When Lillie Keenan added Queensland E to her string earlier this summer, it was a stroke of luck that brought them together.
The 13-year-old stallion, previously campaigned to 5* victories by Dani Waldman (ISR) and Frank Schuttert (NED), wasn’t on her radar as a potential mount. Then fortune, and her boyfriend, intervened.
“My boyfriend [Darragh Kenny] actually got a phone call for some other horses and Dani was moving on to new projects, so he asked for Queensland and he turned to me and he said, ‘We’re buying that horse.’ I tried him the next day and fell in love with him.”
Six months later, almost to the day, she logged a career first five star Grand Prix win with the stallion. Galloping around the historic La Silla GNP grand prix field in Monterrey, the pair captured the GNP CSI5* MLSJ Grand Prix on Saturday afternoon.
“I’ve only ever won two other Grand Prix. One was national and one was a two star. So it’s a big deal for me. I don’t think it’s really set in. So I’m still a little in shock,” said the 26-year old.
While Keenan may have shocked, her early results with the Queensland E suggest it was an inevitable conclusion.
Four days after the stallion arrived at her barn, Keenan took him to a 2* show in The Netherlands and jumped clear in the Grand Prix. Two weeks later, they contested their first five star, the Global Champions Tour Paris, and jumped double clear to finish third in the Grand Prix.
And the clears kept coming.
The pair repeated their performance in the CSI5* Grand Prix at Valkenswaard in July, pulling single rail in all week, then made their Nations Cup debut in Dublin in August, jumping clear in the second round.
“He gave me a lot of confidence right away,” said Keenan. “For the first two months we just worked on really building trust and trying to relax. He has a lot of blood. That’s what makes him so good.
“Now saying that in hindsight I had a lot of results early, so that might sound silly, but honestly what I was focusing on is our own partnership and not worrying too much about trying to be someone else. I made the mistake in the past with other horses where I try to imitate their previous riders when really you have to have your own unique partnership. So we just did a lot of simple, basic horsemanship.
“And I must say, he trusted me from the beginning. I just I needed to prove to myself that I was going to be able to ride well enough.”
The pair proved that and more on Saturday at MLSJ Monterrey. Anthony D’Ambrosia’s tough 1.60m course saw few clears. It wasn’t until three-quarters of the way through the class that Keenan posted the first fault-free performance.
“For me, when I watch and there aren’t any clear rounds, I actually love that because I feel like I can prove something. I’m much more comfortable that way. I think that’s also why I’ve had some success going quite early in classes. I like having the challenge,” shared Keenan.
Two more riders would follow suit, Eduardo Menezes (BRA) and H.Big Action and Arturo Parada (MEX) with Bacot, guaranteeing a jump off.
First to return for the short track, Keenan set the time to beat with an efficient clear, slicing the turns and relying on Queensland’s natural foot speed to put pressure on the remaining two.
“The third to last fence, I was on a serious angle, but I believed in him. And he has so much power from such a small canter that you can come on a real angle and you don’t have to create the energy, which makes a huge difference when you’re trying to shave off time in the turn,” she said.
The pair stopped the clock at 42.28 seconds. Menezes shaved half a second off their time but finished on four faults to settle for second. Parada was third, after being unseated at the double.
“My coach McLain Ward, when he found out that I was coming [Monterrey], he said that it would be definitely a memorable experience. He had some amazing classes here. Obviously, I made a huge memory, so he was dead right.”