Charlise Casas & Keminko N are joined by Equifit Winning Groom Maddy Miller to be presented as winners of the $117,000 Molon Excavating CSI3* Grand Prix by Jared Rushlau (left) and John Sprenger (right) of Molon Excavating. Photo © Megan Giese Media / TCHS.
Press release from Traverse City Horse Shows
Charlise Casas (USA) hadn’t topped an international leaderboard in several years. That changed on Sunday when she and Keminko N captured the $117,000 Molon Excavating CSI3* Grand Prix, closing out Week III of the Traverse City Spring Series, presented by Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel, at Flintfields Horse Park.
The Traverse City Spring Series, presented by Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel, continues for a final week and has featured three weeks of FEI jumper competition, weekly hunter derbies, including the International Hunter Derby Regional Championships, in addition to the USHJA Green Hunter Incentive Championships and the Markel/USHJA Platinum & Zone Jumper Team Championships this past week.
The new partnership with 10-year-old gelding, Keminko N (Grand Slam VDL x Numero Uno) is proving a fruitful one and came to a peak in the 10-horse jump-off over Anderson Lima’s (BRA) course. Casas, 24, pipped Ireland’s Jonathan Corrigan aboard Darius de Kerglenn (Mylord Carthago x Diamant de Semilly) in 34.62 seconds to his 36.10 time. Spain’s Francisco Goyoaga Mollet took third riding Stakato Cornet (Cornet Obolensky x Stakkato) for owner Ashland Farms in a jump-off time of 36.22 seconds.
Charlise Casas & Keminko N. Photo © Megan Giese Media / TCHS.
Casas, a Chicago native, has been competing at Traverse City Horse Shows for seven years. She is a student of world no. 1 Kent Farrington and partnered with Keminko N just a month ago. She was thrilled how quickly success followed, saying, “I’m feeling fantastic. This is the first time in three years that I’ve been able to try and win something, and it worked out.”
“Kiko” as Keminko is known in the barn was primed for top results in Traverse City, according to Casas. The pair also won the $32,000 CSI3* Welcome Stake on Friday.
Of her jump-off round, Casas said, “When I landed from fence one in the jump-off, I actually thought I was slow. I had planned to do one less stride from fences one to two, and again on the way to the last jump. In the middle of the course I was thinking, ‘Oh no, I’m behind.’ I was able to do eight strides to the cherry oxer from fences three to four, and I think that’s where I picked up time and made it count.”
Sunday marked the first time Casas had jumped clear in a three-star grand prix, and she’s hoping to carry that momentum into more high-level competitions. “This is my most successful accomplishment to date,” she said. “That’s exciting for me, so onward and upward—or at least keep doing what’s working.”
After a banner week, Casas jumped her way into the fourth-place position in the Leading Jumper Rider standings at Traverse City Horse Shows. The standings are currently led by USA’s Richard Spooner.
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