Scott Stewart Triumphs for Eighth Time in $30,000 WCHR Professional Finals at2024 Capital Challenge Horse Show

Elizabeth Cram Leads Ariat Adult Medal Finals

October 4, 2024 – Upper Marlboro, MD – Two highlight events were held on Friday, October 4, 2024, at the Capital Challenge Horse Show, which runs at the Prince George’s Equestrian Center through Sunday, October 6. The evening competition featured the top four hunter riders in the country going head-to-head in the $30,000 World Championship Hunter Rider (WCHR) Professional Finals, presented by Walkenbach Equestrian, and it was Scott Stewart who triumphed by riding four unfamiliar horses, taking home his eighth win out of 23 appearances in the 31 years of the class. In the Ariat National Adult Medal Finals, Elizabeth Cram of Aiken, SC, held her first-round lead for victory aboard Liverno, owned by Highfields LLC.

Scott Stewart in his winning presentation for the $30,000 World Championship Hunter Rider Professional Finals

The top three riders in the United States Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA) National Professional Rider standings – Nick Haness, Geoffrey Hesslink, and Scott Stewart – qualified for the WCHR Professional Finals along with Wednesday’s WCHR Professional Challenge winner, Amanda Steege.

The riders competed on four horses chosen from a donated group of horses that were presented to the judges and ground jury on Friday morning. Six were chosen to move forward to the schooling round in the ring before the start of the class, and from there, four were used in the class.

Stewart rode Chantino PS, owned by JT Equine LLC, to his “lowest” score of the night – a 94.33 – and moved up to a score of 96.33 on his second ride, Ton Amie Van Spieveld, owned by Ellie Goodfriend.

“The first horse was awesome,” said Stewart. “I, for some reason, couldn't remember seeing him school, even though I did, so I sort of went in and didn't really know what to do. He was was absolutely perfect and relaxed for me, so he gave me a lot of confidence.”

With a 95.66 on Goodfriend’s RSH Kallahan and his highest score of 96.66 on his final horse, Hello Houston Z owned by Williams Sport Horse, Stewart held the lead through all four rounds. He gave a masterful performance, earning a total of 382.98 and winning by more than 20 points.

Hesslink rode into second place following his final round of the night where he received his highest score of 94.66 on Chantino PS. He finished on a total of 362.66.

“I was just happy to be in the top three,” said Hesslink, who aims to gain points in order to compete in the WCHR Pro Finals. “I grew up watching this class as a young kid and remember idolizing every rider, literally dreaming of one day doing it, and thinking it was so out of reach. To be here means a lot to me, and I'm really grateful for every time I get to do it.”

Third place went to Steege, who had a total of 360.98, and she rode to her high score of 92.66 on Ton Amie Van Spieveld, aka “Tommy,” a Belgian Warmblood gelding by Le Blue Diamond van’t Ruytershof.

“All the horses were wonderful,” said Steege. “I was really impressed with Tommy. He is only a five-year-old horse, which I think is incredible. We were so thankful to the owners and trainers and people that spent all day getting those horses ready so that we could have so much fun.”

With less than a point separating him from Steege, Haness slotted into fourth place with a total of 359.99. He had his high score of 94 from Ton Amie Van Spieveld as well.

“I think that we were lucky to have consistency throughout the class, and you can really showcase each rider's strengths,” said Haness of the horse power in the class. “It was a really nice selection of horses. We are so grateful to have such solid horses to ride, and they were all brave and very straightforward in their own way.

“Honestly, it feels great to win,” said Haness, who won this class in 2022, “but it feels great to watch what just happened, and Scott just gave us all a riding lesson. It was great to see him be so magical out there. It was really admirable to see what he could accomplish with those horses, and that inspires me as a young professional to look forward to trying to do more.”

Looking at GOAT (Greatest of All Time) athletes from other sports, Tom Brady won seven Super Bowls. Michael Jordan? Six NBA Finals wins. Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth? Six World Series victories. Scott Stewart has now surpassed those numbers in his sport.

“I still get nervous,” conceded Stewart. “It's a great honor to be included in these group of riders. I'm hopeful that I'll get to keep doing it. I've won it enough, and I just enjoyed doing it, so I wasn't really expecting to win, but I was, I would say, probably the most relaxed I've ever been.”

