Posted February 10, 2006

One-Two Finish for Canadians as Chris Pratt Squeaks Past Eric Lamaze by 5/100ths for $25,000 WEF Challenge Cup Win

Wellington, FL – February 9, 2006 – The third $25,000 WEF Challenge Cup of the young show jumping season produced the second largest jump-off field in Winter Equestrian Festival history on Thursday, and saw the red hot Canadian contingent add yet another win to their growing list of victories on the 2006 winter tour.

It was the second largest starting field in WEF Challenge Cup history as eighty-four competitors went to the post in Thursday’s 1p.m. main event. Scoring was FEI Art. 238.2.2, Time First Jump-Off. Robert J. Ellis of Great Britain is this week’s Course Designer. The afternoon marathon of show jumping action took nearly five hours to complete.

Twenty-three horse and rider combinations negotiated the first round track fault free, creating the second largest jump-off field since 1992 in Tampa when twenty-four riders advanced to the tiebreaker. Two riders had one time fault in the first round while an additional twenty-one duos had a single knockdown.

Beezie Madden returned first for the jump-off and set the pace with Abigail Wexner’s Desilvio. Madden tripped the timers in 36.95 seconds. Her lead however, only lasted until Eric Lamaze and Hickstead, owned by Torrey Pines Stable, returned two horses later. Lamaze managed to slice 1.66 seconds off of Madden’s time to gain the lead in 35.29 seconds.

There wasn’t another serious challenger until twelve horses later when Great Britain’s Nick Skelton and Lisa Hales’ Russel, riding out of the sixteenth spot in the jump-off order, came oh so close. Skelton, who just arrived in Wellington this week, flew through the finish in 35.88 seconds, just 5/10ths of a second shy of Lamaze’s leading time.

Lamaze lost the lead to fellow Canadian Chris Pratt and Susan Grange’s Rivendell, riding twenty-first in the twenty-three horse jump-off field. Pratt left out a stride from one to two and that secured the victory as he clocked in at 35.24 seconds, a mere 5/100ths of a second faster than Hickstead and Lamaze. “I know his horse is faster across the ground and faster in the air, so I think I got him doing the seven strides from one to two,” Pratt detailed following his win. “I watched Beezie Madden do the seven, so I knew it could be done. That’s where I think I got ahead, and then I took a shot to the second last jump and he handled that just fine, so I think that was part of it as well.”

“Anytime you’ve got a class with that many in the jump-off ,you know it’s going to be a fast, fast paced jump-off,” Pratt explained. “I’ve grown up with Eric Lamaze and I know he’s one of the fastest riders in the world. I was just chasing his time from the beginning. I think I was just a little bit faster between the first two jumps, and that’s exactly where it was won.”

Pratt talked about today’s huge win over a huge starting field of international stars. “This is certainly my biggest win in Palm Beach,” said a beaming Pratt. “I’ve been coming here for a lot of years, under a lot of different circumstances, either with a business of my own or riding for different professionals. This is a big milestone for me, to be at the top of the international field like this, at least for today,” he said with a smile.

Lamaze knew he was fast. He didn’t know if he was fast enough. “There are so many good riders and good horses. To be honest, I didn’t count how many strides I did from one to two,” Lamaze said. “But, he’s a bit of a fast horse and sometime if you concentrate on that too much you can get carried away, so I just feel my way around the course with him. It felt fast, but you never know with so many behind you,” he related. “I thought I was definitely fast enough to get a very good prize today.”

“Last Sunday was his first grand prix of the season and I felt he probably needed one more class to be ready,” Lamaze went on to say. “And that was this class today so I’m really looking forward to Sunday with him.”

The amazing success of the Canadian squad continues and Pratt spoke of it following his victory. “We’ve got a great group of horse and a great group of owners right now in Canada,” said Pratt. “It’s been slowly building the last couple of years, and we’ve got a great bunch of riders that can pilot them around there. I really think we’re on a serious upward swing with the Canadian team as far as international results go. We’ve got some great depth of horses. There are six or eight people that are well mounted and could represent Canada at anytime, so I’m excited.” said Pratt.

“Like Chris said, we’ve got a strong field of Canadians that this year, have come for the whole circuit,” agreed Lamaze. “In the past, many riders only came for a few weeks but this year with everyone here it is really showing up in good Canadian results. It’s all gearing up towards that Nations’ Cup which we won once and would like to win again this year.” And he added with a smile, “It’s a World Championship year and this is as strong a Canadian team as I’ve ever seen or been a part of. When you compete at this level, you’re only as good as what you ride. It all comes down to horses. It takes years to bring riders and a good team of horses and owners together, especially in Canada, and it’s all coming together at the right time. I think there are some good things to come.”

