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December 1, 2006 Eric Flameng and Roxanne Wow Crowd for Victory in Rolex/USEF National Show Jumping Championship, CSI-W Phase One at 123rd National Horse Show and Family Festival
Today’s course was a Timed First Jump-off format and was designed by Jose Gamarra of Bolivia. The class had a maximum height of 1.60m and offered first place prize money of $15,000. The winner of class also received the Walter B. Devereux Memorial Challenge Trophy, which was donated by Mrs. Ernest Sleddon Bessette, Jr., Mrs. Kris Colvin, and the late Mrs. Walter B. Devereux. The Devereux Perpetual Trophy is awarded to the highest placed international rider, which went to Flameng. Today’s class was the first phase of the Rolex/USEF National Show Jumping Championship and was a qualifier for the 2007 Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping Finals in Las Vegas, NV, in April. The class saw 32 entries, of which seven made it to the shortened speed round. One rider had one time fault in the given 74 second time allowed, and five riders had four faults. There were three retirements and one elimination. Flameng rode first in the order and made the course look smooth as Roxanne powered over the course. He was quickly joined by Olinda and Todd Minikus, who went third. Two rounds later, BCO Olymp and Eliza Shuford joined the list. Just three trips later, Canada’s Frankie Chesler Ortiz and Picolien Zeldenrust made the jump-off. It took another ten trips, but McLain Ward and the dependable Sapphire were clear for the jump-off as well. Another nine trips later, Candice King and Caliskan joined them. The group was rounded out by another Canadian, Mario Deslauriers, who went clear on Naomi. As the first to go in the jump-off, Flameng took a somewhat conservative approach to get a clear round and put pressure on those following him. The almost 18 hand high Roxanne had no problem stretching through the one stride and over fence 4c, which was a wide oxer. They finished clear in a time of 37.92 seconds. Minikus and Olinda were next to attempt and just barely touched the back rail at 4c, causing four faults, but they finished in a speedy time of 35.47 seconds. Shuford and BCO Olymp tried to best Minikus’ time and made a short cut back to the one stride, which left them with four faults at fence 4b. They galloped to the last jump, another wide oxer, and rolled the front rail for a total of eight faults in 36.96 seconds. Ortiz and Picolien Zeldenrust were yet another to fall prey to fence 4c, and had the plank at the oxer of fence seven. A refusal at the final jump gave them twelve jumping faults and seven time faults in 46.94 seconds. When Ward and Sapphire entered the ring, many knew that they might be the pair to beat in this jump-off, but it was another heartbreaking rail at 4c that gave them four faults. Ward raced home in a time of 35.30 seconds, which slotted them into second place. Caliskan and Candice King lost momentum in turning to the one stride and were another to have a rail at the long 4c oxer. Their slower time of 37.95 seconds gave them an eventual fifth place ribbon. The last to challenge Flameng’s clear round was Deslauriers. He made a different turn to the one stride, deciding instead to take a wide turn around the light stand for more room. It was not enough for Naomi, however, and the pair had a rail at the oxer. They finished with four faults in a time of 37.65 seconds. Flameng termed his second win here as “excellent!” and noted that it was his biggest win and the second grand prix win for Roxanne. He did not think his time would hold up, as Roxanne is a large mare and not the fastest across the ground. “Sometimes you have to go first, but nobody likes that,” he said with a grin. “It was nice for me today,” he went on to say. “The course was tough enough. With the lights like that, you never know what will go on exactly. I think my mare wouldn’t like it, but actually she liked it. Her size makes me a bit more confident.” Flameng has been paired with Roxanne for four years and knows her speed limitations. “She’s not a fast mare. I’ve never been fast with her. I just tried to do what was possible to do for me and my mare,” he said. Ward said of Flameng’s ride, “It was the ride I expected. I know his horse very well. She’s a very big, powerful horse. She’s like Sapphire; she’s not the fastest horse to move across the ground. I know Eric is a very smart rider. He did the right thing. To run the horse crazy and have four faults, you put no pressure on anybody. To put in a solid, efficient round and put pressure- we all felt it a little bit. Unfortunately for Todd and I, we had to think about a couple people behind us as well. At that point, you really wanted to put the gauntlet down, so to speak.” Ward made the decision after the first round to remove his spurs, which may have had an effect on his jump-off. “It was a big oxer coming out of a tight combination. It came early in the first round. It was a scope test. I thought other than that, it wasn’t that scopey of a jump-off,” he