Mexico’s Luis Alejandro Plascencia produced a performance of real authority to secure victory at the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Puebla, delivering the only double-clear round of the competition in front of a passionate home crowd on Saturday 7 February.
Riding the experienced 14-year-old gelding Huberth B, Plascencia was one of just two riders to negotiate a demanding first-round showjumping track without penalty. He then returned to jump clear again in the jump-off, stopping the clock at 47.36 seconds to decisively claim the win.
Course designer Anderson Lima, who will also build the tracks for the FEI World Cup Finals in Fort Worth this April, set a typically stout Puebla test. The opening round featured a technical ‘S’ line early in the course, a towering cut-out wall and a final line that demanded both scope and rideability. As is often the case at this venue, clear rounds proved exceptionally hard to come by, reinforcing Puebla’s reputation as one of the toughest stops on the North American League.
The jump-off was reduced to a head-to-head duel after Jose Antonio Chedraui Eguia also advanced with a clear first round. Returning first with Con-Cor, Chedraui Eguia opted to set the pace but lowered the narrow vertical midway through the course, finishing on four faults in 48.24 seconds. Plascencia, knowing a careful clear would be enough, instead chose to apply pressure of his own – and it paid off.
“I tried to beat his time, because it’s very easy to have one down in a jump-off with fences that big,” Plascencia explained. “It worked out. I beat the time and kept the jumps up. It was perfect.”
Third place went to Arturo Parada Vallejo, whose four-fault effort with Laretto was the fastest of seven combinations to finish on that score in the opening round.
The Puebla victory marked Plascencia’s second career FEI Jumping World Cup™ win, following his success in Guadalajara in 2018, but it was a first at this level for Huberth B. The gelding has contested previous World Cup qualifiers with different riders – including a second-place finish at Sacramento in 2021 – yet had never before topped the podium.
Plascencia has been partnered with Huberth B for less than a year, but the combination has developed quickly, built on trust rather than major changes. “He’s got all the skill,” he said. “If you get on his bad side, it can go the other way. I tried to understand what he likes and be soft with him. The riders before me did a lot of the work – I get to enjoy him now as a mature horse.”
Beyond the immediate victory, the result carries wider significance. The win moves Plascencia to the top of the Mexican standings in the North American League and strengthens his position in the race for a place at the World Cup Finals – an event neither he nor Huberth B has yet contested.
After six legs of the 2025/26 North American League, Conor Swail continues to lead the standings on 51 points, with Kent Farrington second on 42 and McLain Ward third on 36. The final qualifying opportunity comes next week in Ocala (USA) on Saturday 14 February, where the battle for Finals places is set to reach its climax.
Feature image: Luis Alejandro Plascencia O (MEX) and Huberth B – winners of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ North American League 2025/26 – Puebla (MEX) ©FEI/ Rodrigo Cecena
