 |
| |
|
Another Hurricane Races Through Wellington as Argentina’s Ramiro Quintana Wins US Open Jumper Championship at Winter Equestrian Festival
Today’s class was a major money qualifier for the 2005 $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational to be held Saturday night, April 2, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. It was also the sixth event on the year long American Grand Prix Association (AGA) tour. Scoring was under FEI Art. 238.2.2, Time First Jump-Off, International Level (1.60m). Today’s course was designed by Jose “Pepe” Gamarra of Wellington, Florida. Forty nine competitors went to the post in the 2pm main event. Gamarra’s test today was demanding and exacting. The course had eighteen jumping efforts including an open water, a double and a triple combination. Of the forty nine starters, only five produced first round clear performances. Seven horse and rider combinations had four faults, while nine had eight faults. Nineteen competitors had ten or more faults and nine were eliminated or elected to retire within the first round of jumping. The biggest challenge on the course was a triple combination that came early. Fences 4a, 4b and 4c accounted for a total of forty-five knockdowns during today’s U.S. Open Jumper Championship. The triple was not the only problem spot, however, as faults were accumulated at every fence on the course except the first and ninth jumps. Kent Farrington and Madison, owned by Alexa Weeks, were the first to master the course, riding out of the eighth spot in the order. Madison led the victory gallop two weeks ago in the Thursday night WEF Challenge Cup class. Seven horses later, Little Big Man, a winner of the Masters Cup during the third week at WEF and ridden by Laura Chapot, produced the second clear go of the day. Turnabout Farm’s Hurricane with Argentinean Ramiro Quintana followed Chapot five horses later in the twenty first spot and added their name to the jump-off roster with the third clear ride of the day. Then there was a gap of twenty horses before France’s Herve Godignon, aboard his own mount, Obelix, came home with a clear go. The final rider to qualify was Ellen Whitaker of Great Britain on the Amaro Whitaker Sporthorses’ AK Locarno 62, riding forty fifth of forty nine in the first round. The jump-off course consisted of nine efforts with the triple combination being reduced to a double. Farrington, as the first clear, was the first to return for the timed tiebreaker. He and Madison were very quick and more importantly clear, to set the pace with four to follow. Farrington crossed the finish line in 41.72 seconds. Laura Chapot and Little Big Man dropped a rail and cruised home in 42.56 seconds. Ramiro Quintana and Hurricane entered the Interantionale Arena next. Quintana was spectacular but as he crossed the center of the arena over 15 and 16, he was dead even with Farrington and Madison. The crowd was on their feet and collectively held their breath as Quintana raced for home. Quintana’s finish time was just fast enough to catch Farrington as he slipped home in 41.51 seconds, on top by a margin of .21 seconds. Godignon had two rails in the jump off, finishing with eight faults in 44.98 seconds and Ellen Whitaker gave Farrington and Quintana a run for their money but fell just shy of the win, breaking the beams in 41.98 seconds. Quintana said the difference was one single stride. “I saw Kent’s round. He’s a very fast rider but I thought I could get him down that one line that was new for the jump off,” Quintana explained. “He added one stride; he did seven strides in there, and I thought I could take advantage of that by doing the six strides in there. My horse has a big step and that’s where I thought I could get him. As it turns out, I just beat him by a fraction of a second, so that was the difference,” he said. Farrington agreed with Quintana’s assessment. “I had to go first, so I put in what I thought was a quick round, but I wanted to go clear to put that pressure on the other riders,” Farrington said. “I thought that I did leave the door open just a bit adding that extra stride before the short double combination. Ramiro’s horse is a really big mover and he’s such a great rider that I thought he might be a threat if he jumped clean. I’m really pleased with Madison,” Farrington added. “She’s just a young horse. This is her first year jumping the big Grand Prix fences and this is her first time in the big time in Florida.” Quintana, who was