With an all-American podium in the $25,000 Lövsta Future Challenge 7-Year-Old Developing Jumper Final, the future of show jumping in North America was bright on Friday at Wellington International. Highlighting the tenth week of the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF), Michael Hughes and KMS Ali, owned by Sweet Oak Farm, took top call after only six weeks together.
The Lövsta Future Challenge is a well-established Swedish concept for talent development aimed at young grand prix horses in both dressage and jumping. The development tour’s vision is to provide the best possible conditions to strive for the highest level of international show jumping and hosted finals during WEF’s Horseware Ireland sponsored Week 10 at Wellington International.
Echoing around the in-gate as the jump-off was about to start were sentiments of awe at the quality of horse coming back for the top call. It did not look like a group of 7-year-olds, a testament to the dedication to young horses being campaigned in the United States and developed through the levels.
Eight of the returning 14 jumped double-clear rounds—with no horse having more than 4 faults in the jump-off. Hughes and KMS Ali were the quickest by a noticeable margin.
“I’ve been riding him for about six weeks only,” Hughes said of the Irish Sport Horse gelding (Tyson x Heartbreaker). “At the end of last year Shane [Sweetnam] got him and his daughter Olivia was riding him. She did a great job giving him experience and I took over the ride to work on the dressage. He has improved so much. You can see in the jump-off today; I would not have been able to do that six weeks ago.”
KMS Ali was spotted by Sweetnam at the Dublin Horse Show in 2024, jumping nothing but clear rounds in the 6-year-olds as well doing some eventing. For being only 7 years old now, Hughes believes he has vast experience already.
“He’s a real fighter in the ring,” he continued. “When you jump single jumps at home, he doesn’t feel like he has a lot of scope but when you go in the ring he feels like he could jump anything you put in front of him. He’s super careful; the faster I went the more careful he was getting. That was a nice feeling.”
Hughes, who hails from New Jersey, spent the past five years working for training operations in Europe, coming back stateside this year with Sweetnam’s Sweet Oak Farm. Having been a part of Lövsta Future Challenge prior to his time in Europe, he’s impressed by how popular they are and the pathway they provide for up-and-coming show jumpers.
“I think the young horse division has changed a lot since I was here before,” he remarked. “There were 50 that qualified to do the final this week. Last time I was here you wouldn’t see more than 15 doing the young horse finals.”
In second place was fellow U.S. rider Charlotte Jacobs with North Star’s Nadim il Faut, a horse that initially appealed to her because of similar breeding to another young one of hers, Miro NS, who placed well in the 7-year-old final in 2024.
“The 7-year-old I jumped last year is also a Comme il Faut,” Jacobs remarked. “This is one we bought just after Dublin last year and he’s Comme il Faut x Kannan but he’s also a stallion so maybe he’ll do some breeding after this.”
Jacobs and her family are champions of young horse development, sponsoring the 6-year-old final at WEF as well as throughout the country, and bringing talented young horses up through the levels. Jacobs enjoys these finals every year and is pleased when she can develop a horse with this as a goal.
“This final is always a goal for me so when I jumped him the first week I thought I’d get him qualified for this,” she continued. “I focused on the rideability and didn’t jump a lot at home. He’s only shown maybe three or four weeks down here. I don’t think the young horses need to be overjumped, so the way you qualify for this final is great because you can really design it based on your horse.”
Rounding out the U.S. clean sweep, Michael Tokaruk ended in third with Napardi, owned by Thomasa Sanchez.
“He’s one of those young horses that just gets it,” Tokaruk said of the Dutch Warmblood gelding (Apardi x Dulf van den Bisschop). “He’s very smart and has a heart of gold. It’s really a lot of fun last year showing him in the 6-year-olds and then stepping up to 1.35m. He’s risen to every occasion we ask him to.”
Setting the courses for the week was Oscar Soberon, who had the tough task of not only building for international competitors, but to also build appropriate tracks for every age group for these finals, setting the youngsters up for success during what is likely their first outing in the International Arena at WEF.
“I applaud Lövsta for doing a great job setting appropriate and suitable courses for these young horses,” Tokaruk went on. “I go to a lot of shows across the country and the standards really can vary from show to show. I’ve been happy that every time I’ve come to the ring to do the 7-year-olds they’ve been set appropriately and have very fair tests and questions. Especially a lot of credit to Oscar. I think most people walked away better for the experience, whether they’re up [on the podium] or not.”
Antonia Ax:son Johnson, owner of Lövsta Stuteri and founder of the Future Challenge, was thrilled with the turnout and performance of the 7-Year-Old Developing Jumper Final. This is the 14th year Lövsta is providing opportunities for young horses in Wellington, and every year the interest grows and the success is even higher.
“I’m enthusiastic because year after year, there is a very strong division and a very strong idea behind it,” she shared. “In our DNA we have wanted to develop international equestrian sport and we’ve always said the horse has to be at the heart of it, otherwise we will not succeed. True horsemanship is really important.”
To see full results from the $25,000 Lövsta Future Challenge 7-Year-Old Developing Jumper Final, click HERE.
