Lexington, KY – May 16, 2026 – Alexandra Worthington and De L’Oiseliere ruled the ring as international show jumping action at the Kentucky Horse Park concluded on Saturday with the $125,000 Mary Rena Murphy Grand Prix CSI3*, presented by Hagyard Equine Medical Institute during the Kentucky Spring Classic. In a six-horse jump-off that demanded accuracy, Worthington and De L’Oiseliere were the only ones with all the answers, capturing the top honors as the only double clear pair of the night. Charlise Casas was the fastest of the 4-faulters with Kanny-Fee for second place, while Sloane Coles took home the third place pize aboard Ninja HJW Van De Moerhoeve.
The grand prix was held in memory of the late Mary Rena Murphy, one of the horse industry’s most influential people. She worked diligently to promote the Kentucky Horse Park and was a major influence for the first hunter/jumper shows at the venue. Her vision for an exhibitor-friendly competition at a world-class facility helped shape the Kentucky Horse Park into what it has become today. Four generations of her family gathered for the presentation during Saturday’s highlight event.
Alexandra Worthington and De L’Oiseliere with the Murphy Family
After leading the night’s lap of honor, Worthington credited her five-year partnership with De L’Oiseliere, a 13-year-old Selle Francais gelding, for their success. “My partnership with De L’Oiseliere is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced,” she smiled. “We’ve really moved up the levels together, so it’s very easy for me to feel confident walking into a three-star class and really feeling like he can deliver a double clear. He jumped clear in both qualifiers and both grand prixs, so I think the consistency is reflective of our partnership and how much we trust each other.”
Anderson Lima set a technical track that kept horses and riders focused from start to finish for the final FEI event of the week. Questions on the course included an oxer-vertical-oxer triple combination early in the track, and a triple bar to a vertical-oxer double combination at the end of the track, which concluded with a liverpool oxer going directly towards the gate. Six athletes completed the course without error and advanced to the tiebreaker. The jump-off began with the triple bar bending to a new oxer, followed by two rollbacks and then the first part of the triple combination. Riders then finished with two long gallops across the ring as they made their way to the final wide oxer.
Charlise Casas & Kanny-Fee
Casas was the first to return and laid it all on the line with Kanny-Fee, but their speed came at the expense of a rail at the double combination, earning them 4 faults in a time of 43.45 seconds, which held up for second place. Worthington was next and chose to stick with her plan, focused on leaving all the rails intact. Her pace was slower with De L’Oiseliere, but they did not add any faults to their score, challenging the rest of the field to do the same. That did not happen, as rails came down throughout the track, with only Coles and Ninja HJW Van De Moerhoeve producing another 4-fault round. Their time was just a second slower than Casas, finishing in 44.80 seconds for third place, while Worthington returned to accept the winning title.
Sloane Coles & Ninja HJW Van De Moerhoeve
“The jump off proved harder than people thought it was going to be,” noted Worthington. “I don’t usually watch others in the jump off. I have my plan, and I go and execute my plan. My horse was jumping quite carefully tonight, so I just wanted to go in and jump a nice double clear, not go crazy fast. I did that. I came out and thought surely someone would go faster, but again, the jump off and the course asked the right questions. It’s one of those days where you just get a little bit lucky winning as the only double clear, even though you aren’t super fast!”
Worthington was also quick to credit De L’Oiseliere, adding, “He is just exceptional. He is the smartest animal I’ve ever met in my entire life. He understands the sport in such a way that I’ve never seen before in any other animal. He knows when he jumps clear, he gets cocky, he puts his tail up, he kind of pushes you around. He gets this attitude because he knows he’s done well, and he’s just such a fighter. He fights for me every single day in the ring. I don’t think I’ll ever experience it with another horse, and it’s something I even tear up talking about because it’s so special.”
Alexandra Worthington & De L’Oiseliere
As the Kentucky Spring Series begins to wind down, Worthington concluded, “We absolutely love the Kentucky Horse Park. It has to be the most horse-friendly venues on earth. Everything from the footing, the space to ride, the facilities, you can’t beat it. The horses just come here and they seem to always take a breath, which we really love. We built it into our schedule the last couple of years, and we’ll continue doing it.”
Sunday marks the conclusion of the Kentucky Spring Horse Show at the Kentucky Horse Park. The final day of competition will feature the $15,000 U25 Grand Prix, followed by the $35,000 Commonwealth Grand Prix, presented by Sterling Equestrian/Forest Hill.
For more information on the Kentucky Spring Series please visit www.kentuckyhorseshows.com.
