The sky on Grand Prix Sunday, which caps the weeklong Hampton Classic Horse Show in Bridgehampton, was uncustomarily gray, and, for the first time anyone could remember, a light rain fell as 40 horse-and-rider entries vying for the $132,000 winner’s share of the $400,000 Longines purse traversed a tough, sinuous 17-effort course that posed problems just about everywhere.
McLain Ward, who fell short of winning his eighth Grand Prix as the result of turning too tightly into the penultimate and final fences in the jump-off, said at the press conference afterward that he was a huge fan of the course’s designer, Nick Granat of Naperville, Ill. The course, which featured four rollbacks, a triple in front of the V.I.P. tent, a combination in front of the Chalet tent, and a troublesome water jump, was a challenging but well-rounded test, the six-time Olympian said.
That conclusion was supported by the fact that eight made this year’s jump-off, whereas last year there were only two — Daniel Bluman, who, on his 2023 Grand Prix winning horse, Ladriano Z, placed 14th this time, and Adrienne Sternlicht, who, on Origa V/H Zuid Pajottenland, finished 30th.
Rene Dittmer of Germany, aboard Corsica X, an 11-year-old Holsteiner mare, emerged as the winner, turning in two double-clear rounds — as did Mimi Gochman and Inclen BH, a 9-year-old gelding, though their time was about a second slower than Dittmer and Corsica X’s, who stopped the clock at 37.55 seconds.
Others who made the jump-off besides Dittmer, Gochman (who turned 20 that day), and Ward were Alex Matz, who was to finish third on Ikigai, an 11-year-old stallion; Shane Sweetnam and RR Combella, a 10-year-old mare; Nayel Nassar and Ivory TCS, an 11-year-old mare; Darragh Kenny and Eddy Blue, a 12-year-old gelding, and Jordan Coyle and For Gold, a 13-year-old Holsteiner gelding.
Nothing daunted, about half the crowd that had packed the grandstands for the show’s finale remained on despite the rain, which began as a drizzle but was coming down steadily when the 27th entrants, Nicky Galligan and VDL Nikita Van De Leeuwerk, came onto the course. By the time of the jump-off the rain had stopped.
“I tried to go fast without being too crazy,” Dittmer said at the press conference. “I knew Jordan and McLain were coming after me, so I had to do what I could to make them chase the time. . . . If McLain had gone clear he would have been faster and won. Today went in my favor, and it really is just unbelievable.”
When it came to success during the week, Ward, of Brewster, N.Y., couldn’t complain: He won the $30,000 Longines Rider Challenge prize given to the week’s top performer, even more notable for the fact that he and the horse he rode in the Grand Prix had been together for only a little more than a week. “It’s a shame he didn’t go clear” in the jump-off, Ward said at the press conference, “but there is a bit of luck involved in our sport. He is a great horse, and I think we’re going to have a great future.”
