Wellington, FL – January 19, 2011 – The 2011 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) started its second of 12 weeks of competition today. In the main International Arena, Charlie Jayne of Elgin, IL, rode Manneken du Coty for Pony Lane Farm to victory in the $8,000 G&C Farm 1.45m Jumper class.

The second week of the FTI WEF continues through Sunday, January 23. The 2011 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival has 12 weeks of competition through April 3, 2011, and they will be awarding more than $6 million in prize money through the circuit. The highlight jumper class is Saturday night’s $40,000 Equine Couture/Tuff Rider Grand Prix, CSI 2* at 7 p.m.

This week’s course designer in the International Arena is Luc Musette of Belgium. Nineteen entries contested the Time First Round course, and six were able to find the path to a clear round. Going third in the order were Jayne and Manneken du Coty. They were clear in 58.858 seconds to take the lead, and couldn’t be caught through the rest of the class.

Mario Deslauriers (USA) and Whistler, owned by Jane Clark, finished second with no faults in 59.363 seconds, while Ben Maher (GBR) was third on his horse Triple X 111. Maher posted a time of 64.044 seconds.

Trainer Alex Jayne brought Manneken du Coty, an 11-year-old Selle Francais gelding by Darco x Quidam de Revel, in for the presentation and spoke about the new addition.

Alex Jayne with Manneken du Coty, ringmaster Cliff Haines,
and G&C Farm representative Luis Miguel Martinez

“We got this horse in Syracuse last year. Harrie Smolders brought him over as a speed horse.  When he saw the horse in Europe, he said, ‘I’m was going to buy it and bring it over to the country and it’ll be the best junior jumper you’ve ever seen.’ We loved it,” Alex Jayne explained.

The horse was purchased as a junior jumper horse for Madeline Thatcher of Pony Lane Farm, and they placed second last week in their debut class together. The gelding has shown with Charlie Jayne in two pre-WEF circuit prix classes and won one there as well.

“He is really well-bred, and he came from a good home in Europe,” Alex Jayne said. “We’re excited to have him. Maddie did the junior jumpers last year and rode Kinda Blue. We were looking for a replacement for him, so hopefully this is the horse.”

Although this was the opening class of the week, Charlie and Manneken du Coty were not just practicing. Alex noted, “We went in for speed. This horse is experienced, so we went in thinking we were going to win. The course was great.”

Manneken du Coty and Charlie Jayne

Week two of the 2011 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival continues tomorrow with the $31,000 WEF Challenge Cup Round 2 in the International Arena at 1 p.m.

For full results please visit www.showgroundslive.com. For more information, visit www.equestriansport.com.

Final Results: $8,000 G&C Farm 1.45m Jumpers
1  MANNEKEN DU COTY CHARLIE JAYNE    PONY LANE FARM: 0/58.858
2  WHISTLER        MARIO DESLAURIERS    JANE CLARK: 0/59.363
3  TRIPLE X 111    BEN MAHER    BEN MAHER: 0/64.044
4  HH OKLAND       QUENTIN JUDGE    DOUBLE H FARM: 0/64.305
5  VIGGO           BETH UNDERHILL        BETH UNDERHILL: 0/65.771
6  VANDAVID        CATHERINE PASMORE    PASMORE STABLES: 0/68.165
7  AZZARO VAN’T HAGENHOF YANN CANDELE SUSAN GRANGE: 2/73.705
8  PJOTTER VAN DE ZONNEHOEVE MCLAIN WARD LOUISBURG FARM: 3/74.536
9  TSARIN          LAURA CHAPOT        LAURA & MARY CHAPOT: 4/60.336
10 OBILIX 148      ENRIQUE GONZALEZ    ENRIQUE GONZALEZ: 4/61.568
11 ALBERTO 11      NICK SKELTON        BEVERLY WIDDOWSON: 4/63.288
12 APEROL 4        ENRIQUE GONZALEZ    ENRIQUE GONZALEZ: 4/67.157

Photo Credit: Charlie Jayne and Manneken du Coty won the $8,000 G&C Farm 1.45m Jumpers during the second week of the 2011 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival. Photo © Sportfot, Official Sport Photographer of the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival, www.sportfot.com. This photo may be used free of charge only in relation to this press release. For high resolution images, please send a request to info@jenniferwoodmedia.com.

The 2011 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival has 12 weeks of top competition running from January 12 through April 3. 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 $6 million in prize money will be awarded.

WEF is proud to be supported by their title sponsor, FTI Consulting, Inc. FTI Consulting, Inc. is a global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations protect and enhance enterprise value in an increasingly complex legal, regulatory and economic environment. With more than 3,600 employees located in most major business centers in the world, they work closely with clients every day to anticipate, illuminate, and overcome complex business challenges in areas such as investigations, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory issues, reputation management and restructuring. For more information, please visit www.fticonsulting.com.

Please visit www.equestriansport.com or call 561-793-5867 for more information.