When asked if maybe Captain Canada, nine time Olympian Ian Millar could now retire, both Lamaze and Pratt laughed and said, “He could have retired a couple of years ago, really. We can’t wait to grab that spot on the team! He’s been there a long time.”

Today’s Round Three of the $25,000 WEF Challenge Cup Series, the nine week long series of Thursday grand prix events, is major money qualifier for the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, are is also a qualifying event for the all new $200,000 FTI Rider Challenge, a rider bonus pool of $200,000. Riders accumulate points from both their performances in the Thursday WEF Challenge classes and Sunday Grand Prix events. The rider with the most points on March 12 will be awarded $100,000. Second place will be given $50,000, third place will receive $30,000, and $20,000 will be given to fourth place. FTI Consulting of Annapolis, MD, is sponsoring the $200,000 FTI Rider Challenge.

Upcoming highlights this week include tomorrow’s Acorn Hill 1.40m Speed Challenge, Saturday’s $20,000 1.50m Classic, and the main event on Sunday, the $60,000 Kilkenny/ICH Internationale Cup, CSI 3*(AGA).

Results -$25,000 Kilkenny/ICH WEF Challenge Cup Round III Internationale Arena- 2-09-06-FEI Art.238.2.2

• 1 817 CHRIS PRATT CAN RIVENDELL 0.00 77.82 0.00 35.24 $7500 SUSAN GRANGE
• 2 1799 ERIC LAMAZE CAN HICKSTEAD 0.00 82.66 0.00 35.29 $5500 TORREY PINES/ASHLAND
• 3 3653 NICK SKELTON GBR RUSSEL 0.00 83.04 0.00 35.88 $3250 LISA HALES
• 4 2502 BEEZIE MADDEN USA DESILVIO 0.00 80.87 0.00 36.95 $2000 ABIGAIL S. WEXNER
• 5 863 GEORGINA BLOOMBERG USA RIVIERA 0.00 79.78 0.00 39.14 $1500 GOTHAM ENTERPRIZES
• 6 1816 ERIC LAMAZE CAN RONALDO 0.00 83.20 0.00 39.53 $1250 ASHLAND STABLES
• 7 1291 NONA GARSON USA LANGUSTER 0.00 83.78 0.00 39.94 $1000 RYAN AUTOMOTIVE
• 8 2519 MAC CONE CAN MELINDA 0.00 80.15 0.00 40.16 $750 SOUTHERN WAYS
• 9 2254 CANDICE KING USA CALISKAN 0.00 82.59 0.00 40.76 $750 LOUISBURG FARM
• 10 3301 LUCIANA DINIZ BRA MEAUTRY'S LOCARNO 0.00 83.02 4.00 35.90 $500 LUCIANA DINIZ
• 11 1533 LAURA KRAUT USA ANTHEM 0.00 79.65 4.00 36.02 $500 SUMMIT SYNDICATE
• 12 137 MARGIE ENGLE USA QUERVO GOLD 0.00 81.35 4.00 36.94 $500 WYNDHURST STABLES
• 13 2286 MARIO DESLAURIERS CAN GRAF LANDO 0.00 82.66 4.00 38.91 $500 MARIO DESLAURIERS
• 14 2265 ALISON FIRESTONE USA SECRET LOVE 0.00 80.38 4.00 38.96 $500 BERTRAM FIRESTONE
• 15 1869 SCHUYLER RILEY USA OPUS SEPT 0.00 82.59 4.00 39.49 $500 SOUTH BEACH STABLE
• 16 2368 PAIGE JOHNSON USA KADENA R 0.00 82.73 4.00 39.94 $500 SALAMANDER FARM
• 17 3630 SANTIAGO LAMBRE MEX CAMPINO 0.00 82.92 4.00 45.19 $500 SANTIAGO LAMBRE
• 18 1810 ERIC LAMAZE CAN NARCOTIQUE DE MUZE 11 0.00 81.05 4.00 45.34 $500 ASHLAND STABLES
• 19 2756 TODD MINIKUS USA FLIER 0.00 81.31 4.00 49.43 $500 HARRY R. GILL
• 20 1270 MCLAIN WARD USA GOLDIKA 559 0.00 79.37 8.00 35.34 $500 DOUBLE H FARM
• 21 529 MEGAN LAMAZE USA OLLANDAISE 0.00 75.97 8.00 37.87 STONEY HILL
• 22 1365 KEN BERKLEY USA MAESTRO 0.00 80.01 12.00 37.70 RIVERS EDGE FARM
• 23 3172 FRANKIE CHESLER ORTI CAN VDL NUIT DE POMME 0.00 79.56 elim. SHER AL FARM

PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Pratt and Rivendell win Round Three of $25,000 WEF Challenge Cup Series. Photo by Randi Muster