Wellington, FL – February 12, 2005 – Yann Candele and Tyra topped a field of 45 starters to win the $20,000 1.50m Classic Saturday afternoon under sunny skies and cool temperatures at the 2005 Winter Equestrian Festival at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club in Wellington, Florida.

Table II, Sec 2 (a), Time First Jump-Off was the scoring format and the challenging course was designed by Great Britain’s Robert Ellis.

Only five competitors navigated Ellis’ first round course without penalties. Three double combinations, two of which comprised the final line coming home, accounted for a majority of the faults. Another problem spot was the huge triple bar on a short distance to a very tall vertical midway through the course. Two additional riders did manage to cruise home without jumping penalties but exceeded the allotted time and were assessed time faults. 14 competitors had one rail down and 13 riders pulled poles at two fences.

The five that would challenge for the title included 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist, Beezie Madden, 1984 Olympic Double Gold Medalist Joe Fargis, France’s Yann Candele, Darragh Kerins of Ireland and Judy Garofalo.

Friday’s Acorn Hill Speed Challenge winner, Darragh Kerins, was the trailblazer in the first round and returned first for the timed tiebreaker. Up on Maggie Ferguson’s VDL Lotus Excell, Kerins had one knockdown in the jump-off for four faults and crossed the finish line in 46.679 seconds.

Judy Garofalo and Harlem De Mescam, owned by Cathy Garofalo, were next in the jump-off. Garofalo sailed across the finish line in 44.382 seconds but pulled two rails on the speed course for an eight fault penalty.

Yann Candele on Ashland Stable’s Tyra returned to the ring third. Candele put in a masterful performance, producing the first clear ride in the jump-off and the fastest time as well. Candele flew to the finish in 43.239 seconds.

Joe Fargis and Caucalis, owned by Frederick Graham, were next to challenge. Fargis was clear but not quite fast enough, falling just short of the target time by 9/10ths of a second. Fargis finished in 44.196 seconds.

Beezie Madden aboard Authentic, owned by Team Authentic, was the last to go. Three jumps into the tiebreaker it was apparent that Madden was just warming up for events to come. The Olympic duo wound up with a clear ride but in a time of 45.909 seconds to finish in third place.

Candele was pleased with today’s effort. “My strategy in the jump off was to be efficient but not too crazy,” said a smiling Candele. “I just did the number of strides I was supposed to, not leaving any out and everything went right today.”

Candele pointed out that he is pleased with the progress shown by Tyra. “I’m very happy because this mare is just starting at this level,” he said. “She’s starting to do the bigger grand prix classes and she’s jumping so beautifully.”

For Madden, it was a maintenance ride. “Next week, we’re doing the Sunday World Cup class and we wanted to get him out in the ring,” explained Madden. “Because the hunters are in the big ring next week, the Thursday WEF Challenge is in the DeNemethy ring and he doesn’t need to go there,” she said.

Candele said that he breathed a sigh of relief when it was apparent that Beezie wasn’t going for the win. “It was good to see that Beezie was just working her Olympic horse,” laughed Candele. “So that helped me out a lot.”

“It was pretty big today,” Candele said. “Three weeks into the tournament, three different course designers, three different styles. I thought the combinations were pretty scopey, but with three doubles and no triples, today was ok,” he said.

The Winter Equestrian Festival’s Sunday afternoon feature is the $50,000 Kilkenny/ICH Internationale Cup CSI 3* at 2pm. It’s the first American Grand Prix Association(AGA) Grand Prix for the Wellington season.

Official Results - #1001 - $20,000 1.50m Classic – Table II Sec 2(a) – 2-12-05 – Internationale Arena

• 1 – Tyra, Yann Candele – 0-0/43.239
• 2 – Caucalis, Joe Fargis – 0-0/44.196
• 3 – Authentic, Beezie Madden – 0-0/45.909
• 4 – VDL Lotus Excell, Darragh Kerins – 0-4/46.679
• 5 – Harlem De Mescam, Judy Garofalo -0-8/44.382
• 6 – Game Boy, Anne Kursinski – 1/80.468
• 7 – Landdame, Eduardo Salas – 2/81.564
• 8 – Cataro Ask, Simon Nizri – 4/72.018
• 9 – Kassidy, Lisa Jacquin – 4/74.110
• 10 – Youp, Leslie Howard – 4/74.467
• 11 – Gran Lu, Ben Rosichan – 4/74.828
• 12 –Allegiance, Laura Kraut – 4/74.848

PHOTO CREDIT: Tyra and Yann Candele win $20,000 1.50m Classic. Photo by Randi Muster.