October 18, 2022 
There’s still plenty of excitement in store during the second half of the Major League Show Jumping (MLSJ) season two.
We’re exactly halfway through the 2022 season, and you know what that means: The MLSJ Trade Portal has officially closed.
According to MLSJ rules, “Trades or transfers during the league year must be done during the transfer window and are subject to league office approval. The transfer window will be open for 14 days following 50 percent of league events in any given season.”
That means now.
And although there’s no limit to the number of trades that can occur during this period, each team, according to MLSJ rules, must have at least two riders in the top 250 in the world as of December 1 the previous year.
So what do we know about the remainder of the 2022 MLSJ season roster?
Here’s how it’s all shaking out…
Helios
MLSJ heavyweight Helios is subscribing to an “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” strategy, swapping out a just single rider for the second half of the season. Colombia’s Mark Bluman is stepping down while American U25 rider Nicolette Hirt is stepping up for the League’s winningest team.
Led by teammate and manager Ashlee Bond (ISR) and represented by Karl Cook (USA), Eugenio Garza (MEX), Bliss Heers (USA), Simon McCarthy, Helios currently sits atop the team standings, leading by an eight point margin (37 points) after winning the first three legs of the MLSJ 2022 season. #teamtobeat
Eye Candy
In what feels a bit like the sneaky switch-cup trick from Penn & Teller, Team Eye Candy is swiping Irish riders left and right (okay, maybe just two) after failing to nab Lillie Keenan (USA). “Without a word [Lillie] followed her love Darragh [Kenny] (IRL) onto the Trailblazers,” lamented team manager Erica Hatfield, who says that she twice asked Keenan to join Eye Candy.
Hatfield has tapped Richie Moloney for her roster instead, swapping out fellow Irishman Daniel Coyle. Moloney is already a proven fit on the League’s No. 2 ranked team. He subbed for Eye Candy at MLSJ Toronto in August and brought home the bronze alongside Amy Millar and Jacqueline Steffens. Paul O’Shea, Conor Swail and Dylan Daly round out the team.
“That week at [MLSJ] Angelstone, someone texted me and said, ‘Congratulations on having the nicest Irishman on your team,’ Hatfield explained. “I said, ‘Thank you! Coach [a.k.a. Paul O’Shea] is awesome!’
“She replied, ‘I was talking about Richie.’
Hatfield says the unexpected tipster went on to compliment her for also having the handsomest Irish rider on her team, at which point, she shut down the conversation down.
“Conor [Swail] says she was talking about him,” relayed Hatfield.
Spy Coast Spies
The Spy Coast Spies are mixing up their lineup, adding a veteran and a newcomer this fall. American U25 rider Tanner Korotkin will step out to make way for 2019 Pan-American team gold medalist Rodrigo Lambre (BRA), who spent the summer competing in Europe and brings with him a sizeable string of horses. Pope, 28, meanwhile, is coming off a successful summer campaigning his two top horses—Highway FBH and Incento S.A.—at the CSI2* and 3* level in Traverse City, Michigan and will replace Tomas Yofre.
“We are excited to be adding two great riders to the ‘Spies’ to keep the push on for a podium finish in the league,” said teammate and manager Shane Sweetnam (IRL). The Spies, also represented by Jordan Coyle, Margie Goldstein Engle and Lacey Gilbertson, currently sit third in the team standings on 27 points.
Crusaders
Crusaders cruised into fourth on the team standings in the first half of the season on 26 points but are banking on an entirely new line up to take them to the top of the podium in second half.
Beezie Madden, Hunter Holloway, Nicolas Dello Joio, Callie Schott and Katherine Strauss are out. Taking up the cause in their place are Nicolas Pizarro (MEX), Tali DeJong (USA), Luis Biraben (ARG), Tanimara Macari (MEX), Rupert Winkelmann (GER) and Eye Candy defector Daniel Coyle (IRL).
Heads up: trash talk ahead.
Trailblazers
The aptly-named Trailblazers are coming out swinging in the second half with a major team overhaul that sees the departure of Daniel Bluman (ISR), Nicky Galligan (IRL), Chandler Meadows (USA) and Conor O’Regan (IRL).
In their stead, the Trailblazers will welcome aforementioned couple Darragh Kenny (IRL) and Lillie Keenan (USA). Kenny, an Olympic veteran and member of the Irish FEI Nations Cup Finals-winning squad in 2019, is currently ranked 25th in the world, while Keenan (#87) brings a deep string and proven track record.
Pan-American Games team silver medalist Patricio Pasquel (MEX) and countryman Manuel Gonzalez Dufrane will round out the squad. Aboard his longtime partner Hortensia Van De Leeuwerk, Gonzalez Dufrane, 28, recently earned #herostatus for the Mexican Team, posting a double-clear at Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ Finals to help bring home the prestigious Challenge Cup for Mexico this month.
Trailblazers are currently fifth on the team standings with 21 points.
DIHP Roadrunners
Erin Davis-Heineking (USA) is back in the game.
The Texas-based amateur rider is officially back on the roster for the Desert International Horse Park Roadrunners and brings with her CSI3* $137,000 Adequan Grand Prix of Wellington, FL winning-partner, Leonie, and former MLSJ mount, NKH Cento Blue, along with a season’s worth of experience. Davis-Heineking was a member of the OG Roadrunners crew in 2021.
Also joining the team’s ranks for the second half of the season is Arturo Parada, aka the Kent Farrington of Mexico. The pair join Kyle King, Kaitlin Campbell, Alberto Michan, and Alexis Sokolov. The team currently ranked sixth on 20 points.
Northern Lights
It’s an all-Canadian switcheroo for the Northern Lights, who will lose Sam Walker, Darrin Dlin, and Taylor St Jacques for the second half of their season.
In to fill the gap: two-time Canadian Olympian Tiffany Foster, the #2-ranked female rider in the world and an experienced team player with a slew of Artisan Farms horse power at disposal. Joining her are Eventyre Farms’ trainer Jim Ifko, and owner/student Rachel Cornaccia, who made their Longines FEI Nations Cup debut together in 2019 in Coapexpan, Mexico.
“Tiffany is currently in the top-50 on the Longines Rankings and brings so much experience and positivity to the team,” says manager Jaquiline Patmore. “As a longtime member of the tbird family, we are delighted to have Foster, a Langley native, on the team.
“Jim [Ifko] is one of the best speed riders around and that was clear in MLSJ Traverse City [Michigan], where he was a full three seconds faster than anyone else in the medal rounds. He will definitely be an asset to the team,” Patmore continued.
“Rachel [Cornaccia] is another up-and-coming Canadian rider who has been putting in solid rounds at the 5* level. All and all, we are excited to have the opportunity to have both developing Canadian riders as well as super strong veterans as part of the Northern Lights this season.”
Vanessa Mannix, Sean Jobin and Juan Ortiz round out the roster.
Lugano
Lugano is Lugano and has made no changes to their line up of Kent Farrington, Erynn Ballard, Natalie Dean, Vanessa Hood, Hilary McNerney and Carlie Fairty.
The second half of the 2022 season starts this week at MLSJ San Miguel de Allende in Mexico.
