Anne Kursinski and Roxana 112 Edge Kevin Babington and Carling King for Win in $60,000 Idle Dice Classic at the 2005 Winter Equestrian Festival

Wellington, Fl – February 20, 2005 – A crowd of 10,876 enthusiastic fans turned out for the fourth Sunday Grand Prix of the 2005 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) season and were rewarded with a fantastic afternoon of show jumping excitement. The $60,000 Idle Dice Classic CSI-W, presented by the Palm Beach Post, brought to a close the Lincoln Florida Classic/WCHR Hunter Spectacular at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club in Wellington, Florida.

Sunday’s main event was the first World Cup qualifying class of the season in Wellington and the third event on the American Grand Prix Association (AGA) tour.

The course was designed by Guilherme Nogueira Jorge of Brazil. Jorge has also been tabbed to design the courses for this year’s Budweiser World Cup in Las Vegas in April. Scoring was under FEI Art 238.1.2, Time First Jump-Off. USEF International Level.

44 starters went to the post for the 2p.m. start on the Internationale Arena field. Twelve horse and rider combinations produced fault free first round efforts to advance to the timed tiebreaker while ten duos came home with four faults. Thirteen competitors had two knockdowns and nine had 12 or more faults over the first round course.

In the jump-off, the first four competitors knocked down fence number 9, the second fence on the course, a tall vertical at the far end of the arena.

Sheila Burke and the Athlone Partner’s Caya held on to the early lead until the halfway mark in the jump-off. She led with the four faults she accumulated at fence 9 and the impressive time of 43.28 seconds. Ireland’s Kevin Babington on the veteran Carling King, owned by the Kindle Hill Farm, produced the first clean ride out of the sixth spot in the order. Babington was clean in 43.88 seconds.

Babington lost the lead when four time Olympian Anne Kursinski joined the fray on Roxana 112, owned by Scott Hakim. Riding ninth in the order Kursinski flat out flew around the timed challenge and flashed across the finish line in 43.32 seconds, edging out Babington by .56 seconds.

Laura Kraut, WEF’s hottest rider and Anthem, from the Summit Syndicate fell victim to fence 9 and finished up in third place with the fastest four fault time of 41.32 seconds.

Kursinski, who last appeared in the Sunday winner’s circle over five years ago, was thrilled to be back. “Roxana was great. Last Sunday was the first really big Grand Prix that I’ve ridden that mare in and she handled that great,” she said. “She’s just so fast and I felt I could let her go fast and I just hoped we could leave all of the jumps up when everyone else was knocking them down. I just finally got lucky, or the others got unlucky; I don’t know,” she chuckled. “She loves to go fast. Even though she’s a German bred, she’s very much a thoroughbred ride. You can really let her gallop to the fences. She’s really an athlete in that sense,” related Kursinski. “But, with the thoroughbred type and being a mare too, it’s a bit of a compromise ride. I can’t tell her everything to do. I trust her and she trusts me.”

Even though they are a fairly new team together, Kursinski knew from the start that she and Roxana were a good match. “August of last year at Southampton was my first show with her, so she’s still relatively new to me, but the minute I got on her we just clicked together. The second class I ever rode her in, we won.”

For second place finisher Kevin Babington, it was a rewarding afternoon. “I was halfway through the group in the jump-off and there was nobody clear when I went in,” Babington explained. “The jump-off really didn’t suit my horse that well. He’s a little difficult off of the right hand turns. There was a right turn to the second jump, a right turn back on the double and then a right turn back on the wall so I knew it wasn’t a class I could go all out in. I had to give him a little time on those right turns, so I was very pleased with the way it worked out,” said Babington. “I knew when I came out of the ring that somebody was definitely going to beat me. You had Anne and Laura (Kraut) following and they’re both very, very fast so I knew I was not going to win, but I was confident of the top three finish.”

Kursinski loved today’s course, especially the jump-off. “The jump-off was great! You had the right number of horses. You really had to run. You had to turn and you had the big tall verticals and at the end of the day, I thought it was great for the crowd and wonderful for the horses.” Babington concurred, “There was a nice flow to the course. I think of the last three weeks, this was the handiest course we’ve seen. I thought it was a good course with plenty of places to get a rail today.”

Fifteen competitors had the final fence on the first round course down today. Babington had an explanation. “I think the last jump, with the liverpool set back from it, is always a difficult jump,” Babington offered. “I think that was a great test by the course designer today,” said Babington. “And, along with that,” Kursinski added, “The last fence was headed right at the in-gate. He used that same fence in the WEF Challenge the other day, and I’m sure we’re going to see that fence, that backwards liverpool, at the World Cup. He loves that jump.”

Kursinski speculated on her chances of being one of the seven East Coast riders that might qualify for the World Cup in Las Vegas in April. “I was a little ways down the list, but sure, if I can work my way up to a qualifying spot, I’d love to get back to the World Cup.”

Babington detailed his April plans, too. “I had 22 points coming in today and said if I got a piece of it today, I would continue going after it and that’s my plan right now. If I don’t qualify for the World Cup in Las Vegas, then I’ll plan for the Budweiser American Invitational in Tampa.”

For veteran campaigner Kursinski, the love of the sport continues to grow. “I’ve got say that I think I love it more than I ever did,” she said. “ You know, the wins, the going to the Olympics, there’s nothing like that, that’s totally different. But, as I get older, I seem to appreciate it so much more. I love all of my horses. I have a nice group of horses and nice owners and I’m still in love with what I do.”

Show Jumping action resumes on Wednesday as the fifth week of competition gets underway at WEF in the Zada Enterprises, LLC Wellington Masters. The prize money increases in the Sunday feature next week with the $75,000 Zada Enterprises Masters Cup Grand Prix, CSI 3* taking center stage.

Official Results #100 - $60,000 Idle Dice Classic CSI-W – AGA - FEI Art. 238 1.2. – 02-20-05 – Internationale Arena

• 1 – Roxanna 112, Anne Kursinski – 0-0/43.32
• 2 – Carling King, Kevin Babington – 0-0/43.88
• 3 – Anthem, Laura Kraut – 0-4/41.32
• 4 – Ilian, Schuyler Riley – 0-4/43.20
• 5 – Caya, Sheila Burke – 0-4/43.28
• 6 – Constantin 24, Markus Beerbaum – 0-4/43.86
• 7 – Vegas, Christine Tribble – 0-4/44.28
• 8 – Casadora, Lauren Hough – 0-4/44.33
• 9 – Authentic, Beezie Madden 0-8/42.26
• 10 – VDL Oscar, Frankie Chesler – 0-8/48.10
• 11 – Verelst Camillo V, Candice King – 0-8/49.20
• 12 – Lorrain Z, Eric Lamaze – 0-12/47.31

PHOTO CREDIT: Anne Kursinski and Roxana 112 Win $60,000 Idle Dice Classic at Winter Equestrian Festival. Photo by Randi Muster.