Richard Spooner Maintains Lead In USEF WEG Trial Standings After Four Trials
Wellington, FL – March 5, 2010 – The full week of show jumping competition continued today with the $75,000 FEI Nations Cup, presented by CN, as the highlight event in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 8,300 spectators. Team Canada came home with the win thanks to their riders: Mac Cone, Yann Candele, Beth Underhill, and Eric Lamaze. In second place was Mexico, and third place went to Ireland.
For the current standings in the USEF WEG Trials, Richard Spooner of Agua Dulce, CA, is leading the way with six faults on Cristallo, owned by Show Jumping Syndicate. Nicole Shahinian-Simpson of Thousand Oaks, CA, on Ilan Ferder’s Tristan is in second with nine faults, while Hillary Dobbs of Sussex, NJ, is third with 11 faults. The winner of today’s $30,000 USEF WEG Trial #4 was Todd Minikus of Loxahatchee, FL, on Pavarotti, owned by Todd Minikus Ltd. They came home the fastest today in the Time First Round format with no faults. Shahinian-Simpson finished second on her other mount, Kilkenny Rindo, owned by Kilkenny Crest, while Spooner finished third on Cristallo.
The eighth week of the FTI WEF is sponsored by CN and runs through Sunday, March 7. 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.
$75,000 FEI Nations Cup, presented by CN
Anthony D’Ambrosio of Red Hook, NY, was the course designer for the $75,000 FEI Nations Cup, presented by CN. There were 11 teams that started in the first round in this order: Brazil, Argentina, the U.S.A., Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, Canada, and New Zealand.
Seven teams chose to return for the second round, and they came back in reverse order. Argentina chose to withdraw and not show in the second round. For the second round, each team had three riders return, and all of their scores counted towards their total score.
Canada’s Chef d’Equipe, Terrance Millar, pointed out, “I think the format that is used here with three riders in the second round and no drop score is a fantastic format for Nations Cups in terms of spectator appeal and excitement. I think it really gives a punch to it. Everybody can understand it, and you know exactly where you stand. Personally, I wish they would adopt that format for all Nations Cups. I think it’s much more modern and what the sport needs.”
The Canadians were fantastic in both rounds of competition. Mac Cone and Ole went in the first round with just four faults and were the drop score as the other three combinations- Yann Candele and Pitareusa, Beth Underhill and Top Gun, and Eric Lamaze and Ronaldo – were all clear.
Lamaze said of his horse, “He felt really good, better the second round than the first round. He was a little bit spooky the first time. It’s a horse that the Fleischhackers and Ashland Farms have owned for quite some time now, so I know him really well. I’ve never ridden him in a Nations Cup before, but it was a great start. All of the Canadian riders and horses were outstanding. It’s a shame that we couldn’t take four riders back because all four really deserved to go back. It wouldn’t matter who came back, it would have been the same job. It’s great for us tonight. It was great sport and a great evening.”
They returned as the final team to go in the second round. Candele and Pitareusa repeated their fault-free performance, while Underhill and Top Gun added just four faults. Lamaze and Ronaldo wrapped up victory when they completed the course with just one time fault. The Canadian team finished on a score of just five faults total.
The Mexican team, led by Chef d’Equipe Norman Dello Joio of the United States, had a very solid showing tonight. They were led by three great performances from Antonio Chedraui and Don Porfirio (5,0 faults), Nicolas Pizarro and Crossing Jordan (4,0), and anchored by Jaime Azcarraga on Celcius (0,4). The Mexican team finished with a 13 fault total score.
“There’s a lot of momentum in Mexico. Everybody seems to be trying to pull together,” said Dello Joio. “We’re looking forward to the next two or three years and keep pulling ourselves up higher. We have a lot of depth in riders and horses and a lot of team spirit at the moment.”
Dello Joio felt that this was a very good opportunity for the Mexican team. He explained, “Mexico doesn’t get the opportunity as much as riders in the U.S., Canada, and Europe to compete in Nations Cups, so it was meaningful. We didn’t want to jump all of our horses that we think are contenders for the WEG because we’re trying to save them and maintain them. But, we also wanted to make a little bit of a statement that we’re here and we’re serious and we’re planning on trying our hardest.”
