The Region 2 Maclay championship today went to Jordan Gibbs, a Coloradan who trains with Stacia Madden of Colts Neck, N.J.
Jordan led the top 33 from a field of 49 at Old Salem Farm who are eligibile to ride in the ASPCA Maclay Championship at the National Horse Show in Lexington, Ky., in November.
Reserve champion was Kate Egan of Glen Gardner, N.J., trained by Luke Olsen of Redfielf Farm in Califon, N.J.
Discussing her strategy, Jordan said, “I came into today just wanting to put down a smooth round and make it into the top 33 and make it to the Finals. I trust my horse and I trust myself and I am so happy with how it turned out.”
Stacia explained, “Our goal was to have what we call a `lock-it-in’ round, where we just avoid making any blatant, big mistakes. Sometimes that takes the pressure off and we get better results. Jordan has a tendency to be an overachiever, so we weren’t working on having the brilliant round, but she wound up having the brilliant round.”
Holly Orlando and Lyman T. Whitehead, who judged the class, saw it as “a nice stepping stone to the Finals at the National Horse Show.”
“The course was very well done,” said Holly,speaking of the route designed by Paul Jewell and Nancy Wallis that mimicked the look of the Alltech Arena at the National.
“In a lot of ways, the class judged itself, with the top 12 separating themselves from the others. Jordan was clearly the leader after the first round and there was no doubt that she earned the win.”