Jeanne Kraus, Erin O'Brien at the MS Cure Fund wingding

MS Cure Fund founder Susan Strachan secretly held up the hope that singer Madonna would pop in her fund-raiser during the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center’s season finale Saturday night in Wellington.

The Material Girl, a star presence during this horse-jumping season here, didn’t show. But that didn’t prevent Strachan from raising more than $100,000 in one of the center’s VIP tents as riders in the arena competed for a total $600,000 in purses.

The Wild Wild West-themed event brought out Palm Beachers who rarely venture off their island, as well as Wellington horsie types.

The two groups, by the way, don’t mesh. Strachan had to find a different table for a crew from Wellington who found out they’d be sitting next to Palm Beachers, and wouldn’t have it.

“It’s our first event like this,” said Strachan, a multiple sclerosis suffered who once was the Palm Beach head of fundraising for the Boston-based Dana Farber Cancer Institute. “Many Palm Beachers told me they’d come just so they wouldn’t have to wear their tuxes for one Saturday night.”

So, if Madonna wasn’t there, who was? Click here to find out.

Photos by Michele Sandberg