Team Ireland Equestrian were very pleased with their third place performance, especially considering that Richard Moloney was riding in just his second Nations Cup and it was the inaugural Nations Cup performance for Darragh Kenny. Moloney and Brooke van de Zuuthoeve had five faults in the first round. Team veteran Kevin Babington had nine faults and eight faults with Souvenir, while Darragh Kenny and Obelix finished on four faults for each round. Shane Sweetnam and Rolette also had four faults in both rounds. The Irish finished with 29 faults for third place.
Robert Splaine, the Irish Chef d’Equipe, stated, “It’s great that the USA has become home to some Irish riders. They have wonderful owners and some great horses. I’d like to thank them very much. They did a very good job for us. I was pleased with the results. We enjoyed it, and it was good fun.”
Sweetnam added about the atmosphere at the Nations Cup, “Every year, there seems to be more people, more excitement, and more meaning to this Nations Cup. Every year, it means more to all of these nations here. Nations Cup week is a big week for all of us.”
The United States finished in fourth place with 31 points. Kent Farrington and United posted a clear round in the first round, while Ashlee Bond and Apache had just one time fault in the first round.
Chef d’Equipe George H. Morris stated, “There were some of the best riders in the world, and this is a very important, world-class event. I know ahead of time usually what’s going to happen. Our big focus is the trials, and the timing is off. We need to produce in the Nations Cup League in Europe and at the World Equestrian Games. We want to congratulate Canada yet again.”
Canada’s Chef d’Equipe, Terrance Millar, was thrilled for his team. “We try hard for this event, and it’s in large part the highlight of the winter for us,” he noted. “We have a lot of fans that come down from Canada just for this event. We always try to put our best foot forward. We had four great riders on the field tonight.” I’d just like to make a comment for the atmosphere.
In addition to great competition, an exciting announcement was made for the future of the Nations Cup week. Equestrian Sport Productions CEO Mark Bellissimo said, “We’re very pleased with the outcome this evening. I’d like to thank CN for their continued sponsorship. As you know, they’ve been a great and loyal sponsor for ten years. They’ve helped us both as a facility and as an organization take our sport to the next level.”
He continued, “We have an announcement to make this evening. We’d like to thank CN for all of their support. G&C Farm will be taking over the sponsorship for the Nations Cup week next year and will become a major sponsor for this week as well as the derby week. We’re going to be making some major adjustments to the FEI qualification classes that we’ll have next year. We’ll have four FEI qualifying point classes next year with the help of G&C Farm. We wanted to thank CN for their support and welcome G&C Farm and Gustavo Mirabal.”
Gustavo Mirabal, owner of G&C Farm with his wife Carolina, is a proud supporter of Venezuela, and is now a resident of Wellington, FL. They were the weekly title sponsor during week one of the 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival this year.
Mirabal said, “We are very excited to be here in Wellington and be part of the show. The Nations Cup week is very important for us. We’re very happy to be part of the family, and we’re very happy with the show. We can do a lot of things together. Thank you.”
USEF WEG Trial # 4
Guilherme Jorge of Brazil designed the course for the USEF WEG Trial 4. There were 27 entries in the class, and four were clear. If riders had two mounts in the class, they had to declare which horse would count towards winning prize money in the class results. The first clear was Minikus on Pavarotti, who finished in 80.89 seconds. Shahinian-Simpson and Kilkenny Rindo were clear next in 81.20 seconds. Mario Deslauriers and Urico were clear as well, but they did not count their round towards the class results. Spooner and Cristallo went last in the class and came home clear in 81.27 seconds.
Hillary Dobbs said of her horse, “I’m feeling very good about the way my horse has been jumping. He always rises to the occasion.” She continued, “I feel like I have a good perspective on these five rounds. You can’t get too excited about jumping clear or one time fault, and it’s not the end of the world if you had two down the day before. I feel like it’s one round at a time. There’s one big round left. I’m going to try to ride my best, and I know my horse is going to try his heart out like he always does.”
