Shulman and Villamoura victorious in Palm Beach Masters Classic

you're listening to an article from horse sport.com. shulman and villamoura victorious in palm beach masters classic by: palm beach masters series / photo by kathy russell photography |. sydney shulman (isr) came into longines fei jumping nations cup™ week csio5*/csi2* at the palm beach masters series® thinking that she’d already won. the appearance marked shulman’s first csio5* competition at the venue, and she arrived hoping only for a positive experience. saturday afternoon, the 25-year-old recorded a memorable victory, riding longtime mount villamoura to the top of the $36,600 csio5* palm beach masters classic. the duo topped an eight-horse jump-off, crossing the timers of alan wade’s (irl) shortened 1.50m track in 36.61 seconds. lucas porter (usa) and hope street took runner-up honors with a 37.18-second time, while rodrigo pessoa (bra) and venice beach were third on 37.91 seconds. advertisement scroll to continue with content “to be even invited for israel here at this show is a big deal,” shulman said. “i’ve never gotten into a five-star here before, so that was the first exciting part, and to finish it off with a win is so cool.”. natural speed, sharp turns, and a strong partnership carried the pair to the top of the leaderboard. shulman and villamoura, an 11-year-old selle francais mare known for her small-but-mighty mentality, have been partnered for more than four years. the pair’s confidence in each other shined through as they made risk-taking look easy with their immediate turning and acceleration on course. “her normal canter is faster than any horse going full-out. just naturally, she’s a speed demon,” shulman said. “i think to the wall [toward the end of the jump-off]—i didn’t count the amount of strides i did over there, but i just felt like i got there on a really sharp angle, enough that it had to be fast enough. she [has a tendency to drift] left, so i was thinking to give myself a little bit of space to the last jump [set on a left-hand turn], but the second she landed [off the fence before], she was looking for the next jump. i just went with her, and it worked out.”. what’s more, a bit of bad luck early in the pair’s day ended up working in their favor. “i actually pulled a shoe in the schooling ring before the first round, so i had to move down to the end of the class. we were waiting, and she’s not really a horse that wants to wait around, so i was [thinking], ‘i hope she doesn’t get too antsy!’” shulman exclaimed. “she kept it together, but then i was just thinking to give her the best ride [i could], because she was a little stressed out. i just [wanted to] make it easy and make it nice for her, which, honestly, she did for me more than i did for her! she’s amazing!”. longines fei jumping nations cup™ week csio5*/csi2* at the palm beach masters series® concludes sunday, feb. 16, with the featured $230,000 csio5* longines fei jumping nations cup™ usa at 1:30pm et. results: $36,600 palm beach masters classic csio5*. 1- sydney shulman (isr), villamoura 0/36.61. 2- lucas porter (usa), hope street 0/37.18. 2- rodrigo pessoa (bra), venice beach 0/37.91. 4- alexandra thornton (gbr), charielle 0/38.30. 5- nicolas pizarro (mex), pia contra 0/39.40. 6- carlos hank guerreiro (mex), h5 market irminka 4/38.12. 7- schuyler riley (usa), quilimbo 4/38.83. 8- amanda derbyshire (gbr), luibanta bh 8/38.63. 9- roberto teran tafur (col), dez’ ooktoff 1 73.98. 10- alexandra thornton (gbr), cornetto k 1 75.49.