DERRY’S Jordan Coyle had a great show at Old Salem Farm last week, during the second week of the Spring Horse Shows in North Salem, New York, collecting two wins as well as other placings. The highlight of the show was Sunday’s four-star $225,000 Empire State Grand Prix, which saw 21 on the start list. Ten of these jumped clear in the first round to proceed to the jump-off, where four combinations managed to keep all the fences standing. Coyle rode the 15-year-old gelding Ariso to a flawless double clear, stopping the jump-off clock in an unbeatable 34.65 seconds to stand top of the podium and take home the $67,500 winner’s prize. The other three double clears came from American riders, McKayla Langmeier (second), Katherine Dinan (third) and Charlotte Jacobs (fourth).

“Ariso probably should have won both the Welcome and the Grand Prix last week, to be honest,” Coyle said of his mount, after a fourth place in the three-star $125,000 Old Salem Farm Grand Prix the week before. “I didn’t want to let him down today, so for sure, I was just trying to be on my game.”

Combinations

Coyle had already won Friday’s 35-strong four-star $65,000 JP Morgan Private Bank Welcome class riding the 15-year-old gelding For Gold. The pair were among 13 combinations to jump clear in the first round, 11 of whom jumped again. There were nine clear rounds in the jump-off, with Coyle and his mount recording the fastest time of 35.87 to secure the top prize of $19,500. Nicholas Dello Joio (USA) finished a mere 0.10 seconds behind in 35.97 to take second place.

Afterwards, Coyle said of For Gold: “The horse was amazing. We came here with this class in mind for him. He’s always a very fast horse in the jump-off, so we kind of just do our own thing and leave it up to everyone else. I was lucky today; everybody was pretty close there.”

Coyle then placed third in the $25,000 Old Salem Farm Jumper Classic with Dexterity Z, when double clear in 33.03. The class was won by Mark Bluman (COL) on Inside of my Heart (32.09), with McLain Ward (USA) on Garfield in second (32.40).

Coyle registered a further top-10 placing in the four-star $32,000 1.45m speed class, when he rode For Gold into 10th place. Samuel Hutton (GBR) won the class on board WKD Toronto (58.98).