Mark Our Words: The Highlands Cup Review Show

The jumping team is home from the Highlands Cup at Silo Ridge in Amenia, New York, and Annie Bishop joins Charlotte and Emma Blumencrantz to hear all about it. It was Emma's first show as an official member of the EquiRatings team, and she walked in past her own photo on the winners' wall from last year's 1.30m Open. We talk about what makes the show different off the field, from personalised hats and branded cookies to the art gallery and sports cars, and why being there in person adds something a livestream can't. Then it's on to the sport: Spencer Smith's win in the qualifier, Charlotte's call on Mark Bluman coming true in the 5* Grand Prix, a quicker side to James Kann Cruz, and the young horses we think we'll be talking about for a long time.

Key Discussion Points

• The Highlands Cup experience: hospitality, the winners' wall, and a first-time spectator who followed the Grand Prix with an EquiRatings form sheet in hand.
• The qualifier: Spencer Smith and Keeneland set the target first in the jump-off and nobody matched them. McLain Ward and First Lady chased hard, and Christian Kukuk's tight line on the 10-year-old HK Carrera left marks in the sand.
• HK Carrera stepping up: clear in the qualifier first round and clear inside the time allowed in the Grand Prix, after a season of quieter production.
• James Kann Cruz: fresh all weekend, not the smoothest first round, but the fastest in the Grand Prix jump-off. Is a new gear coming, and what does that mean for the Greya rivalry?
• Kent Farrington's depth: Greya in a national class, Descartes stepping in, and an 8-year-old winning the 2* Grand Prix.
• The Grand Prix: Charlotte picked Mark Bluman and Landon on the preview pod despite a tough qualifier. They nailed the double that caught out so much of the field.
• The rest of the podium: Jessica Mendoza second, one week after winning a 5* Grand Prix in Barcelona on a different horse, and Natalie Dean third with Akota for their first 5* Grand Prix podium together.
• Charlotte's bet on an all-female 5* Grand Prix podium in 2026, and why Nina Mallevaey and My Clementine got close to making it happen this weekend.
• Ones to watch: Rene Dittmer's Caldwell, Alessandra Volpi's Magic, and two first-time 5* pairs in the qualifier.

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