Chloe Reid and Souper Shuttle in the 2022 CSI5* $500,000 Rolex Grand Prix at WEF
The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) recently announced the 10 athletes named to the Short List for the 2022 FEI Jumping World Championship (formerly part of the World Equestrian Games), to be held in Hernig, Denmark this summer.
With the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games, the two-year cycle between major jumping championships has temporarily been halved, leading to some familiar faces on the list (All four combinations to compete for Team USA in Tokyo are listed).
What’s most eye-opening is that Team USA has a starkly different look than from years past. With the semi-retirement of Beezie Madden from top level competition, gone are the days of the dominant “old guard” with a few young up-and-comers sprinkled in. Seven of the 10 riders on the Short List are under the age of 35, with six age 30 or younger:
· Kent Farrington with Gazelle, Landon, and Orafina
· Bliss Heers with Antidote de Mars
· Lillie Keenan with Agana Van Het Gerendal Z and Argan de Beliard
· Laura Kraut with Baloutinue and Confu
· Brian Moggre with Balou du Reventon and MTM Vivre le Reve
· Chloe Reid with Souper Shuttle
· Spencer Smith with Quibelle,
· Jessica Springsteen with Don Juan van de Donkhoeve and RMF Zecilie
· Adrienne Sternlicht with Bennys Legacy and Cristalline
· McLain Ward with Contagious and Kasper Van Het Hellehof
As these athletes and navigate observation events on the road to Hernig, Prixview will be breaking down the numbers of compelling team candidates.
First up, Chloe Reid:
At 25 years old, Chloe Reid made her Championship debut when called up from the reserve rider position at the 2019 Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ Finals in Barcelona (ESP). Based out of her family’s Live Oak Stud in Ocala, FL, Chloe not only rode in the 2022 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Ocala on the property, but she was also on the organizing committee.
Reid, who previously juggled her international riding career with her studies at the University of Miami, has repeatedly contended that her best results have often come when she’s also had a full plate of distractions and other tasks on which to focus. That has certainly proven true as of late. After finishing eighth in that World Cup event in March, Reid went on to finish a breakout third in the CSI5* $500,000 Rolex Grand Prix at the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF).
Reid has made the Short List aboard the 11-year-old Hanoverian mare Souper Shuttle (Stakkato x La Zarras 2), a horse she has developed since 2019. That development has been calculatedly slow, as Souper Shuttle did not jump her first 1.60m class until the end of the 2021 WEF season. The 2021 Rolex Grand Prix was just the mare’s second five-star grand prix competition; a year later, the pair was on the podium.
“I felt fortunate that we got to jump this class last year,” Reid said. “I think that helped because I walked the course and felt confident [this year], whereas last year I was definitely nervous for the track. She’s everything I love in a horse. She has a lot of blood, a lot of character, she’s super smart, and she really tried everything for me.”
Championships are about jumping clear rounds, and a review of Reid and Souper Shuttle’s results proves that they are among the elite in this category. In fact, as the mare has climbed the ladder in the sport, her averages have remained remarkably consistent. In her career, while her average placing is 21, the mare has never averaged more than 5 faults.
When it comes to reliability and being in contention, Reid and Souper Shuttle consistently deliver. Reid’s patience has certainly paid off with this mare, and it will be interesting to see how they stack up on the world stage in CSIO observation events. In doing so, Souper Shuttle will be making her Nations Cup debut. Her pilot, despite her age, already has a bit of experience. Reid has represented the U.S. in senior Nations Cup competition on seven previous occasions, averaging just 3 faults.
As Prixview follows this pair’s upward trend at observation events this spring and summer, what should you watch for? Prixview Next Gen* stats reveal that in 2022, 68.4% of the mare’s rails have come up front, with 52.6% percent off the right lead. An intriguing 47.4% percent of her rails have come in a combination, which could be due to her somewhat smaller stride—or simply that rails tend to fall most often at these elements in general. The mare is consistent across surfaces with a lot of experience and additional prowess on grass, given her Live Oak roots.
*PRIXVIEW NEXT GEN
Prixview's Next Gen stats provide never-before-collected data in breaking down faults for athletes, horses and horse-rider combinations. Next Gen data has been collected by Prixview's team at select, “top-tier” international competitions. This subset includes competitions from the CSI2*, 3*, 4* and 5* level to World Cup qualifiers, Nations Cup events and other widely-attended global events.
Follow Chloe and the entire U.S. Short List through Prixview’s fantasy games at Prixview.com/fantasy.