Wellington, FL – March 29, 2012 – The twelfth and final week of competition at the 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF) continued on Friday, March 29, at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC) in Wellington, FL, with the finals for the Adequan 6, 7 and 8-Year-Old Young Jumper divisions. In the $15,000 Adequan 6-Year-Old Jumper Classic Final, Ronan McGuigan and Chapeau were victorious. The $20,000 Adequan 7-Year-Old Jumper Classic Final saw a win for Laurenz Buhl and Calista, and the $20,000 Adequan 8-Year-Old Jumper Classic Final completed the day with a win for Daniel Bluman and Apardi.
Week twelve, sponsored by FTI Consulting, runs March 27-31 featuring CSI 5* competition. Highlights include the $33,000 Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic and $500,000 FTI Consulting Finale Grand Prix CSI 5* on Saturday and the $50,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby on Sunday.
The $15,000 Adequan 6-Year-Old Jumper Classic Final was the first class of the day with a win for Ireland’s Ronan McGuigan and Blythe Masters’ Chapeau. Sixty entries navigated course designer Alan Wade’s track with 19 clear rounds and 11 double clears in the jump-off. McGuigan and Chapeau completed the fastest round in 35.058 seconds for their victory.
Ronan McGuigan and Chapeau. Photo © Sportfot.
Ramiro Quintana and St. Bride’s Farm’s Tua Efele finished second with a jump-off time of 35.725 seconds. Laura Kraut and Hi Hopes Farm’s Cavalia were third in 35.858 seconds. Kraut also finished fourth aboard the Freedom Group’s Zeremonie in 35.895 seconds and tied for fifth aboard the Freedom Group’s Cleo in 36.252 seconds, the same time as Darrin Dlin and Susan Grange’s Tennyson. Seventh place honors went to Luis Larrazabal and Anabel Simon’s Close Up in 36.530 seconds.
Class winner Chapeau is a six-year-old KWPN gelding by Indocto x G. Ramiro Z, bred by Stal Hendrix. He was imported in October of last year and showed for the first time in the U.S. this winter.
“We bought him in the Hendrix auction and we bought him off the DVD actually, we never even went to try him,” McGuigan explained. “We just liked what we saw and trusted in it and he has been super all season.”
“He is very easy, very light and he has lots of scope,” the rider detailed. “You don’t have to try too hard at the oxers and he is very careful at the verticals. I think he is a very good horse, one of the better ones.”
Commenting on the class, McGuigan stated, “The first round was good. He jumped around pretty confident. In the jump-off, everyone was doing the same numbers, so the only thing you could do was be a little tighter in the turns. I took a real chance in the last line and it paid off.”
McGuigan explained that Chapeau has had a lot of clear rounds this winter but has never gone as fast as they did today.
“That is his first time going fast,” he noted. “Yesterday we had him in the jump-off and we stayed tight, but we didn’t go fast. I didn’t know how he would react, so we are happy with it. He did pretty well.”
“We never really ran him against the clock,” McGuigan continued. “He has jumped a lot of double clears, but we never really pushed him. We were sort of just saving him for this week. Now we will go back again and bring him on slowly. We just wanted to let him find his footing. Today we tested it and he proved himself, so we will ease off again. He will have a break and then we will start up slow again until the finals in the Hamptons.”
Ronan McGuigan and Chapeau in their winning presentation with ringmaster Cliff Haines and Kathy Serio for Adequan along with owner Blythe Masters and daughter. Photo © Sportfot.