explained. “One of these days, maybe I’ll stop letting Sapphire down. I took the spur off for the jump-off. She felt like she jumped amazing, but was a little fresh. I hadn’t jumped a fence with her since Syracuse. Normally, she handles that [kind of fence] very well, but when I went to kick her, because it was so early, she just went so high. I think I made a little bit of a tactical error doing that, but she was brilliant again like she always is.” Minikus was another rider that was disappointed in his four faults, but very happy with his mare. He expressed, “I think I cheated Olinda out of a win. She came out of there quite well.” Minikus explained why he thought he had the rail at the out of the one stride, “In a couple of the jump-offs she’s been in, she’s been so aggressive in the combinations that she’s had the front rail. I kind of protected the front rail and didn’t really leg her enough to the back end. She had the lightest rub of all. If you had told me this morning that I’d be third tonight, I wouldn’t believe it.” Minikus feels that Olinda had lots of potential in these types of big grand prix classes for the future. “I think she’s a very quality up and coming mare. I started showing her in August in the grand prix and she’s been very competitive. She’s very green as far as this level of competition, but I’m pretty excited about the winter circuit coming up. She’s a class horse.” Today’s class gave riders points towards qualifying for the World Cup. McLain said he felt “a little anxiety” before today about qualifying, but today’s points put him squarely in the top rankings. Minikus laughed that he did not know where he stood in the list, but that he had plans for his mare. “I’ll be heading to Jacksonville to try and claim some more World Cup points. I think she deserves to go to the World Cup. I’m going to try and get in there,” he said. Today’s class was the first phase of the Rolex/USEF National Show Jumping Championship. The Final Phase of the Rolex/USEF National Show Jumping Championship will offer another $50,000 in prize money and is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. on Sunday, December 3. To determine the champion, points will be awarded to each horse and rider combination according to the following system: The point scale for both Phases will be determined by the number of entries competing in Phase I. The winner will earn two more points than the second placed combination, and the second placed combination will earn one more point than the third. Each placing will subsequently be given a score based on this formula and the order in which they finish the competition. The Rolex/USEF National Show Jumping Champion will be the horse/rider combination who has received the most points combined from Phase One and the Final Phase. In addition, another generous Rider’s Bonus Pool of $25,000 will be awarded to the top two horse and rider combinations that have received the most points in both phases. The champion will win a trophy and $15,000, and the reserve champion wins $10,000. The National Show Jumping Championship is made possible this year by one of the most generous sponsors in equestrian sport. Rolex has partnered with the USEF (formerly the AHSA) to help make equestrians’ dreams come true since 1997. They were the title sponsor of last year’s event as well. The Young Jumper Championship International held their second qualifying class today. Today’s class for each division, combined with Thursday’s class, count cumulatively towards qualification in Sunday’s final and to determine the final’s order of go. The orders of go, with the best rider going last, have been determined for the three age divisions. 1503 - $20,000 YJC 5-YEAR-OLD INTERNATIONAL START ORDER Horse Rider Owner FAULTS TIME
1506 - $20,000 YJC 6-YEAR-OLD INTERNATIONAL START ORDER Horse Rider Owner FAULTS
1508 $30,000 YJC 7&8 Year Old International Start Order (Reverse) Horse Rider Owner SUBTOTAL R2T
Results
of Class 1004 Rolex/USEF National CSI-W
Tomorrow’s jumper schedule at the 123rd National Horse Show and Family Festival includes the NHS Amateur-Owner, Junior and Open Jumper Speed Stakes which will start at 8 a.m. in the Internationale Arena. In the deNemethy Arena, the NHS Children’s Jumper and Palm Beach Daily News Adult Amateur Jumper Speed Classics will start at 10 a.m. Photo Credit: Roxanne and Eric Flameng, winners of the Rolex/USEF National Show Jumping Championship, CSI-W at the 123rd National Horse Show and Family Festival. Photo © 2006 Peter Llewellyn/PMG Pictures. |
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Wellington,
FL – Riding out of the first spot in the order and in the jump-off,
Belgium’s Eric Flameng picked up his second win at the 123rd National
Horse Show and Family Festival at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club.
His second time in the winner’s circle came with the gigantic
mare Roxanne, owned by Floriac, LLC, in the first phase of the Rolex/USEF
National Show Jumping Championship, CSI-W. Flameng also won the opening
speed class on Wednesday afternoon with Mazelle. 
