March 18, 2018 
Kristen Vanderveen (USA) came to Ocala, Florida this weekend with France in her sights.
But she needed a minor miracle to get there.
As the final qualifier in the North American League, Live Oak International was the 28-year-old rider’s last chance to amass ranking points for the World Cup Final in Paris this April and the odds weren’t in her favor.
Vanderveen had 21 points going into Sunday’s $100,000 Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Ocala.
The sweet spot, the score that all but guarantees you a place among the top seven in the East Coast subleague, and thereby a ticket to the Final, is in the low 40s.
She’d need a top finish in Ocala to even have a shot. And, as importantly, for things not to go the way of the three Americans bookending her in the rankings. Charlie Jacobs and Catherine Tyree had 23 points apiece going into Sunday’s class. Lauren Tisbo, 19.
To say Vanderveen was a longshot is something of an understatement.
But then to say she “won” the last qualifier is too.
Because Vanderveen didn’t just capture the victory among the Spanish moss-draped trees at Live Oak Plantation, she conquered it.
Her first challenge: slaying the dragon that was Kelvin Bywater’s course.
Sixteenth to go in the order, no rider had mastered the track when Vanderveen set foot in the ring. With only 24 riders on the start list, even Bywater was getting nervous.
“I have to say my heart was going quite fast midway through wondering if we were going to get a clear round,” confessed the Level 4 course designer.
Vanderveen and Bull Run’s Faustino de Tili would prove it was possible, breaking the string of four fault rounds that preceded them with a foot perfect ride.
Only two other riders would follow suit to post clear rounds—Brianne Goutal (USA) and Viva Colombia and Beat Mandli (SUI) and Galan S.
But could the aspiring World Cup Finalist keep it up?
First to go in the jump off, Vanderveen and her 13-year-old Belgian warmblood stallion made quick work of the short track, carving tidy turns and daring angles before racing to the last to cross the timers in 45.93 seconds.
Goutal’s steady double clear in 52.99 seconds brought the ponytailed rider one step closer to her goal. With just one rider to come, all that was standing between her and victory was a show jumping giant—Olympic silver medalist and 2007 World Cup champion, Mandli.
The Swiss rider made his bid, galloping to the first and slicing the turns…
But with a rail at the fifth obstacle the victory went to Vanderveen! The 28-year-old rider from Illinois booked her ticket to Paris, and what will be her first ever championship!
“It’s very surreal for me right now. I’ve always wanted to go to World Cup Finals,” beamed Vanderveen.
“This is a bit of a last minute decision for me to come here and see if we could do something special today and get it. I’m over the moon excited about it. Winning the Grand Prix alone is a big deal to me, but going to Paris makes me really excited.”
As one of ten Americans to qualify for the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Final, she’ll head across the pond, April 11-15, riding high off her latest success.
But then maybe it was always meant to be.
A devout Christian, Vanderveen is famed for renaming her horses with biblical names, such as Almighty, Divine Fortune, Testify, and Bastian 86. It seems fitting that her career making win is in the very state that boasts the motto “In God We Trust.”
