 |
| |
|
Penelope Slices the Corners for Jeffery Welles to Win the Acorn Hill Farm Speed Challenge at 2005 Winter Equestrian Festival
The class is usually held in the Internationale Arena, but with the rain that fell overnight, the class was moved out of the grass and into the all-weather DeNèmethy Arena. As a result, the 115 starters on the original order were narrowed down to a still large field of 62 horses to face the Leopoldo Palacios designed course. The course had 10 fences with two double combinations. Ultimately, it was fence number nine that was the nucleus of this class. Before the course, Palacios commented that it would be the “skinny at the end with the turn to it,” that would probably catch a lot of riders and he was right. Over 20 horses nailed that fence and added four faults to their score. Just before this fence, riders negotiated fence number eight, an ascending black and white oxer and then had to practically do a complete circle to get to nine, which was a very airy blue and white vertical. There wasn’t a lot of room to circle back to the fence and riders either had to turn short and go for it, or lose time to give themselves a better approach. Those riders who wanted to win the class went for broke and as a result, many of their horses grabbed one or more rails in the process. “When I turned back to the skinny, I was pretty quick,” commented Welles. “She’s a fast horse. There really wasn’t time to worry. The fence caught her by surprise, so she tried hard.” Welles continued on about the mare he’s been riding for seven years and who he says he knows very well. “She’s very careful and a little unorthodox, a bit quirky but a great mare. She’s gutsy and careful.” Welles admitted that “Leaving the skinny up was the hardest part of the course.” While a total of 16 riders were able to negotiate the course with neither jumping nor time faults, it took 11 riders before the first clear round. Jose Rega on Merlin 252 put in what seemed to be a good go in a time of 63.383 seconds. Then Robin Sweely, who was just after Rega on Qurco V’T Merelfest, timed out at 64.354 seconds. Two more rides was Welles on his first mount, Sampras. They put in a face paced ride that took over the lead (57.508). Yet it was Laura Chapot, just two rides after Welles, who would set the time to beat on Three Coins. It took another 24 riders to break their time of 56.629 seconds. And that new record breaking time of 55.488 was set again by Chapot on Sprite, who so far has placed first, second and third in the Acorn Speed Challenge. Ultimately, they would end up fourth in this class. It looked like Sprite would claim back-to-back victories, having placed first just one week earlier, but that feeling was short lived as Welles and Penelope were next to enter the ring. His mare blazed around the course and cut the corners so tight that those behind questioned whether there was any place to make up time … and they were right, as no one could produce a faster time, not even those competitors with rails down. Welles later explained that most of the course was based on a “set number of strides in some of the lines,” and that’s generally what most of the riders had to go for. The key was to “get to the next jump as quickly as you can, because there were a lot of quick horses to go,” said Welles. Eight horses after Welles (who was 41st in the order), it looked like Kent Farrington and Neo just might have a chance, but their time (54.562) was just shy of the time. Then Ramiro Quintana came in on Labelle and went for broke. They blazed between fences and took the corners without a hiccup, stopping the timers in 53.896 seconds, mere fractions behind Welles. They finished second and Farrington and Neo were third. Right behind them were Chapot’s Sprite (for fourth) followed by Three Coins (fifth). “Jeffery didn’t leave any openings to catch him and one stride cost me … I did one extra stride to the skinny,” said Quintana. “I was pretty on it every where else.” Quintana was proud of his mare, who he’s only been riding since the summer, even though she’s a challenge to ride. “She has a lot of temperament. You can’t tell her, you have to ask her, but she’s a good mare, and she’s a winner. It’s very rare to have a rail down.” After Quintana gave the crowd a moment to wonder if he would take over the lead as the 53rd rider to go in the ring, there were no other rides that caused for concern. As a result, the mare that Welles refers to as “gutsy and careful” led the way in this speed class held during the Cosequin Wellington Open week, which runs through March 6. Today’s Acorn Hill Speed Challenge was the sixth of eight classes offered during the Winter Equestrian Festival and is a part of the North American League Open Speed Challenge Series. Concluding the series, the winning horse who has earned the most prize money during WEF will receive the Acorn Hill Farm 1.40m Speed Series Award. The award will be presented during the Budweiser American Invitational on April 2nd. So far in the series, riders have taken turns winning the class. In week 1 (January 26-30), the winner was Antigua RG, ridden by Laura Kraut to a clean round in 55.517 seconds. Second place finisher was Sprite (0/56.569). Week 2 (February 2-6) winner was Pia, ridden by Olympic veteran Beezie Madden to a clear round in 70.111 seconds. This time, Chapot and Sprite were third (0/72.610). Week 3 (February 9-13) winner was Far West, ridden by Darragh Kerins (0/60.073). Week 4 was Hunter week at WEF and no Speed Challenge class was held. Week 5 (February 23-27) was Chapot and Sprite’s turn to take the first place ribbon (O/57.780). The $20,000 1.50m Classic is the Saturday feature at 1:00 p.m. during the 2005 Winter Equestrian Festival. The main event is Sunday’s $75,000 Cosequin Florida Open 3*CSI-W, a member event of the AGA Series of Show Jumping, kicking off at 2pm. Official Results-#1005–$5000 Acorn Hill Speed Challenge-Table II, Sec 1. – 03-4-05-Internationale Arena-NAL
The North American League (NAL) runs a season-long series in six hunter and jumper divisions – Children’s Hunter, Children’s Jumper, Adult Hunter, Adult Jumper, Pony Jumper, and Open Jumper Speed. Each series culminates with a championship final at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in Harrisburg, PA, in October. Riders need not be members of the NAL to compete in any qualifying classes, but only current members earn points toward year-end finals. PHOTO CREDIT: Jeffery Welles and Penelope win Acorn Hill Speed Challenge. Photo by Randi Muster. |
|
|
| Contact Horsesdaily HorsesDaily®, ScoreSource® and PhelpsPhotos® are registered trademarks of Phelps Hathaway Enterprises,Inc. All content under this copyright is the property of PHE, Inc. unless otherwise noted. ©1997-2005 horsesdaily.com All Rights Reserved |
Wellington,
FL – March 4, 2005 – Penelope was a star for Jeffery Welles
when she sliced the corners to take the win in the Acorn Hill Farm Speed
Challenge at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, FL. The 1.40m,
Table II Section 1, Faults and Time in the First Round class produced
a win from Penelope when she sped past the timers in 53.567 seconds
as the fastest clean round of the day. So close, but yet so far, was
Ramiro Quintana and Labelle’s clear go in 53.896 seconds.