Shahinian-Simpson was “pleasantly surprised” at how good Tristan has been in the trials. “I’ve been riding him since May, and we went through Spruce Meadows in the summer and got some nice experience,” she recalled. “We’ve been really just bringing him along, gearing toward this year. He’s a very smart horse and very willing and able. He’s really coming into his own and enjoying it.”
Although Minikus has had two clear rounds in the trials, 16 faults on the grass field on Wednesday has put him further behind in the standings. He remarked, “My first trial my horse was very good and actually the second trial he was quite good. The third trial, anybody that can even spell ‘horse’ had to realize that those were riding errors and not jumping errors.”
He added, “I think that’s all good fun and games, but we were supposed to be a little more serious than a list of 15. I really feel at this point in my career that now’s the time that I need to go to the World Equestrian Games, be on the Olympic team. Because of a good little oops over there, I probably took myself out of contention.”
Spooner was very pleased with his horse’s performance today. “I feel great. I’m proud of my horse. He’s been great the whole trials. He helped me out again. At the last jump, I thought I was going to have down, but somehow he got it done.”
He stuck with his plan to go slow and clear, but finished without any time faults. “My plan was to have one time fault today,” Spooner agreed. “I was concerned that I could have had two or three (time faults). I added a few strides, so I knew that the time was a little bit of an issue, but I tried to keep my turns tight back into the lines. I went inside to the oxer across the middle. I had visions of one time fault; I thought I had at least one.”
Spooner said that his plan for the final round on Sunday is to “not screw it up!”
At the conclusion of the Trials, per the USEF Selection Procedures, nine horse/rider combinations will be named to the USEF Long List based on their final overall placing from the USEF Selection Trials for Jumping. There are also up to six places on the long list available at the recommendation of the USEF selectors. Lauren Hough/Quick Study, Laura Kraut/Cedric and McLain Ward/Sapphire have already been named to the USEF Long List. A total of 15 horse/rider combinations will be named on Monday, March 8, 2010.
The CN CSIO week of the 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival continues tomorrow with the $10,000 G&C Farm Speed Stake CSIO and the $25,000 ESP Jumper Stake.
The USEF WEG Trials conclude with the fifth trial, which will run in conjunction with the $150,000 CN U.S. Open Grand Prix, CSIO 4*, on Sunday, March 7, at 1 p.m. All three classes are available for live viewing at: www.universalsports.com/equestrian.
For full results and more information, please visit www.shownet.biz or www.equestriansport.com.
Final Results: $30,000 USEF WEG Selection Trial #4 *for prize money results*
1. PAVAROTTI, TODD MINIKUS, TODD MINIKUS LTD: 0/80.09
2. KILKENNY RINDO, NICOLE SHAHINIAN-SIMPSON, KILKENNY RINDO: 0/81.20
3. CRISTALLO, RICHARD SPOONER, SHOW JUMPING SYNDICATE: 0/81.27
4. ROMANTOVICH TAKE ONE, CHRISTINE MCCREA, CANDY TRIBBLE: 1/83.70
5. QUINCY B, HILLARY DOBBS, HILLARY DOBBS: 2/86.26
6. VICOMTE D, MARIO DESLAURIERS, JANE CLARK: 4/75.66
7. HIDDEN CREEK’S CAMPELLA, MARGIE ENGLE, HIDDEN CREEK FARM: 4/80.46
8. ARMANI, JEFFERY WELLES, ABIGAIL WEXNER & TRITON VENTURES: 4/80.52
9. DANNY BOY, BEEZIE MADDEN, ABIGAIL WEXNER: 4/80.89
10. FLEXIBLE, RICHARD FELLERS, HARRY & MOLLY CHAPMAN: 4/81.02
11. ROTHCHILD, MCLAIN WARD, SAGAMORE FARMS: 4/81.70
12. FIEDI 3, GEORGINA BLOOMBERG, GOTHAM ENTERPRIZES: 5/83.78
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.