Lexington, KY – July 30, 2026 – A field of top athletes gathered at the Rolex Stadium on Thursday morning to compete in the $25,000 Kentucky Summer Classic, part of the Kentucky Summer Horse Show Series presented by Rood and Riddle at the Kentucky Horse Park. Following the first round of competition, 11 horses returned for a test of speed and accuracy during the technical jump-off. Only three were able to produce a second clear effort, and it was Jill Gaffney who laid it all on the line with FF Tiger. Speeding through the turns and galloping home for the victory, they bested Chris Pratt and Paulien Dwerse Hagen by just 2/10ths of a second, while Samantha Mackenzie and VDL Nheintje WB rounded out the top three.
“It feels great to win today, especially with this horse because he’s only eight,” smiled Gaffney after her victory. “We’ve been knocking at the door a little bit. We’ve moved him from 1.45m, 1.50ms, back down, just getting him used to the bigger heights. I feel like at this show, something clicked and he was like, ‘Okay, I got this. I get this.’”
Jill Gaffney and FF Tiger. Photos by Winslow Photography
Course designer Jasen Shelley tested riders with a technical 12-obstacle track that utilized the expansive Rolex Stadium. It featured an early vertical-vertical double combination at the far end of the ring, an oxer-vertical combination heading home, and a vertical-oxer combination as the penultimate test before the final delicate vertical. Eleven horse and rider combinations advanced to the jump-off, where they began over the same first three jumps before a sharp rollback to a vertical and a bending line to the oxer-vertical double combination. They then made a sharp turn to a new vertical before rolling back to the final fence going towards the gate.
Chris Pratt & Paulien Dwerse Hagen
Pratt was the first to produce a second clear effort, piloting Paulien Dwerse Hagen to a quick time of 42.932 seconds to leave the rest of the field chasing them. Gaffney returned to the ring one round later and the lead quickly changed hands. Wasting no time in the turns or over the fences, she and FF Tiger were able to gallop through the timers in 42.763 seconds and go straight to the top of the leaderboard. Only Mackenzie and VDL Nheintje WB would be good enough to compete for a podium position, as the only other pair to clear the track a second time, they took home third with a time of 43.930 seconds, while Gaffney led the day’s victory gallop.
Samantha Mackenzie & VDL Nheintje WB
“I wanted to give him a good, confident ride today because he’s so young,” explained Gaffney. “When I picked up the canter and I put my leg on to go forward, I was like, ‘Oh, he’s going to be with me.’ I wasn’t planning on riding for the win – I was planning on just riding a good, confident, quick round. I think he spends less time in the air than [Paulien Dwerse Hagen] though, so that’s where I probably where I picked up the time.”
FF Tiger is an 8-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding owned by Bold Moves LLC that Gaffney has been producing since he was 4 years old. “He’s actually quite spooky – he’s careful and confident at the jumps, but moving around everything, he gets worried,” she noted. “I always have to be on my guard. Sometimes just when I think I can trust that we can just gallop forward, he’s like, ‘No, no, no,’ but today I didn’t feel that. Bold Moves LLC has been incredibly supportive of producing him as he’s moved up the ranks.”
Gaffney always enjoys having the chance to show at the Kentucky Horse Park, concluding, “I love the grass field. The footing is always fantastic, and I think that they pick fabulous course designers, but really my favorite part is being able to take them out onto the Kentucky grass!”
The next highlight event in the Rolex Stadium will be Saturday night’s $50,000 Kentucky Summer Grand Prix. Show jumping riders will return for more exciting competition during the Bluegrass Festival and KHJA Horse Shows, which will be held in just a few short weeks. For more information on the Kentucky Summer Series please visit www.kentuckyhorseshows.com.