Wellington, FL – February 15, 2012 – The sixth week of the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival began with hunters taking the main stage in the International Arena. The first championships will be decided tomorrow. In the DeNemethy Ring, Laura Chapot of Neshanic Station, NJ, rode Umberto for Mary Chapot to victory in the $8,000 G&C Farm 1.45m Jumpers.

Week six of the FTI WEF, sponsored by Equine Couture/Tuff Rider will run February 15-19. The week is full of exciting events, including Friday night’s FTI Consulting Great Charity Challenge presented by Fidelity Investments, Saturday night’s USHJA WCHR Hunter Spectacular of Palm Beach, and Sunday’s $50,000 G&C Farm Jumper Derby held at The Stadium. The 2012 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival has 12 weeks of competition that conclude on April 1, 2012, and they will be awarding more than $6 million in prize money through the circuit.


Steve Stephens of Palmetto, FL, is the course designer in the DeNemethy Ring this week, and there were 11 clear rounds over his course out of 21 entries.

Chapot and Umberto, an 2001 KWPN gelding by Celano x Roderik, were the final entry in the ring. They were chasing a time of 62.215 seconds set by Ben Maher (GBR) and Quite Easy 4. They darted through the course and easily lowered the winning time to 60.795 seconds. Third place went to David McPherson (GBR) and Leonitas, who finished in 62.386 seconds.

Laura Chapot and Umberto

Chapot said of her round, “I watched the one that was leading and I thought he was practically unbeatable. I just wanted to go out and do my plan with that horse. Oftentimes he’s much faster than he appears, so I just hoped that I was going to be fast enough because I knew Ben was going to be really hard to catch.”

With Umberto’s efficiency in the air, they were able to do just that. She described, “He’s a lot of fun to ride and he’s very careful. He really enjoys his job and likes to go fast. He’s not very big, but that suits me because I’m not very big either. He’s very efficient. For a little horse, he covers the ground pretty well too.”

Chapot got the ride on Umberto a year ago, and the horse came from Irish rider Cian O’Connor. “He was actually pretty green at the time, so he’d been doing the 1.40m. We’re just trying to start moving up to this division now,” she explained. “He definitely has the ability to do it, he just lacks a little bit of experience. Hopefully he’ll stay at this level now and we’ll keep moving forward.”

Laura Chapot and Umberto with presenter Marion Maybank

G&C Farm is the sponsor of the 1.45m division throughout the 12-week circuit. “I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to have the 1.45m here and I think it’s a very popular division,” Chapot said. “It really serves as a useful tool for getting a horse up to grand prix level. We really appreciate G&C sponsoring the classes and having them available to us.”

The FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival will continue tomorrow with a full schedule of hunter and jumper competition. The highlight classes in the International Arena are the Sanctuary First Year Green Working Hunters and the CWD Performance Hunter 3’6″. Seven hunter divisions will award championship ribbons.

For full results please visit www.showgroundslive.com.

Final Results: $8,000 G&C Farm 1.45m Jumpers Time First Round
1   UMBERTO  LAURA CHAPOT   MARY CHAPOT: 0/60.795 
2   QUITE EASY 4  BEN MAHER   MRS. PHILLIPS: 0/62.215 
3   LEONITAS  DAVID MCPHERSON   DAVID MCPHERSON & GERHARD AND MARION MUTER: 0/62.386 
4   LENNOX LEWIS 2  LESLIE HOWARD   PETER HOWARD: 0/62.789 
5  WISTFUL  ASHLEE BOND   LITTLE VALLEY FARM: 0/64.587 
6   SPIRIT MAGIC  MANUEL ALVAREZ   MANUEL ALVAREZ: 0/65.847 
7   SHOOTING STAR  LAURA CHAPOT   MARY CHAPOT: 0/66.164 
8   UNIQUE IX  TINA FLETCHER   TINA FLETCHER: 0/66.657 
9   SIL  GEOFFREY CASE   GROUP C LLC: 0/68.393 
10   NOLDE  HARDIN TOWELL   HARDIN TOWELL: 0/68.746 
11   CROSSING JORDAN  NICOLAS PIZARRO   NICOLAS PIZARRO: 0/69.808 
12   KEEP IT SIMPLE  HANNAH ISOP  TRACY FREELS: 4/66.567

Photo Credit: Laura Chapot and Umberto won the $8,000 G&C Farm 1.45m Jumpers at the 2012 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival. Photo © Sportfot, Official Sport Photographer of the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival, www.sportfot.com. This photo may be used only in relation to this press release.