Final Results: $15,000 Adequan 6-Year-Old Jumper Classic Final
1. CHAPEAU RONAN MCGUIGAN BLYTHE MASTERS: 0/0/35.058
2. TUA EFELE RAMIRO QUINTANA ST. BRIDE’S FARM: 0/0/35.725
3. CAVALIA LAURA KRAUT HI HOPES FARM: 0/0/35.858
4. ZEREMONIE LAURA KRAUT FREEDOM GROUP: 0/0/35.895
5= TENNYSON DARRIN DLIN SUSAN GRANGE: 0/0/36.252
5= CLEO LAURA KRAUT FREEDOM GROUP: 0/0/36.252
7. CLOSE UP LUIS LARRAZABAL ANABEL SIMON: 0/0/36.530
8. CHABALOUBA SUN HEATHER CARISTO WILLIAMS M/M RALPH CARISTO: 0/0/37.796
9. COBERLINA PETER LUTZ ORCHARD FARM: 0/0/38.284
10. CANNY WINDSOR Z PATRICIA GRIFFITH PATRICIA GRIFFITH: 0/0/38.585
11. CALAIS JEFFERY WELLES TRITON VENTURES FARMS INC: 0/0/39.330
12. COLLETTE RAMIRO QUINTANA SPENCER RANCH: 0/4/35.941
Laurenz Buhl and Calista Make Big Strides in Adequan 7-Year-Old Jumpers
The $20,000 Adequan 7-Year-Old Jumper Classic Final went second in the International Arena on Friday and saw a total of 58 entries with 22 clear rounds followed by nine without fault in the jump-off. Riding for Georgina Bloomberg’s Gotham Enterprizes, 20-year-old German rider Laurenz Buhl guided Calista to victory with a double clear effort in 38.653 seconds. David Beisel and Kady Abrahamson’s Basco H2 finished second in 38.798 seconds. Jonathon Corrigan and Sagamore Farms’ Bella Donna were third in 38.909 seconds, and Jeffery Welles and Triton Ventures’ Bilion placed fourth with a time of 39.067 seconds.
Laurenz Buhl and Calista. Photo © Sportfot.
Laurenz Buhl works for top German trainer Dietmar Gugler in Europe and came to the U.S. this year for the first time to ride for Gotham Enterprizes. When Bloomberg’s spirited young mare Calista needed a stronger rider, Buhl seemed like a perfect fit. He came to the farm in New York in September and then traveled to Wellington where he began competing. Friday’s win was proof of several months of hard work and dedication for Buhl and Calista, a seven-year-old Westphalian mare by Cornet Obolensky x Pontifex.
“She is a very good horse with a lot of quality. She is careful; she has a lot of scope. She is just not very experienced,” Buhl said of Calista.
Commenting on the opportunity to travel to America for the first time, he explained, “We have a good contact to Georgina’s trainer (Jimmy Doyle) and he said that I could come over and ride for them. It has been a great opportunity for me; it couldn’t be better. It is my first time showing in Wellington and even my first time in America. I am really enjoying it. The show here is great. It is kind of like another world here, it is completely different compared to what we have in Europe.”
Detailing his winning round, Buhl noted, “I think it was a quite tough course today. I just got a quite good rhythm in the jump-off. She has a really big stride, so that makes it easier to be fast. I was lucky at the end. I think I was really, really fast to the last jump. I think there I made the most time up.”
Bloomberg explained that she got Calista at the end of last summer and after showing her briefly, decided that the mare needed some experience with a different rider before they continued on.
“She has all of the talent in the world, but also all of the attitude,” she noted. “When Laurenz came to work for us, it was just a good fit. We wanted him to have a nice horse to work with and to be able to be in the show ring a little bit, but it was also good for her to have somebody bigger and stronger on her.”
“She is a very special horse and I think she has a brilliant future. I think she is just a little cocky sometimes and knows that she can act up, so Laurenz has done a great job with her,” Bloomberg acknowledged. “He has spent a lot of time with her and he has brought her a long way. She has made huge strides and I am really happy that it paid off for him and that he got a win. He has put in so much work, so it was really good for him to get the recognition for it.”
Laurenz Buhl and Calista in their winning presentation with ringmaster Cliff Haines and Kathy Serio for Adequan. Photo © Sportfot.