Unstoppable Takes Command of $15,000 North Star 6-Year-Old Developing Jumper Final
Aptly named, Unstoppable had an incredible debut outing in the International Arena during WEF 10, finishing the week by taking the win in the $15,000 North Star 6-Year-Old Young Jumper Final with Nora Nauss (USA) in the irons. The gelding, owned by Jessica Rosenfeld, was the fastest of a very competitive group of 6-year-olds to take the top placing.
“This was his first [jump-off] format and he handled it so well,” Nauss shared after the win. “He hadn’t been in this ring before Wednesday—he won that class as well—and his big stride is really suited for the big ring. It was fun to go in there with him and take a shot at it today.”
Nauss has piloted “Uno” since the beginning of the season in Wellington, and she rode him to his first 6-year-old start as well as his first victory. The entire team behind Uno knows there is something special coming to life as he takes on bigger challenges, but his owner is especially pleased to see her homebred accomplishing such big things.
“I bred Uno about six years ago, and I’ve had him ever since,” Rosenfeld said, breeding her own eventing mare to the stallion Untouchable. “It’s very special because I never thought we’d be here today. He's won so many classes this season so I’m really proud of him.”
Patience has paid off for both Rosenfeld and Nauss in their development with the young horse, and Rosenfeld credits the success so far to her groundwork practice as well as the horse’s overall great attitude.
“I spent a lot of time with him on the ground,” Rosenfeld continued. “He’s become my best friend. I’m so attached to him and he’s known me since birth. He has the most amazing brain and knows his job. He wants to please and he’s game.”
Eighteen-year-old Nauss is gaining an extra perspective from riding young horses that she’s carrying over to her mindset at the higher levels.
“I’ve learned a lot from riding young horses and it translates into my made horses as well,” Nauss shared. “It’s really helpful to learn horse development and how you can produce a horse because you can carry that into the higher jumpers. It’s special to get to do this on a young horse and see them succeed.
“I’ve learned a lot of patience and learned how to focus a lot,” she continued. “I struggle with getting a little ahead of myself but the young horses force me to take a second and take a breath and really think about what I’m doing.”
In the spring, Nauss and Rosenfeld hope to debut Uno on the grass derby field at Wellington International and let the horse continue to develop through the levels.
Joan Jacobs of North Star was thrilled with the enthusiastic turnout of impressive 6-year-olds in the final, and is confident there are incredible horses—as well as riders—coming up the pipeline in the United States.
“I think it’s really nice to see some young riders stepping up with the young horses because I think that’s the future for developing not only young horses but also young riders,” Jacobs remarked. “It’s good to see these kids being multifaceted and taking this on because it’s really good for their riding.”
To see full results from the $15,000 North Star 6-Year-Old Developing Jumper Final, click HERE.
Pavarotti van de Schutskooi Earns $10,000 Manestream 5-Year-Old Developing Jumper Final Victory
Ireland’s Cormac Hanley unveiled a star in the $10,000 Manestream 5-Year-Old Developing Jumper Final by piloting Pavarotti van de Schutskooi to an impressive victory. The horse, owned by Heathman Farm, only arrived on American soil earlier this winter, and he’s proving to be one to watch.
“What he’s done today is pretty special,” Hanley said of the Dutch Warmblood stallion (Amadeo van't Vossenhof Z x SIEC Vigaro). “He was purchased by Heathman Farm as a 3-year-old; they bought him off a video. He came to the States at the start of this year, and jumped his first 5-year-old class last week. We thought he was ready to go straight into the big stuff this week. He handled it unbelievably. This was his first ever jump-off and to win it in the style he did was pretty incredible.”
The horse’s winning style was enough to land him the Champion Equine Insurance Jumper Style Award for WEF 10. He won the class convincingly, about three seconds ahead of second place. While 5 is still quite early in a show jumper’s development, Pavarotti van de Schutskooi seems to already have all the pieces.
“He’s so smart,” Hanley continued. “He’s quite a big horse so he’ll take time for his body to develop but he’s got all the scope. It’s a little unexpected that he was able to go as quick as he did in the jump-off today. I didn’t know how much I could’ve asked of him, but everything I asked he kept giving it to me.”
Hanley’s approach with a horse like Pavarotti van de Schutskooi is simple: don’t overcomplicate things. This horse had a good training foundation in Europe, so Hanley is having an easier time presenting bigger challenges.
“[These finals] are very important to try to grow the grassroots level of horses in the U.S.,” Hanley remarked. “It's getting harder to find the top horses. Even if you find them you can’t afford them, so you have to find them younger and younger. You need a platform to develop them and that’s what we’re doing at Heathman Farm; trying to aim for the future. The young horse finals are growing and getting more difficult, but that’s what it needs because if you don’t develop the young horses you have nothing for the bigger sport in the future.”
To see full results from the $10,000 Manestream 5-Year-Old Developing Jumper Final, click HERE.
Later in the day at WEF, Mexico’s Eugenio Garza Perez took aim at the $32,000 Dodd Technologies CSI4* 1.50m, taking the win aboard Victer Finn DH Z, owned by El Milagro. In second was Bertram Allen (IRL) with Gary de Cerisy, owned by Ballywalter Stables Ltd, and Alessandra Volpi rounded out third place aboard Glamour, for Cedar Fox LLC.
