Grand at the National!
Kelly Tropin and Chablis
Kelly Tropin Returns to Claim Grand Champion Amateur-Owner Hunter at CP National Horse Show
Courtesy of Phelps Sports
Lexington, Ky. – Nov. 2, 2017 – The Amateur-Owner hunter athletes took center stage on Thursday morning as the 2017 CP National Horse Show continued to award championship titles.
Eight years after her performance in the ASPCA Maclay Finals at the National Horse Show, Kelly Tropin returned aboard Libertas Farm LLC’s Chablis to top the Amateur-Owner, 18-35, Hunter division, claiming the championship and ultimately earning the title of Grand Champion Amateur-Owner Hunter and the “Ruxton and Scot To Do” Challenge Trophy.
Tropin and the 9-year-old Warmblood gelding captured wins in the stake class and the under saddle with a second-placed ribbon in the handy round to earn the “In Dutch” Memorial Perpetual Trophy and the “Scot To Do” Challenge Trophy. Lindsay Maxwell rode her own Baranus to the win in the handy round and take home the reserve championship award.
FROM THE WINNER’S CIRCLE
Kelly Tropin – Grand Champion Amateur-Owner Hunter
On Chablis:
“I’m really proud of my horse and I’m really grateful to ride such an amazing animal. He’s the horse of a lifetime for me. He’s only 9, so I hope we have many more years together, but I’m really proud of him because he’s been champion now at Washington, Harrisburg and the National. This horse show is actually hard for me to get to because I was missing a lot of important things at work to be here but I really wanted him to have the opportunity to do well at this show. He’s such a careful, spectacular jumper but he’s not spooky at all, so he can walk in this ring. We like him a little fresh and explosive over the jumps, so yesterday he was actually fresh. We don’t like him to get too tired for the second day. That speaks to what a wonderful horse he is that he’s 9 and can be fresh and just walks in the ring and does his job. He’s wonderful.”
On training with Peter Lutz and Mary Manfredi:
“Not only is he my only hunter, he’s the only hunter we have in the barn with my trainers Peter Lutz and Mary Manfredi. They’re amazing horse people. They’ve trained a lot of young horses for me and we had a lot of good raw material with Chablis, but they do everything to make him the spectacular horse he is. He’s our only hunter, so he gets the same treatment. He does the same gymnastics as the grand prix horses and my amateur jumpers that I have.”
On the National Horse Show:
“I haven’t been to this horse show since I did the Maclay finals and I remember walking into the ring in 2009 and I started crying on the way to the ring because I was like, ‘This is my last horse show ever, I’m so sad.’ Almost 10 years later I wish I could say to myself then, ‘You’ll be here and you’ll be fine. It’ll be better than you ever thought it would be.’ I’m back and it’s been really nice. It’s an amazing show. I love all of the indoor shows, but this one is really special.”