Lauren Hough led the victory gallop in an exciting top four finish for the women of USA in Saturday night’s $100,000 Engel & Völkers Grand Prix CSI 4* at the 2014 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF). Hough and Böckmanns Lazio topped a six-horse jump-off over Laura Kraut and Nouvelle (2nd), Lucy Davis and Barron (3rd), Lillie Keenan and Pumped Up Kicks (4th), Ben Maher and Urico (5th), and Kent Farrington and Blue Angel (6th). Canada’s Ben Asselin was 11th riding Makavoy.
Olaf Petersen, Jr. (GER) set the track for 45 competitors that qualified to compete in Saturday night’s $100,000 Engel & Völkers Grand Prix CSI 4* with seven entries jumping clear to advance to the jump-off. Seven others finished the course with just one time fault in a very tight time allowed. The jump-off saw four double clear rounds.
Ramiro Quintana (ARG) and St. Bride’s Farm’s Whitney were the first pair to jump clear in round one, but withdrew from the jump-off, leaving 17-year-old Lillie Keenan (USA) to blaze the trail over the short course. Riding Chansonette Farm LLC’s Pumped Up Kicks, Keenan set the time to beat at 49.27 seconds, and eventually finished fourth. Twenty-one-year-old Lucy Davis (USA) jumped next and upped the ante with Old Oak Farm’s Barron in 47.13 seconds to earn third place honors.