Stewart, at the age of 60, has no intentions of slowing down.

“Hopefully, I’ll have enough great horses to keep me up in the loop, so yeah, I'm going to keep trying,” he concluded.

For his win in the WCHR Professional Finals, Stewart was presented with the All The Way Perpetual Trophy, donated by Elizabeth Busch Burke and Lisa Burke Horkan. Ton Amie Van Spieveld was honored with The Far West Farms Perpetual Trophy as he tallied the highest final scores of 87, 96.33, 94, and 92.66.

Ton Amie Van Spieveld competes in the 12-14 Equitation with owner Goodfriend, and was recently imported from Europe. This was only his third show in the U.S.

“It was really exciting to see all the pros ride them and seeing them able to ride different courses and how the horses adjust to them,” said Goodfriend, who donated two of her horses to the class. “I saw them being able to balance and then let him loosen and flow up to the jumps, which I thought was really nice. He kept jumping in really good form, so it was really exciting to see.”

Goodfriend’s trainer, Colleen Brombach of Silver Fox Farms in Wimberley, TX, agreed. “I love it; every year I try to donate a horse because I like to see a really good rider on my horse.”

Final Results: $30,000 WCHR Professional Finals, Presented by Walkenbach Equestrian

1 Scott Stewart: 94.33, 96.33, 95.66, 96.66=382.98

2 Geoffrey Hesslink: 87, 93, 88, 94.66=362.66

3 Amanda Steege: 88.33, 90.33, 89.66, 92.66=360.98

4 Nick Haness: 91, 88.33, 94, 86.66=359.99

Change of Pace for Liverno

Twenty-year-old Elizabeth Cram had the good fortune to have her winning equitation mount, Liverno, “fall into her lap” in May of 2024 as he made the transition from eventing to equitation. The horse arrived at her family’s farm, and it became a quick connection between “Vern” and Cram.

“We weren’t actually looking for him,” admitted Cram. “Someone sent him to us to sell, and he ended up being the perfect match for me. My mom Cathy was amazing and bought him. She was going to show him herself, but I kind of took over the reins myself over the summer. We started showing in the Ariat classes, got qualifed, and now we’re here.”

Cram noted that the biggest aspects of equitation that they worked on with Vern were slowing down and collecting his giant stride.

“When we first got him, he was definitely faster. He has always wanted to be a slow horse, but he was used to galloping across the cross-country field,” she explained. “He’s 17.3 hands, so he has a huge stride already. The biggest thing we’ve been working on is managing that and getting him comfortable going in the bridle.”

After a second-place finish in last week’s North American Adult Equitation Championships, Cram had to return to school at the University of Georgia, where she rides on the equestrian team and studies accounting and finance. She flew back to Maryland on Thursday evening and was in The Show Place Arena with Vern to impress the judges Friday afternoon. The judges rewarded them with a score of 91.5, which put them into the lead at the end of the first round.

The top ten riders returned for a second round which included places to shine, inside turns, a bounce, and a gallop to the final oxer. Cram completed a neat, mistake-free ride, and her score of 89.16 and total of 180.66 was enough to place first without need for additional testing.

Second place went to Hannah Klinedinst of Dallas, TX, and MTM Brando, owned by. Equestrian Closet LLC, who scored 87.25 and the high second-round score of 90 for a total of 177.25. With scores of 89.33 and 87.83 for a 177.16 total, Grace McReynolds of Colorado Springs, CO, placed third with Vanderpump, owned by Elizabeth Reilly.

The Ariat National Adult Medal Finals marked the first time Liverno competed in an indoor arena, and Cram was proud of her eight-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Hampshire VDL). “I was a little bit nervous because I didn’t know what he was going to do,” she said, “but after the first couple of jumps I knew he would be fine. My sister Celia has been riding him in the ring in the morning all week. That’s been super helpful. It’s been a team effort this week.”

The 2024 CCHS moves into its second weekend on October 5 with championships for the pony hunters, junior hunter competition, as well as the final two NAL Jumper Finals.