Eric Lamaze was in the winner’s circle on Friday with a win in the $33,000 G&C Farm 1.45m speed class during week eleven of the 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF). Lamaze and Wang Chung M2S, owned by Morningside Stud and Torrey Pines Stable, beat a field of top horses and riders in the day’s highlight Longines FEI world ranking event. Also showing on Friday, Lillie Keenan was the winner of the 6th Annual George Morris Excellence in Equitation Championship, presented by Alessandro Albanese, and Rachel Boggus won the Ariat National Adult Medal class.
Week eleven, sponsored by Artisan Farms, runs March 20-24 featuring “AA” hunter and CSI 4* jumper competition. Highlights include the $100,000 Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic Final on Saturday night, and the $15,000 Artisan Farms Young Rider Grand Prix, Don Little Masters Classic and $101,000 Pennfield Feeds CSI 4* Grand Prix all held on the derby field at The Stadium at PBIEC on Sunday.
Saturday night’s 1.50m final will be held at 7 p.m., not 8 p.m. as previously stated, due to entries. The 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival features 12 weeks of competition running from January 9-March 31, 2013, and will be awarding almost $7 million in prize money throughout the circuit.
Richard Jeffery of Bournemouth, England, set the course for Friday’s 1.45m class held in the International Arena at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. Thirty entries showed over the one round speed track with ten clear efforts and a winning time of 61.39 seconds for Eric Lamaze and Wang Chung M2S.
Meagan Nusz (USA) and Amalaya Investments’ Vesuvius placed second in 62.38 seconds. Shane Sweetnam (IRL) and Spy Coast Farm LLC’s Cyklon 1083 were third in 63.24 seconds. Nusz also took fourth place honors with Amalaya Investments’ Willow in 64.88 seconds, and Quentin Judge (USA) and Double H Farm’s HH Dark de la Hart were fifth in 65.65 seconds.
Lamaze and Wang Chung M2S, a ten-year-old KWPN stallion by Royal Bravour x Ahorn, have had consistent placings in the 1.45m division throughout the circuit, but kept getting edged out by the closest margins. In week ten’s $33,000 G&C Farm 1.45m speed class they were second and in this week’s $33,000 Spy Coast Farm 1.45m speed on Wednesday they were third. They finally got the win today, and Lamaze spoke about his horse’s skill in these classes.
“It is a great division for him, the 1.45m speed. He is a very good speed horse and he has a lot of experience in Europe doing a lot of speed classes,” Lamaze stated. “I am sort of having fun with it more than anything else.”
“He is a little bit of a cold horse, so you can go fast and he never really gets hot or gets too flat,” Lamaze continued. “He just sort of stays the same, so that is nice to have in a speed horse. He is consistent. You can trust him in the turns, he always tries, and it seems like the more of these speed classes that he does he just keeps improving. He did the Nations Cup, which was maybe a level above what he is comfortable doing, but he did it quite well. Now I am just having a good time showing him in these classes.”
The rider spoke about how Friday’s course played to his advantage with Wang Chung. He explained, “It was a course where you definitely benefitted from a horse that had a big stride because there were not a lot of options. It was a lot of long, straight lines. It was just sort of in front of you, so it was a day that if you had a horse that could leave some strides out then you were definitely a little bit ahead of the game. I did one less stride from one to two, which he was comfortable doing, but a normal strided horse would have been at a disadvantage in that course today.”
Also showing on Friday, McLain Ward and Emma won the $6,000 Spy Coast Farm 1.40m speed class. In the Adequan 5-year-old Young Jumpers, Maarten Huuygens and Mary Chapot’s Robin’s Twist earned victory.
$33,000 G&C Farm 1.45m
1. WANG CHUNG M2S: 2003 KWPN stallion by Royal Bravour x Ahorn
ERIC LAMAZE (CAN), Morningside Stud & Torrey Pines Stable: 0/61.39
2. VESUVIUS: 2002 KWPN gelding by Numero Uno x Expert
MEAGAN NUSZ (USA), Amalaya Investments: 0/62.38
3. CYKLON 1083: 2001 Swedish Warmblood stallion by Cardento x Cortus
SHANE SWEETNAM (IRL), Spy Coast Farm: 0/63.24
4. WILLOW: 2003 KWPN gelding by Guidam x Little Rock
MEAGAN NUSZ (USA), Amalaya Investments: 0/64.88
5. HH DARK DE LA HART: 2003 Belgian Warmblood stallion by Kashmir Van Schuttershof X Nonstop
QUENTIN JUDGE (USA), Double H Farm: 0/65.65
6. AMADORA: 2003 KWPN mare by Chin Chin x Indoctro
BEEZIE MADDEN (USA), Abigail Wexner: 0/65.91
7. VDL DOGAN: 2003 Belgian Warmblood stallion by Chin Chin x Darco
CANDICE KING (USA), Bellissimo, LLC: 0/67.65
8. AVENIR: 2000 BWP gelding by Phin Phin x Flamingo
CHRISTINE MCCREA (USA), Candy Tribble: 0/67.69
9. LA CENTA: 2002 Oldenburg mare by Cento x Silvio I
LAUREN TISBO (USA), Tequestrian Farms, LLC: 0/69.80
10. WANNICK WH: 2003 KWPN stallion by Heartbreaker x Joost
CHRISTINE MCCREA (USA), Candy Tribble: 0/76.83
11. LINES 41: 2002 Westphalian gelding by Larenco x Polydor
ALONSO VALDEZ PRADO (BRA), Alonso Valdez Prado: 4/63.46
12. WHISPER: 2003 KPWN gelding by Zandor Z x Hugo
TAIZO SUGITANI (JPN), TS-Showjumping GmbH: 4/64.65
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