part of the third place Argentina team in Friday’s Samsung Nation’s Cup, was thrilled with today’s big win. “For sure this is a good win for Argentina, because we don’t get to that many big international shows, because it’s so far from Europe and the United States. I feel great,” he said smiling. “It’s my first win ever in Palm Beach, so it’s a big win for me and it’s a big win for my country.” Quintana credited two professionals for getting him together with Hurricane. “Missy Clark and Joe Fargis arranged for me to get the horse about six months ago. It’s Sarah Willeman’s horse and I’m grateful to her for the ride,” said Quintana. “Hurricane is a very straightforward horse, he’s a very serious horse. There are no secrets to him; you just have to give him a good ride.” Both riders talked about today’s difficult course, especially the triple combination. “The triple was a bit of trouble,” Quintana said. “The first distance was very tight to a very wide Swedish oxer. The horses didn’t jump over the crossed oxer very well, they hung up in the air a bit; that put them in trouble, because it was a very long distance to the third element of the combination. Farrington concurred. “Yeah, I agree,” he said. “The triple came up very early in the course. It was a very short distance from vertical to oxer and then long to the vertical going out. Being a Swedish, I think a lot of horses hung up at B and then had trouble getting out over C.” Quintana pointed out that today’s win was a big step up for him. “I go to Tampa for two weeks and the Budweiser American Invitational. I was worried coming in to today’s class about qualifying for the Invitational,” he said. “I was 22nd on the money qualifying list and was worried that I would get passed by some of those behind me, so I needed another good ribbon. I’ve never done the Invitational, so I’m excited about finally being able to show at the stadium.” Farrington was in better shape money-wise than Quintana, coming in to today’s class. “I was in pretty good shape for the Invitational coming in, she had a nice chunk of money from her win in the WEF Challenge Cup class, but this second place finish today will get us a much better spot in the jumping order for sure,” said Farrington. Quintana’s Nations Cup teammate, Federico Sztylre, who had a serious fall on Friday night, wasn’t in attendance today, but Quintana updated his condition. “We’re very close friends; he’s almost like a brother to me. Right now, he’s better,” Quintana revealed. “He’s out of the hospital, but he’s in bed. He’s got a hairline fracture in his lower back. He’s scheduled to go see a specialist on Monday, but he’s going to be ok. He’ll be out of action for at least six weeks though.” In other jumper action earlier in the day, Sprite and Laura Chapot notched their thirty first win together in speed competitions at the Winter Equestrian Festival. They posted a 1.89 second win over Ramiro Quintana and Labelle in the $5000 1.40m Acorn Hill Farm Speed Challenge CSIO. Chapot crossed the finish line without penalty in 55.10 seconds. Quintana’s time was 56.99 seconds. Mac Cone and Ole finished third in 57.95 seconds. Show Jumping competitors take a week off and will resume competition on Wednesday, March 23, 2005 in Tampa, Florida. In addition to the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational, the final two qualifying events for the 2005 Budweiser World Cup will be contested when the Winter Equestrian Festival resumes. Official Results - #100 - $100,000 CN U.S. Open Jumper Championship CSIO 4* -FEI Art 238.2.2 – 03-13-05 – Internationale Arena
PHOTO CREDIT: Hurricane and Ramiro Quintana of Argentina win the $100,000 CN US Open Jumper Championship. 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 13, 2005 – 10,375 enthusiastic show jumping fans
watched another Hurricane race through Wellington, however, this one
was of the equine variety and the weather couldn’t have been more
spectacular. Hurricane, owned by Turnabout Farm and ridden by Argentina’s
Ramiro Quintana, stormed to victory today in the $100,000 U.S. Open
Jumper Championship CSIO 4* presented by CN, as the curtain came down
on the South Florida leg of the 2005 Winter Equestrian Festival. This
was the final Sunday of show jumping action at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian
Club. After a week’s respite, the tour resumes on Wednesday, March
23, 2005 at the Bob Thomas Equestrian Center at the Florida State Fairgrounds
in Tampa, Florida. 
