him off and on for a few years. The first time when he was eight when he did his first Grand Prix. Then I got him back last winter and took him to Palm Beach and Ocala. He’s an amazing horse, just green.” King confided that, “he’s done some not so great miles in this ring with different riders. One was with me in the derby when he was eight when he really wasn’t ready for it.” Adding, “I could feel on the first day he came in this ring he was a little tense, but he came out by the weekend and did what he’s supposed to do.”

The outright victory for Madden came as something of a surprise, “To be honest I didn’t know Richard had a time fault because when you’re down in the collecting ring you can’t always hear what’s happening, so I thought I would have to jump-off when I’d finished, then heard that I’d won.” She concluded by saying, “It’s amazing how much easier it is when a horse has done this a few times. This is the first time that Judgement has felt like Innocence did in the end, because he’s starting to know the course.”

For complete Spruce Meadows National results, please visit: http://www.sprucemeadows.com/national.htm

To June 2006 News Articles Index | To Canada Equine ...On-Line Home