 |
| |
|
Georgina Bloomberg and Nadia Outdistance Beezie Madden and Judgement for Ariat Challenge Cup Win at the 2005 Winter Equestrian Festival
The CSIO United States - CN Finale, presented by Canadian National Railroad, is the final week of competition in Wellington before the Winter Equestrian Festival moves on to Florida’s West Coast for two weeks of action at the Bob Thomas Equestrian Center at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa. The grand finale is the America’s richest show jumping event, the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational at Raymond James Stadium, at 7pm on Saturday, April 2, 2005. The Wednesday rain kept the Internationale Arena closed to competition on Thursday in preparation for Friday night’s Samsung Nations Cup. Teams from around the world have converged on Wellington for Friday night’s showcase of international show jumping stars. Teams from Great Britain, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Ireland, Venezuela and Argentina will join the defending champions from Canada and the host team from the United States to determine the 2005 Samsung Nations Cup winner. The all weather surface at the DeNemethy Arena played host to all of Thursday’s major show jumping action including the featured event, the $25,000 Ariat WEF Challenge Cup Series, Round Seven CSIO. The course designer for the CSIO-United States-CN Finale is Jose “Pepe” Gamarra of La Paz, Bolivia. Scoring for today’s $25,000 WEF Challenge Cup Series event was under FEI Article 238.2.2, Time First Jump-Off. USEF National Level. There were forty-nine starters in today’s 2:30 p.m. feature. Gamarra’s challenging first round test combined with a tight time allowed saw only eight riders negotiate the course fault free and qualify for the jump-off. An additional five riders cleared all the jumps but succumbed to the time constraints, finishing with one time fault each. Ten competitors had one knockdown, but only four of those ten finished within the time allowed. There were twenty two competitors with eight faults or more. Markus Beerbaum of Germany, with two chances in the jump-off, returned first for the tiebreaker with Constantin 24, owned by Mr. and Mrs.. Bertram Firestone. A smooth and efficient clean ride set the pace for the jump-off as Beerbaum crossed the finish line fault free in 42.93 seconds. The red hot Laura Kraut, WEF’s most successful rider for 2005, was next to challenge. Aboard Allegiance, owned by Pin Oak Farm, Kraut knocked 1.71 seconds off of Beerbaum’s time but pulled a rail coming home and finished with four faults in 41.22 seconds. Laura Chapot, also having a tremendous Florida tour, was up next on her own mount, Little Big Man. Beerbaum’s lead disintegrated as Chapot toured the jump-off course without penalty and flashed across the finish line in 41.46 seconds to take over the top spot with four to go. Ellen Whitaker of Great Britain, riding AK Kanselier, owned by Amaro and Whitaker Sporthorses followed Chapot. Whitaker had a knockdown over the speed course and finished with four faults and a time of 41.89 seconds. The first of three remaining competitors for the encounter against the clock was LeMans 8, owned by the Hyperion Farm. This was the second ride for Markus Beerbaum of Germany. On his second tour Beerbaum shaved 2/10ths of a second off of the time posted by Chapot and Little Big Man to take over the lead with two to go. Beerbaum’s finish time was 41.26 seconds. Judgement, from the Iron Spring Farm and US Olympic Silver Medalist Beezie Madden joined the fray next. Madden made all the right moves as she galloped around the twists and turns of the speed course breaking the beams at the finish line in a new top time of 41.06 seconds, 2/10ths of a second faster that Beerbaum. The last to go in the WEF Challenge Cup jump-off was Georgina Bloomberg with Nadia, owned by the Gotham Enterprises. Bloomberg was truly amazing. Accelerating through the start and then never letting up, Bloomberg made all of the inside cuts and flew through the finish. The scoreboard flashed up an incredible finish time of 39.55 seconds, a time 1.51 seconds faster than Madden’s. As it turns out, one of those inside cuts was a last minute decision by Bloomberg. “I was actually supposed to go around the orange vertical going around to the last line. I’m really good at doing what my trainer tells me not to do,” laughed Bloomberg. “I wasn’t really planning on it but I went inside at the last second and maybe it was fate, I don’t know, but I got away with it. I was either going around and leaving out a stride or cutting inside and adding a stride. It was a better call for her because she gets a little strung out in the jump-off.” Today’s win with Nadia was particularly pleasing for Bloomberg. “I bought her three years ago in Florida as a six year old. She’s the first horse that I got as a young horse and have been able to bring along to maturity, so when she goes well it means a lot more to me than another horse.” Bloomberg’s shot at a spot on the roster for the Budweiser American Invitational got a boost today as well. Bloomberg, who had $7,456 in prize money coming in, doubled it today with the Challenge Cup’s first place prize of $7500. “It was a very important win for me today,” she said. “I’ve been on the bubble for a while now and was close to not making the cut, but today’s win should put me up there far enough that I won’t have to worry about that the rest of the way.” For second place finisher Madden, she knew she had left the door open for Bloomberg. “I was a little slow after the liverpool going around the turn to fence number nine, but I think I was pretty fast everywhere else. He’s a horse with a big and long slow stride,” Madden detailed, “so if I have one spot on the course like that where I’m just a little slow, I leave the door open for someone else to walk through and beat me.” Official Results - $25,000 Ariat WEF Challenge Cup Series, Round Seven – FEI 238.2.2 – 03-10-05 - DeNemethy Arena
PHOTO CREDIT: Georgina Bloomberg and Nadia win $25,000 WEF Challenge Cup Series, Round VII. 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 10, 2005 – Sunshine and blue skies greeted competitors
and spectators on Thursday at the 2005 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF)
at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club in Wellington, Florida. The beautiful
conditions were certainly welcomed following a record rainfall on Wednesday
that caused the cancellation of most of the schedule. 