Final Results: $20,000 Adequan 7-Year-Old Jumper Classic Final
1. CALISTA LAURENZ BUHL GOTHAM ENTERPRIZES: 0/0/38.653
2. BASCO H2 DAVID BEISEL KADY ABRAHAMSON: 0/0/38.798
3. BELLA DONNA JOHNATHON CORRIGAN SAGARMORE FARMS: 0/0/38.909
4. BILION JEFFERY WELLES TRITON VENTURES FARMS INC: 0/0/39.067
5. CAYA ALI WOLFF ALI WOLFF: 0/0/39.518
6. BIALDA RAMIRO QUINTANA ST. BRIDE’S FARM: 0/0/39.547
7. GAIN LINE CIAN O’CONNOR RONNOCO JUMP LTD: 0/0/39.629
8. GENTLEY FILIP DE WANDEL FILIP DE WANDEL: 0/0/40.075
9. GSTAR FILIP DE WANDEL FIVE WAY FARM LLC: 0/0/45.536
10. G&C ATLANTA Z RODRIGO PESSOA GUSTAVO MIRABAL: 0/4/36.654
11. BALAVAN SHANE SWEETNAM SWEET OAK FARM: 0/4/37.876
12. BACKSTORY JENNIFER ROSSIRE DAVID HOPPER: 0/4/38.380
Daniel Bluman and Apardi Beat the Field in $20,000 Adequan 8-Year-Old Jumper Final
The $20,000 Adequan 8-Year-Old Jumper Classic Final was the last class of the day with a win for Colombia’s Daniel Bluman and Apardi, a KWPN stallion by Corland x Kannan, owned by Ricardo & Alberto Simhon. Sixty-seven entries showed in the class with 12 clear rounds to advance to the jump-off where only three were able to jump double clear. Bluman and Apardi completed the short course in the winning 39.640 seconds. Laura Kraut and Stars and Stripes’ Bonito R finished second in 39.881 seconds. Cian O’Connor and Andreas Herskovits’ Carlo 343 were third in 40.393 seconds. 
Daniel Bluman and Apardi. Photo © Sportfot.
Apardi is a new ride for Bluman that he recently got from Colombia four months ago. The horse had been with the same rider in Colombia since he was six months old and is now adjusting well to his new rider. Bluman noted, “He is a full brother to Jos Lansink’s horse Bacardi, which is also a really good horse over in Europe at the moment. We just started working and he has been developing. We started in the lower classes jumping first the high schooling, then the 1.30m, 1.35m, now he has been jumping some bigger classes in the 1.40m and 1.45m and today he won an important class for him, so we are very happy.”
The class was held with an option to jump-off immediately following the round or wait until the end of the class, and Bluman opted to jump-off right after his round. He explained, “I walked the first course and I thought it was good. There were some very careful jumps, but I think the horse felt really comfortable with the course. I felt he jumped it really easy the first round, so I decided to stay in for the jump-off instead of coming out and I just sort of let him go as fast as he could possibly go for the stage that he is at in his progress. We got a little bit lucky. Some of the people that jumped off had a rail down or something happened that they ended up being a little slow and it was meant to be for us, so that’s good.”
Apardi is a stallion, so Bluman admits that he can be playful, but says that he is very easy to deal with.
“He is a horse with great potential,” the rider stated. “He had been ridden by only one rider his whole life, so at the beginning of the transition to get to know each other and to make him adapt to my system took us a little bit of work. It took a couple of months without doing any jumping. It was only flat work and dressage, but he always wants to learn and it is a good thing. Even though he is playful, he is willing to learn what you are trying to teach him, so it is a perfect horse to have in the barn.”
Daniel Bluman in his winning presentation with ringmaster Cliff Haines. Photo © Sportfot.
