Gigi Moynihan was thrilled with her third place in the ASPCA Maclay Finals.

Gigi Moynihan topped 254 horse-and-rider combinations for victory in the first round of the ASPCA Maclay National Championship and ultimately placed third overall after the flat and testing phases concluded. Her precise riding and beautiful style was well rewarded throughout the day, and after more than 12 hours of competition, trainer Hardin Towell proudly escorted her to center ring with Christy Johnson’s Quantico to receive her awards.

Gigi’s performances were only topped by winner Dominic Gibbs and second-placed Taylor Griffiths-Madden (the winner of this year’s Dover Saddlery/USEF Hunter Seat Medal Final).

Held at the National Horse Show at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington on Nov. 1, the last major equitation final of the year drew a record number of competitors. Course designer Bobby Murphy set a technical and beautiful course in the Alltech Arena that drew rave reviews.

As reported by Phelps Sports:

Faced with the tough job of ranking the multitude of riders seen throughout the day, judges Mark Jungherr and Emil Spadone ultimately settled on a final standby list of 24 juniors ahead of the second phase of the competition, the flat round.

Thanks to her exemplary performance over fences that demonstrated correct, precise riding, Gigi Moynihan sat superior to her peers as the frontrunner following the challenging first fences round, leading ever since she tackled the pattern as the 36th in the start list. Behind Moynihan, the remainder of the top of the callback list included Gibbs, Taylor Griffiths-Madden, Mimi Gochman, Alexia Rule, Sophee Steckbeck, Ellie Ferrigno, Skylar Wireman, Chase Finizio, Hannah Dodd, Hannah Hoch and Zayna Rizvi.

Headed into the flat, those top 12 high-scoring riders were sectioned off to compete against each other under saddle, while the latter half of the standby list rode in another section.

Excited to have made the top of the standings but with more tests to master, both sets of riders took to the Alltech Arena to compete in the flat phase of competition, during which they were challenged to show off their balance and strength via a series of directions from the judges that included all three gaits; working, extended and collected sitting trot; simple change of lead to the counter-canter in front of the judges and walking to the line on a long rein.

The leaderboard did not remain unchanged, as Gibbs leapfrogged up to the first spot, followed by Gochman, Griffiths-Madden, Steckbeck, Moynihan and Ferrigno, in that order. Kierstin Antoniadis and Natalie Jayne moved their way up the list the most, advancing to 10th and 11th, respectively, after previously holding the 13th and 16th spots.

Returning in reverse order of the judges’ preference, the top 25 contenders each displayed their skills over Murphy’s second course, which asked for a long approach to fence one at a hand gallop, two counter-canter fences, a triple combination and a forward 6-stride bending line. Not cutting any breaks for the qualified horse-and-rider challengers, the second jumping portion of the event served to further trim down Jungherr and Spadone’s ticket of premier performers.

Wanting one last look at four entries, the judges requested that Steckbeck, Moynihan, Griffiths-Madden and Gibbs, in that order, complete a final work-off. The test consisted of cantering fences 4 and 5, trotting fence 6, cantering the original fence 8C and 9, trotting fence 10 and hand galloping fence 12 before leaving the ring.

All four final contestants turned in valiant showings over the work-off track, leaving the judges the final job of separating the top contenders. The top 10 returned to the ring for the awards presentation and as the reserve champion was announced as Griffiths-Madden, who just weeks previously won the 2020 Dover Saddlery/USEF Hunter Seat Medal Final, it became clear that Gibbs had clinched the coveted title following four rounds of textbook riding. The champion rider piloted Cent 15, an 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding he worked with Beacon Hill trainer Stacia-Klein Madden, a former Maclay National Championship winner herself, to transition from a jumper to a successful equitation horse.

Emil Spadone – Judge

On judging a larger field than usual:

“It was a long day. There were many more than usual and I think that the qualifying process was a little bit different this year. I think that they were all very excited; it was part of their dreams to show here so I think in that sense it was great. I think the course was challenging enough and, as I think you could see with the results out there, some people had a hard time. In general, the best riders rose to the top and they held their own the entire time. That top group was all excellent and Dominic was on Gigi’s tail the whole way. The flatwork kind of slowed Gigi down and then she could not get back in after that. In the last round, they all came in and we felt like they were close. There was a little room if someone maybe wanted to move up. They all held their own but there was not enough of a change for us to change our order.”

Mark Jungherr – Judge

On the top four:

“They were very close. We did have the option to make a change but we did not think that anyone took control enough to change the opinion from the second round. The top three were all a point to a point a half apart.

2020 ASPCA Maclay National Championship, presented by Chansonette Farm

1. Cent 15 / Dominic Gibbs

2. Mac One III / Taylor Griffiths-Madden

3. Quantico / Gigi Moynihan

4. Itteville / Sophee Steckbeck

5. Any Given Sunday / Alexia Rule

6. Hot Pants / Skylar Wireman

7. Charisma / Natalie Jayne

8. Quite Cassini / Skyler Fields

9. Fanta / Kierstin Antoniadis

10. Empire / Chase Finizio