Battle of the Sexes: Men top Women riders at season-opening 'Saturday Night Lights'
WELLINGTON — For the second year in a row, the men's team stunned the women's team, 28-11, in the Winter Equestrian Festival's season-opening "Saturday Night Lights" $75,000 Battle of the Sexes at Wellington International.
The women had won 10 times in the 14-year history of the event, presented by Wellington Regional Medical Center. The grudge match for bragging rights wasn't even close this year.
The men's team was captain Charlie Jayne, cousins Christian and Jordan Coyle, Luis Larrazabal, Sohnke Theymann, Simon McCarthy, Michael Tokaruk and James Billington.
The women's team was captain Nicole Jayne, Kelly Soleau-Millar, Samantha Mackenzie, Abigail McArdle, Carly Anthony, Taylor Land, Audrey Schulze and Elin Uppling, making her debut.
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Making the traditional WEF opener fun was the loud, boisterous crowd and horses decked out by their grooms in pink or blue feathers and tinsel, ribbons, sparkles and painted hearts and stars on the horses.
The event pitted men and women equestrians against each other. It is one of the season's most popular events and did not disappoint Saturday night. The scoring was based on three phases: faults-converted speed course, relays and match races.
In the opening speed event where riders go head-to-head on the same course, the men jumped out to a 6-2 lead with only Schulze and Jayne scoring points for the women.
The women were unable to claw their way back during the relay event with the men extending their lead to 16-2.
In the third and final round, the match race, McCarthy clinched the win with his clear round in 37.497 over Mackenzie's 39.750 time with one rail dropped for a 22-5 lead.
"My original plan was to go smooth and fast, but that went all out the window when I almost missed the first jump and was sitting in a chair seat over the fence,” McCarthy said of the start to his winning match race. "When that happened, speed came to mind and I tried to go as fast as I could. When I heard Samantha had one fence down I knew that I could take the win as long as I finished the course.
"It’s a brilliant class,” McCarthy added. "This is my third year doing it and we’ve won the last two so it’s been a great experience so far. It’s good for the crowd. The format of boys versus girls is easy for everyone to understand and allows them to root for their team. I think it’s also great for us as riders to compete as a team with people we normally compete against."
Despite the loss, Jayne was proud of her team and enjoyed competing in the fun, relaxed event.
"We all get so serious when season comes around so it’s nice to start off with a class that we take seriously, but can still have fun with,” said Jayne, wife of Charlie Jayne. "Everyone brought their A-game. We were so close throughout the rounds but we didn’t have luck on our side this year. As hard as it is to admit, the boys brought great horses and their best, and I have to respect that."
Pam Tahan, Wellington Regional Medical Center CEO, awarded the $75,000 prize. "As always, it was an exciting and fun night here in Wellington," she said. "We love to see the community come out and support the equestrians. We are thrilled to be part of everything that happens at WEF and we look forward to the great year ahead.”
Jad Dana, Wellington's Jimmy Torano win respective events
On Sunday, Jad Dana, 28, of Lebanon and ABC QuantumCruise topped a field of seven riders in the jump-off to win the $75,000 Prestige Italia Grand Prix in the International Ring. Dana had double clear rounds and won the jump-off in 37.038 to pocket $22,500.
Jimmy Torano of Wellington and 11-year-old gelding, Laskano, a rising star in the hunter ring, kept their winning streak alive in the $25,000 USHJA 2 International Hunter Derby with 384 points. The pair won the same class in 2023.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Men stun Women again in Winter Equestrian Festival's Battle of the Sexes
