Canada’s Erynn Ballard is second with Judge Hof Ter Zeedycke

The highly anticipated Longines Masters of New York officially opened on Thursday, April 25, with a five-star win for Adrienne Sternlicht (USA) to kick off four days of international show jumping competition at NYCB LIVE, Home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Longines Masters of New York runs April 25 through 28 as the third leg of the Longines Masters Series following stops in Paris and Hong Kong.

Speed was the name of the game and no one played it better than Sternlicht who hails from nearby Greenwich, CT. A team gold medalist at the 2018 World Equestrian Games, the 25-year-old American turned and burned to capture the win in the Masters One EQ Exchange 1.45m. Forty-one of the world’s top ranked show jumping competitors took their turn over the track set by course designer Frank Rothenberger with Sternlicht posting the winning time of 26.11 seconds.

“He’s an awesome speed horse, he’s naturally very quick,” said Sternlicht of Fantast, a 14-year-old Belgian Warmblood stallion owned by Starlight Farms. “I actually went into today not planning on going for the win, but I think sometimes in a smaller ring where all the distances are related you can pick up on a flow and everything happens nicely, you can have a really fast time. I honestly didn’t know I went into the lead when I jumped the last jump, but I am very happy. I will jump him in the Longines Speed Challenge tomorrow night and that will be his most important class of the week.”

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