2004 American Grand Prix Association Year End Awards Honor Beezie Madden, Derek Petersen And Glasgow

Beezie Madden of Cazenovia, New York, was named the American Grand Prix Association Rider of the Year for the 2004 season. This is the second time that Madden has won this prestigious title, also taking high score honors following the 1997 season.

In an amazing career that has spanned more than two decades; the 2004 season was her best ever. It was highlighted by the Team Silver Medal at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, this summer.

Madden’s first AGA start was in the early 80s in Florida. “I’ve come a long way since my first AGA event in Palm Beach,” she said. “It was with a horse called Out Of This World.” Now, many equestrian across the globe are calling her performance at the 2004 Olympic Games, “out of this world.”

For Madden, the highest ranked American rider in the world, the trip to Greece was the culmination of a life-long dream. “I think everyone who starts out at that early level is dreaming about the Olympic Games,” Madden said. “Whether it’s realistic or not, you probably don’t know for a couple of years,” Madden explained. “But yes, it was a dream of mine.”

It was Madden’s pressure packed performance in the second round of the Olympic team jumping that most will remember as one of the most exciting rides in U.S. show jumping history. “That was so exciting,” Madden recalled. “I didn’t know how the third and fourth riders had done for the other teams when I walked up to the arena. When I got there, John’s brother, Frank, told me that if I go clean we win the silver,” said Madden. “I was so excited at that point that we still had a chance for a medal that I didn’t have time to get nervous.”

Madden’s first AGA Rider of the Year title in 1997 was aboard, Dynamite. “He belonged to Alan Shore, Jr. and we got him from Anne Kursinski. In 1997, he won a few, placed a lot, and then all of a sudden he was horse of the year,” laughed Madden. “Dynamite was a horse that didn’t get a lot of credit but had a very good career.”

Madden’s main mount this season was her Olympic star, Authentic, owned by John Madden Sales & Mrs. Elizabeth Busch Burke.

Authentic has had a meteoric rise. “We stepped him up to the grand prix level in the middle of the summer in 2003 and that’s when Authentic really came into his own,” she said. “We felt that he showed us enough to enter him in the selection trials, so we scheduled him to peak at that point.” Madden points out however, that it was late in last year’s season when they were convinced of his Olympic potential. “I think it was the European tour late in the year, when we won two out of three big classes over there, that we thought we had a real chance,” Madden said.

That potential became reality in Athens. “You always, of course, hope for a performance like that. We knew we were going in with a young horse with very little experience, so you really never know what’s going to happen,” said Madden. “You never really know with an experienced horse,” she laughed. “I couldn’t have been more pleased.”

With a great start, Madden secured her AGA Rider of the Year title early in the 2004 season. “I had a really fast start in Palm Beach, Tampa and Charlotte,” Madden pointed out. “We had a good Palm Beach, a win in the World Cup Grand Prix at Tampa, second in the Budweiser American Invitational and then the win at the new Charlotte event and I really piled up the prize money and points early on,” said Madden. “It made it difficult for anyone to catch me.”

For Madden, the 2005 World Cup in Las Vegas and the World Equestrian Games in 2006 are the highlighted events.

Madden also would like to preserve her world rider ranking. “For sure, that’s very important,” she said. ‘We’ll do all of Florida and then on to Charlotte. Then hopefully the World Cup Finals, Lexington, Spruce Meadows and then off to Europe,” Madden said.

AGA Rider of the Year Standing:

For more information on the American Grandprix Association, visit the AGA website at: http://www.stadiumjumping.com/aga/index.cfm

PHOTO CREDIT: Beezie Madden aboard Authentic at the Budweiser American Invitational. Photo by Randi Muster.