Wellington, FL – April 2, 2010 – The first Junior/Amateur-Owner Zone Team Competition at the 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival was a success tonight. Riders from various zones competed on teams in sections of Low, Medium, and High. The winning team in the High Section was Zone 3&4, composed of Alise Oken, Catherine Pasmore, Paulena Johnson, and Rachel Cline. Zone 2 won the Medium Section, and their team was Katherine Steenberg, Cindy Fuller, Heather Irons, and Cynthia McGrath. The Low Section team winner was Zone 7, with Wilton Porter, Meagan Nusz, Audrey Trimble, and Alexandra Elkins.
The twelfth week of the FTI WEF is sponsored by Lifestyle Lift® and runs through Sunday, April 4, 2010. The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival has 12 weeks of competition that conclude on April 4, 2010, and they will be awarding almost $6 million in prize money through the circuit.
Riders qualified for tonight’s team competition based on their performances in their respective Classics last weekend. The nominated riders chose a Chef d’Equipe for their team, and the class ran in the same format as this year’s Nations Cup. If the team had four riders, they had the possibility of a drop score. All of the teams were welcomed back for a second round. Each division awarded $10,000 in prize money to the three teams.
The divisions, based on height, were High at 1.45m, Medium at 1.35m, and Low at 1.25m. Anthony D’Ambrosio of Red Hook, NY, was the course designer for tonight’s class, which featured a challenging last line with a triple combination down to the final liverpool oxer.
In the first round, the High division went first. The only clear round in that division was Kalvin Dobbs on Ultimate VDL. Dobbs rode for Zone Mixed. In the Medium division, Zone 2 took a commanding lead when they had two clear rounds from Heather Irons on Tarco and Katherine Steenberg on Tres Bien, while Cindy Fuller with Ingaletta had just one time fault. Juliana Fischer helped the Zone 4&5 Mixed team with a clear round. Abigail McArdle and BMC Chifaira and Christina Kelly helped Zone 5 – Team 3 with clear rounds as did Wilton Porter on Pistol (Zone 7) in the Low division.
While there were nine clear trips in round one, that number went up to 15 in the second round. For the winning team of each division, they were clearly ahead of the other two teams. In the High division, Alise Oken (18) of Charlotte, NC, helped her Zone 3&4 team to the win. She rode Canecko Z, a nine-year-old Zangersheide gelding, to four faults in the first round, but scored a clear in the second round.
She said of her young horse, “He’s the sweetest horse. He just bounces over the jumps. They get bigger and he jumps higher.” Oken showed in the North American Junior Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC) last year and felt that the team competition here at WEF was a great chance to gain experience for the championships. “I really like it,” she affirmed. “It’s a great thing to do to get ready for Young Riders in the summer. It was great experience for the riders to learn how to do team competition. We had a lot of fun as a team.” She described the course, “The course rode really well, and I liked it a lot. It was just perfect.”
Oken was part of a solid team with Rachel Cline on The Read Deal (6 faults, 0 faults), Paulena Johnson with Anyway (4,5), and Catherine Pasmore on My Boy (8,0). They finished on 14 total faults for the team.
In the Medium division, the Zone 2 team finished with the strongest scores of the competition. They had only two faults for their final team score. Leading the team was Katherine Steenberg with Tres Bien, who were only one of two double clears.
Steenberg, who is 20 years old and from Westfield, NJ, and Tres Bien, a nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare, have been paired for a year and a half. She said of her horse, “She’s always full of energy and is a lovely, polite, great mare. She’s come a long way since we first got her. This is our first time under the lights and doing a team competition. Maybe we can do her in Welcome Stakes, keep moving up and get up to the grand prix level.”
Steenberg, who trains with Holly Mitten, said that the decision to put together their team was spontaneous. “We threw a team together and decided that we just wanted to have fun. We didn’t care if we won. We never get to go under the lights. It was so awesome, and I’d love to get to do it again next year.”
Of the course, she said, “It was set really nice since none of us have really gone under the lights before. It was hard enough to make it a good competition, but was set well so that we could all feel confident and positive, and ride how we would normally ride for a classic.”
Steenberg was joined by Cindy Fuller and Ingaletta, as well as Heather Irons on Tarco, who both had just one time fault for their two round score. Cindy McGrath and Rugby rounded out the team with 12 faults in the first round and an unfortunate elimination in the second round.
The Low division winning team was Zone 7, led by the double clear score from Wilton Porter on Pistol. Audrey Trimble and Memphis had scores of four and clear, as did Meagan Nusz with Larioso. Alexandra Elkins and Obi Wan Kanobie finished with eight and four. They finished on a team score of eight total faults.
Porter, who is 16 years old, hails from Dallas, TX. He has had Pistol, a 14-year-old Rhinelander gelding, for a year. They have competed in the Low and High Junior Jumpers. Porter said, “Tonight he jumped excellently. I thought it was really fun. I’m glad that they added it this year. It was good experience for the team and good preparation for Young Riders and indoor finals.” This was also Porter’s first team competition, and this makes him want to compete in more classes like this. “There’s a lot of pressure being with the team, but it’s a lot of fun. I’d like to go to Young Riders this year and be successful.” He said other goals include “High Junior Jumper Finals at indoors, and maybe grand prix classes.”
Tomorrow’s schedule features the Suncast 1.50m Classic at 1 p.m. On Sunday, the $20,000 WEF Young Jumper Finals for Five Year Olds, Six Year Olds, and Seven/Eight Year Olds will take place in the International Arena.
The $50,000 Chronicle of the Horse/USHJA International Hunter Derby had its first round of competition this afternoon in the E.R. Mische Grand Hunter Ring. The top 25 will return on Saturday evening to compete in the International Arena following the FTI WEF Circuit Champions Awards, which begin at approximately 6:00 p.m.
The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival has 12 weeks of top competition running from January 13 through April 4. WEF is run by Equestrian Sport Productions, LLC, and Wellington Equestrian Partners and held at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. All 12 shows are “AA” rated and Jumper Rated 6, and more than $5.5 million in prize money will be awarded.
WEF is proud to be supported by their title sponsor, FTI Consulting, Inc. FTI Consulting, Inc. exists to help companies and their stakeholders protect and enhance enterprise value in an increasingly complex economic, legal and regulatory environment. FTI is the trusted advisor entrenched in many of the game-changing events that make headlines, move markets and create business history. For more information, please visit www.fticonsulting.com.
During the 12 weeks of WEF, “Saturday Night Lights” headlines the entertainment each Saturday night where spectators not only enjoy the Grand Prix class, but a street carnival, live music, and numerous dining options with box seats, sports bars, and the famed Tiki Hut for front row fun.
Please visit www.equestriansport.com or call 561-793-5867 for more information.