Lillie Keenan has only been riding her stallion Agana van het Gerendal Z (by Aganix du Seigneur) for seven months, this weekend she celebrated the first World Cup victory of her career with him in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup in Las Vegas.
In front of a sold-out crowd at the South Point Hotel, the two were the last to enter the jump-off of the six qualifiers in the 1.60 m course. Until then, Daniel Coyle, who had won the previous World Cup leg with Legacy in Toronto last weekend, was leading. This time he had set a time of 36.47 seconds on Ivory TCS, who was only nine years old. But Lillie Keenan crossed the finish line without a fault in 36.31 seconds and snatched the victory away from the Irishman.
Lillie Keenan gained the decisive advantage on the first line and with a particularly tight turn to the penultimate obstacle. "I trusted my horse a lot in the turn, he almost did a slice," said the rider. "He is just competitive in every position."
Conor Swail, who has won two North American League stops this season, didn't make the podium in Las Vegas but regained the lead in the NAL standings with an 11th-place finish: he now has 56 points. Kentucky winner Daniel Bluman (ISR) is second with 54 points, Coyle third with 49. The North American League will continue on 17 December 2022 in Fort Worth (USA).
