Wellington, FL – March 5, 2005—In a round that was so fast it appeared that Hickstead should have been a racecar instead of a horse, Eric Lamaze guided his stallion to the fastest clear of the day. Their time of 37.370 seconds was lightening fast; so fast, that even Eric felt sure he had won the $20,000 1.50m Classic on March 5 at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, FL.

“It’s not often that you can finish a course and get the feeling you won, but when you are on a horse that is that good…” commented Lamaze, a smile on his face from ear to ear. There was no need for Eric to finish that phrase, because for anyone who was watching, it was clear that there wasn’t an inch to be saved or a place to speed up anywhere on their jump-off course.

Seventy-four riders faced this Table II Sec 2a, Time First Jump-Off class on the grassy field in the Internationale Arena where after days of mist, interspersed with downpours, the weather conditions were finally beautiful and sunny. Twelve riders were able to negotiate clear rounds over the first course, allowing them to move on to the jump-off round. Lamaze felt the course did what it needed to do. “To get 12 out of over 70 is good. It educated the young horses, but did not scare them, and it was a challenge for the veterans,” he explained.

Later, Beezie Madden agreed with Lamaze. “It was a very good course. It was difficult to jump, but there wasn’t anything that was too scopey that got anyone into trouble.”

Course designer Dr. Arno Gego is known mostly for building indoor courses and Lamaze felt that influenced the design of this course. “It felt like an indoor course in an outdoor arena. Everything came at you very quickly,” he commented.

Gego’s first course consisted of 13 jumps, with three double combinations asking the horse to make 16 jumping efforts. Before the class began, Gego said that his goal was to have “questions all over the course, not at any one spot.” He did admit though that the “last line will be decisive.”

Gego also wanted to ensure that the public was entertained no matter where they were sitting. “When you have a big place, you must always serve the spectators,” he said in his deep German accent.

Throughout the course, the riders had to take a number of jumps right off the corner. The final line had questions in striding and culminated with 13A-B, a double combination with planks on flat cups. “You use flat cups to avoid risks,” explained Gego, but they were also being used to test the horses and riders right to the very end of the course.

Gego was right on about his course. The rails fell everywhere, with a few hot spots along the way. As he expected, the final line claimed a lot of competitors, as many of those who were clear up to that point ended up having rails down in the last line. That line consisted of #11, which was an ascending oxer and the widest fence on the course, followed by a distance question to fence #12, a square oxer, followed by the final #13A-B combination on flat cups, where the riders had another distance decision to make based on how the previous fences rode.

“Those planks came down so easy you couldn’t breathe on them,” commented Lamaze, who during his jump-off course didn’t even skip a beat to those jumps, throwing everything to the wind and just going for it. “I’d seen just about everyone go and there were no options, it was go as fast as you can,” explained Lamaze. He also added about his nine-year-old Belgian Stallion, “He is just that great of a horse. He’s so careful you feel you can run at anything.”

There were also problems at fences #7 and #8. Both were airy verticals; fence #7 had a simulated liverpool in front of the fence and #8 had one behind. There were many times throughout the class that you could see horses getting distracted by those liverpools, just as they were about to take off from the ground.

In the shortened jump-off course, the plank combination remained as did the Liverpool at #8. When the field of riders returned, they knew they had to be fast but cautious.

First to return was Milona, one of two clear rounds ridden by Laura Kraut. While she went fast setting the time to beat with a clear go in 41.348 seconds, she knew she could be beat saying, “I went very wide.”

The next rider, Gregoire Oberson from Switzerland riding Cartoflex Gazelle, was out of contention when a rail dropped for four faults. Next in the order was Gilbert DeRooch on Obacia JPP. While they sped around the first part of the course, they clearly slowed down for the planks, losing time and finishing clear, but in 41.748 seconds.

Madden, on her Pan American Games horse Conquest II, was next and although their ride was bold and aggressive and her horse easily ate up the ground, they lost time at fence #8, where Beezie later explained she had problems getting the distance right and “there was a bit of a chip.” Even though they took over the lead with their clear go in 40.590 seconds, Beezie was “pretty sure it would be beat.”

Kraut and Joyous followed, but a rail down meant that even though her time of 40.421 seconds was faster than Madden’s, she would be further down in the order.

Robin Sweely and Carlow Clover had a rough go, nailing four rails for 16 faults.

Next was Addison Phillips riding Trezebees, who skated so close over the jumps, not wasting any time in the air, that they just squeaked by Madden’s time by 1/10 of a second. They were clear in a time of 40.411 seconds, in a round that appeared unbeatable.

As more riders tried, none could succeed until Lamaze and Hickstead entered the arena, clearly demonstrating they meant business. With air between his horses legs and the top rails of each of the fences, Lamaze went at a flat out pace, not stopping anywhere to take a breath or to think about the next fence. He left no room for the last rider, Cody Baird and Fit 3, to even think about a possible takeover.

Lamaze recalls the first time he saw the stallion, remembering he “thought the world of him.” Now he has even more confidence saying, “He’s got blood. He’s a real machine. He knows he’s out there to compete.”

