Expert rider hurt in fall from horse at Hampton Classic
Shorapur and rider Kevin Babington compete at the Lake Placid Horse Show Devoucoux Grand Prix in upstate Lake Placid in 2016. Credit: AP/Lou Reuter
An expert rider who was participating in the Hampton Classic Horse Show fell off his horse during the elite competition in Bridgehampton on Friday afternoon, Southampton Town police said.
Kevin Babington, 51, of Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania, “was thrown from a horse,” said Lt. Susan Ralph several hours after the 4:18 p.m. incident.
He was airlifted by Suffolk police to Stony Brook University Hospital for treatment. His injuries and condition were unclear.
According to a biography posted on the event’s website, Babington is an accomplished rider, having scored major victories this year alone, including at the 2019 Lake Placid Horse Shows where he occupied the top three places in the $100,000 Great American Insurance Group Grand Prix with horses named Shorapur, Super Chilled and Mark Q. An online industry magazine, The Plaid Horse, called it "the greatest performance in Lake Placid Horse Show history.”
Ralph said there were no other injuries to riders, spectators or horses.
Event officials could not be reached Friday night for comment.
The weeklong hunter/jumper horse show features some 1,600 horses and draws up to 50,000 people each year to watch riders vie for purses totaling $800,000, organizers said in news releases.
