The international show jumpers took center stage on Thursday, October 24, at the 61st annual Washington International Horse Show (WIHS) for their first two competitions of the week durning WIHS Barn Night. In the $50,000 International Jumper Welcome Stake, Jos Verlooy of Belgium rode Varoune to victory, while Israel’s Sydney Shulman topped the $36,000 International Jumper Accumulator Costume Class.

Verlooy, who has competed at WIHS in years past and won the Puissance class in 2015, made a daring turn between fences 3 and 4 in the second round to slice seconds off his time. “In a jump-off you have to take a few risks, and the risk paid off for me tonight,” he said. He finished with a time of 41.62 seconds, relegating U.S. rider Alex Granato and Carlchen W to second with a time of 41.75 seconds. Irish rider Darragh Kenny took third with a 42.16-second round on Classic Dream.

The $50,000 Welcome Stake was held as a “winning round” format, where the top 16 riders, regardless of how many faults they had in the afternoon’s first round, were invited back for the second round, which was held in the evening session. Verlooy came back for the second round as the 14th in the order and set the pace. For the victory, he accepted the Ben O’Meara Memorial Challenge Trophy.

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