Final Results: $20,000 Adequan 8-Year-Old Jumper Classic Final
1. APARDI DANIEL BLUMAN RICARDO & ALBERTO SIMHON: 0/0/39.640
2. BONITO R LAURA KRAUT STARS AND STRIPES: 0/0/39.881
3. CARLO 343 CIAN O’CONNOR ANDREAS HERSKOVITS: 0/0/40.393
4. SHORAPUR KEVIN BABINGTON KEVIN BABINGTON: 0/4/38.906
5. CARAMELLO Z RAMIRO QUINTANA ST. BRIDE’S FARM: 0/4/38.963
6. ARISTA CONOR SWAIL CHRISTINE SWAIL: 0/4/40.903
7. CEQUILA DARRAGH KENNY OAKLAND VENTURES LLC: 0/4/42.230
8. FIONA VAN’T PARADIJS RICHIE MOLONEY EQUINIMITY LLC: 0/8/41.695
9. REVE DU PARADIS EMANUEL ANDRADE HOLLOW CREEK FARM: 0/8/41.936
10. JOLLY JOKER DANIEL ZETTERMAN SPRINGFIELD SHOWJUMPERS: 0/8/42.857
11. CENTURIO GERMAN CAMARGO GERMAN CAMARGO: 0/8/45.365
12. BABALOU 41 TODD MINIKUS KATHRYN HAEFNER LLC: 0/10/49.145
Nevada and Caroline Clark Stoney Secure Reserve Circuit Champion Title with Win in Adult Amateur 36-50 Hunters
Nevada and Caroline Clark Stoney, of Charleston, SC, collected their third championship prize in the Adult Amateur Hunter 36-50 division during the final week of the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF). The pair has had a stellar season at the FTI WEF, earning reserve or championship titles each of their six weeks competing in Wellington. Friday’s victory will secure their standing as reserve circuit champions for the division. Nevada and Clark Stoney finished first in the under saddle class and were second, sixth, second, and first in the over fences rounds.
Reserve champion was RMF Botero, ridden by Monica Algarra and owned by Rushy Marsh Farm. Algarra and RMF Botero were fourth, first, and fourth over fences for the division.
Nevada, known in the barn as “Toby,” is leased by Clark Stoney from owner Bruce Duchossois. Havens Schatt trains the fourteen-year-old Hanoverian gelding. “He’s just a really good guy. He’s the little engine that could. He is an awesome horse and Bruce is so nice to let me ride him,” Clark Stoney expressed. “I’m very lucky. I quit riding for a couple years after having my son and Bruce encouraged me to come to Florida to ride Toby. We’ve been having a great time ever since.”
Nevada and Caroline Clark Stoney. Photo © Anne Gittins Photography.
Clark Stoney and Toby have been competing together since the start of the 2013 FTI WEF and she enjoys every minute in the saddle with the lovable bay. “He’s very straight-forward. You know he’s going to do his job every time you get on him. He’s just a lot of fun,” Clark Stoney described.
“He suits the way I like to ride. He’s really well-balanced and I don’t like to have to ride a horse forward a lot, so he just suits me,” she continued.
Clark Stoney described Toby’s technically correct jumping style and handsome looks as what help him get noticed in the ring. “He’s got great expression. He’s got great big eyes and he’s a nice horse to look at. He’s really good with his front end and he’s square over the jumps,” Clark Stoney commented.
Toby is equally irresistible in the barn as he is in the ring. “He is a big ham! He will hear me outside the barn and wheel around in his stall and stick his head out. I think I’m just the lady with the big orange sticks, basically,” Clark Stoney laughed. “But he’s got a great personality and he’s wonderful to work around. He’s just a great guy.”
Clark Stoney is incredibly grateful for Duchossois’ generosity and trainer Schatt’s hard work, but is especially appreciative of the irreplaceable help she has from Javier Ramirez, Toby’s groom.
“Javier takes amazing care of Toby. He wants to win too and is very competitive. He wanted to stay at the ring with Toby since we knew we might get champion. He is just a wonderful guy and I could not do it without him,” Clark Stoney emphasized.
Correction: Thursday’s hunter coverage of the Perfect Products Pre-Green Level 1 Hunters mistakenly identified Debbie Stevens as the owner of division champion Kaepernick. Kaepernick is owned by Debbie Perkins.
Week twelve of the FTI WEF, presented by title sponsor FTI Consulting, continues Saturday with the THIS National Children’s Medal hosted in Ring 11 of the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. Round one of the $50,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby will also be held Saturday in the E.R. Mische Grand Hunter Ring. The $33,000 Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic and $500,000 FTI Consulting Finale Grand Prix CSI 5* will be featured in the International Arena. For full results, please visit www.showgroundslive.com.
Photo Credit: Photos © Sportfot, An Official Photographer of the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival, us.sportfot.com, and Anne Gittins Photography, An Official Photographer of the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival, www.annegittins.com. These photos may be used only in relation to this press release and must include photo credit.