Wellington, FL – August 15, 2012 – The horses and riders of G&C Farm had an exceptional two weeks of competition at the Vermont Summer Festival in East Dorset, VT, showing on August 1-12, 2012. Riders Mark Bluman (COL) and Luis Fernando Larrazabal (VEN) showed under the guidance of trainer Helio Pessoa and earned multiple impressive wins in the competitive classes. G&C Farm is based in Wellington, FL, and owned by Gustavo and Carolina Mirabal of Venezuela.
G&C Farm is pleased to announce that they are also the sponsors of the $30,000 G&C Farm Wild Card Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, held on Friday, September 7, in the Strongid C2X Grand Prix Arena at HITS Saugerties. The winner of this class, if not already qualified, will receive an invitation for the Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix.
“We are proud to support show jumping in North America,” said Gustavo Mirabal. “This week of competition at HITS is a great opportunity for G&C Farm to sponsor the sport.”
G&C Farm attended the final two weeks of the six-week Vermont Summer Festival. Showing during week five, the Manchester & the Mountains Horse Show, Bluman and Larrazabal had great success.
Mirabal said, “I’m really proud of Luis Fernando and Mark and their results. They have being doing a great job together! They are both very responsible and professional, and Helio Pessoa has being doing a tremendous job with both of them and with our family too. We are happy to have him helping us not only because he is a fantastic trainer, but he is a great person and is already part of the family. The riders listen to Helio and Rodrigo and that’s very important. They are focused on the job and they are very enthusiastic. G&C is like a big family; everybody is happy and doing their job. That’s the reason that we start winning again, and I know Luis and Mark will rise to the top in the sport.”
Larrazabal won the $10,000 Vineyard Vines Welcome Stake riding G&C Flash and finished second in the $30,000 Manchester & the Mountains Grand Prix aboard G&C Sacramento. Sacramento was also fiin the $10,000 Vineyard Vines Welcome Stake and fifth in the 1.30m Jumpers during the week.
Luis Larrazabal and G&C Flash, photo © David Mullinix
Larrazabal also had a good week with horses G&C Leroy and G&C Lepanto. Leroy won his class in the 1.30m Jumpers and placed seventh in the $5,000 Open Jumper 1.40m. Lepanto had a fourth place finish in the 1.30m Jumpers and earned the eighth place prize in the $5,000 Open Jumper 1.40m.
Bluman finished eighth in the $30,000 Manchester & the Mountains Grand Prix riding G&C Blue. He also rode G&C Rumorosa LS to an eighth place finish in the 1.15m jumpers and finished seventh in the 1.30m Jumpers with G&C Big Brother.
Week six was the Vermont Summer Celebration Horse Show, and Bluman and Larrazabal continued to excel. The pair traded off on the win in the $10,000 Welcome Stake for the week, this time with the win going to Bluman. Bluman won the $10,000 Not Your Daughter’s Jeans Welcome Stake riding G&C Blue.
Mark Bluman and G&C Blue, photo © David Mullinix
Bluman also rode G&C Big Brother and G&C Rumorosa LS to good ribbons for the week.Big Brother placed third in the 1.30m Jumpers and Rumorosa LS had fifth and sixth place finishes after moving up to the 1.20m Jumpers from her 1.15m start the previous week.
Larrazabal had top finishes in the $10,000 Not Your Daughter’s Jeans Welcome Stake as well, finishing fourth with G&C Flash and eighth with G&C Lepanto. Larrazabal and Lepanto then finished out the week with an eleventh place prize in the $50,000 Vermont Summer Celebration Grand Prix.
Bluman and Larrazabal are close friends and have done very well working together. They each remarked on the partnership and acknowledged one another’s help and support.
Bluman stated, “We get as happy as we could be for each other. If Luis wins I get really happy and if I win he gets really happy. We are a team and I think that we are going in the right direction and we are doing such an amazing job together.”
Larrazabal added, “Marky has helped me a lot. Thanks to him this job has been easier for me. We help each other with everything. We do entries together, we add the horses to the horse show, he helps me to ride some horses and I help him. It is easier with him, I can tell you.”
Prior to their success in Vermont, Bluman and Larrazabal had excellent results showing at HITS-On-The-Hudson in Saugerties, NY. During the first week, Larrazabal won the $5,000 Open Jumper Speed class with G&C Leroy and was seventh with G&C Lepanto. Larrazabal was then first and second in the $10,000 Brookledge Open Jumper Classic with G&C Lepanto and G&C Leroy.
Bluman and G&C Blue earned an exciting second place finish in the $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix. Bluman also rode G&C Miltoo to second place in the 1.35m Jumpers.
Wrapping up the last week, Larrazabal and Bluman both showed in the $50,000 Grand Prix at HITS Saugerties. Larrazabal and G&C Flash were seventh, while Bluman and G&C Blue were eleventh.
In addition to the fantastic results of G&C Farm’s young riders, veteran rider and trainer Rodrigo Pessoa had a great showing in London last week while representing his country of Brazil in the 2012 Olympic Games. Pessoa was also the flagbearer for the Brazilian flag at the Opening Ceremonies. Everyone at G&C Farm would like to congratulate Pessoa on his success.
Pessoa and HH Rebozo anchored for Brazil with a four fault round on the first day of team competition to help his team advance to Round 2. The pair finished the first three qualifiers with just 10 faults, which sent them through to the individual finals.
Pessoa also had great results while competing in Chantilly, France prior to the Olympic Games. Pessoa and G&C Atlanta were double clear in the Prix EQUIDA LIFE Six-Year-Old Class there and placed sixth. They also competed at the Horse Festival Valkenswaard on August 11-12 and had just one rail in each of the Six-Seven Year Old classes.
“I want to congratulate Rodrigo for the Olympics,” Mirabal said. “He did a great job. We are looking for new horses for Rodrigo, so that G&C Farm will have a winning presence in Europe. Rodrigo and Atlanta have being doing great and we are going to try qualify her for the FEI World Jumping Championships for Young Horses in Lanaken, Belgium.”
The horses and riders of G&C Farm will show next at the Hampton Classic Horse Show on August 26-September 2, 2012.
For more information on G&C Farm, please visit their website at www.gandcfarm.com, like their page on Facebook or follow them on Twitter.
G&C Farm brings exceptional horses and top jumper riders to the highest levels of competition. Their state-of-the-art, full-service facility is located in Wellington, FL. The vision of G&C Farm is to improve the instruction and training of their top jumper riders and horses in order to seek a place at all high level tournaments and top competitions, including the World Equestrian Games and Olympic Games. G&C Farm sponsors Olympic gold medalist Rodrigo Pessoa, as well as other up-and-coming riders.