Katie Dinan and Nougat sweet in $250K GP win

Harvard student and international showjumper Katie Dinan won the Alltech $250,000 Grand Prix CSI-W 5* at the National Horse Show at the weekend, riding her veteran mount Nougat Du Vallet to a flawless double clear.

Dinan flew in for the Alltech National Horse Show at Lexington’s Kentucky Horse Park on Wednesday, and by Saturday she was at the top of the leader board. She will return to Harvard with a big check and valuable points in the World Cup standings.

Thirty-six of the world’s top horse and rider combinations took center stage in the Alltech Arena on Saturday night. Course designer Conrad Homfeld challenged riders with large fences and technical lines that led to a four-horse jump-off.

The pathfinder during the second round was McLain Ward of Brewster, New York, with Sagamore Farms’ Rothchild. The pair flew around the short course, easily leaving out strides and taking all of the inside options. Their luck ran out though as they galloped to the final vertical, incurring four faults in a time of 42.06 seconds, which would hold up for fourth place.

Dinan watched her trainer’s round carefully and decided to give it everything she had with Nougat Du Vallet, while also being careful enough to leave each rail intact. She left out a stride down one of the last lines, but chose to do the correct number to double combination. Her plan proved to be the perfect answer to the test and she finished in 44.85 seconds, which would seal the win.

“I thought I was very fast, but I didn’t leave the ring thinking I had won the class,” noted Dinan. “You can always look back and find little moments where you could have been quicker. I think that if McLain had left all of the jumps up, at least with my time now, he would have beaten me, but I probably would have gone a little faster, too.”

Belgium’s Nicola Philippaerts was tasked with trying to best Dinan’s time riding Cortez for his father, Ludo Philippaerts. He had a conservative gallop to the first fence, but started making up time by taking all of the inside turns. His clear round came close, but not close enough, breaking the beam at 45.02 seconds for second place.

The final rider to show was Russia’s Ljubov Kochetova with Aslan, and while they did keep the rails in the their cups, Dinan was able to celebrate her victory when Kochetova took the outside turn midway through her effort, leading to a time of 46.42 seconds and the third place award.

Dinan was thrilled to add this exciting victory to her resume, and it made leaving school early this week well worth it. “This month has been a little bit hectic,” she said.

“The great thing is when you have nights like this, it makes it all seem worth it. When you don’t, it kind of makes you wonder what you’re doing. I wasn’t able to do the classes at the beginning of the week, but I’ve been trying to do as many Indoors as I can because I have a good string of horses, and I feel like my horses are going well. I want to try to maximize that, but at the same time I am a little bit busy going back and forth with school.”

“Nougat Du Vallet is unbelievable,” she said. “He tries his heart out. He’s been my main horse for the last two years. I’ve been moving up and he’s been doing a lot. It’s his last show of the year, and to finish on a moment like this is unbelievable. He’s allowed me to accomplish a lot of my goals, while at the same time being competitive, and super forgiving of my mistakes. I love him!”

Kochetova’s consistent top placings throughout the week also helped her win the Martha W. Jolicoeur Leading Lady Jumper Rider Award at the end of the evening.

Philippaerts also scored top honors during the show, winning the Audi Leading Rider Award. “I think it is super,” he expressed. “I think the last two classes made it up for me. I was second yesterday, and today second again. It’s super to be leading rider of such a beautiful show. I really am going to enjoy it.”

Class 206, $250,000 ALLTECH GRAND PRIX CSI-W
1    307    NOUGAT DU VALLET     KATHERINE DINAN     0    0    0    76.090    0    0    0    44.850
2    268    CORTEZ     NICOLA PHILIPPAERTS     0    0    0    76.140    0    0    0    45.020
3    241    ASLAN     LJUBOV KOCHETOVA     0    0    0    72.040    0    0    0    46.420
4    292    ROTHCHILD     MCLAIN WARD     0    0    0    75.570    4    0    4    42.060
5    232    CHILL R Z     CHARLIE JAYNE     4    0    4    70.230
6    244    JUBILEE D’OUILLY     LAURA KRAUT     4    0    4    72.060
7    258    SLIEVEANORRA     RICHIE MOLONEY     4    0    4    73.620
8    347    POLINSKA DES ISLES     FRANCOIS MATHY     4    0    4    73.950
9    217    ROYCE     MARGIE ENGLE     4    0    4    75.530
10    255    SPECIAL LUX     JONATHAN MCCREA     4    0    4    76.990
11    339    QUALITY GIRL     TODD MINIKUS     4    0    4    77.430
12    226    UNEX CHAMBERLAIN Z     TIM GREDLEY     4    0    4    77.570