This was the fifth 1.50m Classic at WEF. Poleander and Cody Baird won the first Classic on January 29. In Week 2, it was Milona, ridden by Laura Kraut, who earned the first place ribbon. In Week 3, Yann Candele rode Tyra to the win. Week 4 was focused on hunters and no 1.50m class was held. Week 5 was won by Kadena R with Paige Johnson in the irons.

In other competition in the Internationale Arena, Garibaldy, ridden by Federico Fernandez, rode a double clear round to win the $10,000 High Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic. Larry Hollahan and Sky King were the only other combination to negotiate two clear trips, out of the 35 starters. Sky King’s time of 42.916 put them behind Fernandez (41.061). In third was True Love, ridden by Sarah Segal. Although they had a faster time (38.247) in the jump-off, they had one rail down for four faults.

In the $2500 High Junior Jumper Time First Jump-Off, Ratina Z, with Carolyn Kelly in the irons, took home the blue ribbon. With only three clear rounds, all three happening right in a row (11th, 12th and 13th) out of starting field of 20, Kelly was first to jump-off against the clock. Her four faults in a time of 34.599 seconds left the door open for her competition. However, Addison Phillips aboard Trezebees opted not to go in the jump-off, which automatically placed her third. Jerremy, ridden by Natalie Johnson, was the only other combination in the jump-off. They had the time (33.068) but accumulated eight faults, placing them second.

Grand Prix Sunday features a full day of action in eight rings at the nation’s largest and longest running equestrian sporting event. Action starts in the Internationale Arena at 8:00 a.m. and features classes for Junior and Amateur-Owner Jumpers and the $10,000 Senior Jumper Classic. Show jumping’s main event gets underway at 2:00 p.m. The sixth of seven weeks in Wellington concludes with Sunday’s $75,000 Cosequin Florida Open Grand Prix, CSI-W, a member event of the AGA Series of Show Jumping, kicking off at 2pm. .

Official Results #1001 $20,000 1.50m Classic Table II, Sec 2a – 3-5-05 – Internationale Arena

• 1 – Hickstead, Eric Lamaze - 0-0/37.370
• 2 – Trezebees, Addison Phillips – 0-0/40.411
• 3 – Conquest II, Beezie Madden – 0-0/40.590
• 4 – Milona, Laura Kraut – 0-0/41.348
• 5 – Obacia JPP, Gilbert DeRooch – 0-0/41.748
• 6 – Sansierra, Alison Firestone – 0-0/44.628
• 7 – Joyous, Laura Kraut – 0-4/40.421
• 8 – Fit 3, Cody Baird - 0-4/40.681
• 9 – Cartoflex Gazelle, Gregoire Oberson – 0-4/42.668
• 10 – Caucalis, Joe Fargis – 0-4/42.967
• 11- Corafina 4, Aimee Aron – 0-12/42.097
• 12 – Carlow Clover, Robin Sweely – 0-16/41.040

Official Results - #1025H $10,000 High Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic – Table II 2b – 3-5-05 – Internationale Arena

• 1 – Garibaldy, Federico Fernandez -0-0/41.061
• 2 – Sky King, Larry Hollahan -0-0/42.916
• 3 – True Love, Sarah Segal – 0-4/38.247
• 4 – Sparv Oga, Vicky Castegren – 0-4/39.292
• 5 – Houston, Caitlyn Shiels – 0-4/39.575
• 6 – November Rain, Cara Cheska – 0-4/41.630
• 7 – Unique, Megan Lamaze – 0-4/42.153
• 8 – Madonna, Katherine Miracle – 0-4/42.346
• 9 – Alexia, Mieke Bosma – 0-4/44.012
• 10 – Nemo, Meghan Moran – 0-8/56.420
• 11 – Campezino, Lara Gay – 1/70.169
• 12 – Quick Star II Z, Cayce Harrison – 4-63.267

Official Results - #1059H $4725 High Junior Jumpers – Table II 2b – 3-5-05 – Internationale Arena

• 1 – Ratina Z, Carolyn Kelly - 0-4/34.559
• 2 – Jerremy, Natalie Johnson -0-8/33.068
• 3 – Trezebees, Addison Phillips – 0-66.396 (opted not to go in Jump-Off)
• 4 – Bull Runs Apollo Anton, Joshua Vanderveen – 8-62.966
• 5 – Gillehammer, Miasha Fisher – 8-63.027
• 6 – River, Blythe Marano – 8-65.268
• 7 – Sonate S, Brianne Goutal – 8-65.653
• 8 – Cartier, Haylie Jayne – 8-65.840
• 9 – Lorano, Nikko Ritter – 8-66.863
• 10 – Lydia, Carolyn Kelly – 8-67.578
• 11 – Lance, Taryn Nolte – 12-72.902
• 12 – Eliot du Quesnoy, Katherine Breedlove – 12-64.325

PHOTO CREDIT: Eric Lamaze and Hickstead win the $20,000 1.50m Classic. Photo by Randi Muster.