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Summer Storm and McLain Ward Blow the Field Away in $5,000 Welcome Stake at CN Wellington Open CSIO 5*, presented by Cosequin
The Welcome Stake is the first class of the “international division” this week. Before today, open jumpers must have declared themselves for either the international division of classes or the national division. The international division of classes include today’s class, the $25,000 WEF Challenge Cup Series Round 7, the $10,000 Speed Stake, the $75,000 FEI Nations Cup presented by CN, the $20,000 1.50m Classic and the $150,000 CN US Open Jumper Championship CSIO presented by Cosequin. The WEF Challenge Cup will be the qualifier for Sunday’s grand prix. Today’s class saw 55 entries, but only three were clear with no jumping or time faults. This week’s courses are designed by Jose “Pepe” Gamarra of Bolivia. The speed round had twelve numbered jumps with 15 jumping efforts. Eight riders had no jumping faults, but had time faults to place them lower in the final ribbons. Many riders were using today’s class as a warm-up for later classes, so there were six retirements on course. “It was a big enough course. It was a little bigger than I expected, actually,” Ward revealed. “I think with the condition of the footing, horses are really struggling. It’s very difficult to turn on the footing right now.” Riding out of the 16th place in the order, McLain Ward and Summer Storm hit a quick pace and never slowed up. Despite a few rubs, Summer Storm left all the jumps up and crossed the timers in a fantastic time of 70.16 seconds. The next challenger to Ward was Eric Flameng and Mazelle, owned by Floriac LLC, who rode out of the 34th spot on the list. Flameng took an outside turn where Ward had gone inside of a jump. Mazelle jumped clean, but was a good nine seconds behind in 79.84 seconds. The vast majority of the rest of the class did not make an effort to catch Ward’s time, especially if they had an early rail. The last rider to make a bid was Laura Bowery on Joseph Dimenna’s Palona, who went 56th in the order. Bowery was quick and clean, but they finished in a time of 77.57 seconds. Ward, who showed Summer Storm a few weeks ago, was very pleased with the win, but was not surprised that most riders chose to go slow. “It is the welcome class and more of a warm-up,” he noted. “It was a nice win. I tried to go pretty neat and on it. As I went, I got a little faster. I had a couple lucky rubs, but we’ll take them.” Ward explained how he got the ride on Summer Storm, “I showed this horse a few weeks ago to help Amy (Momrow, Summer Storm’s usual rider) a little bit with the horse. They were kind enough to lend me the horse this week because I was a little short of horses.” It was a good fit for Ward, who needed a “speed horse” for the competition. “He’s a little bit of an aggressive horse, so I tried not to slow him down too much. I kind of just let him go on his natural rhythm. Certainly, as we got into the course, he kind of made a bid, and I kind of let that allow us to be fast. He’s a naturally fast horse,” he explained. “He’s a nice, wonderful horse. It’s very nice that they let me use him.” Owner Shaine Brooks purchased Summer Storm, a ten-year-old Warmblood gelding, five years ago. Rider Amy Momrow took up the reins three years ago. “Shaine started him as a young horse. He came to us as a little bit of a trouble horse,” Momrow said. “We worked our way up the ranks with him. We’ve had some great moments and some bumps in the road. This is another great moment today.” Both Momrow and Brooks were eager to have Ward ride the big, chestnut horse. “McLain’s helped us out with the horse. He handled the ride today and rode him fabulously for the win. Summer Storm is a naturally fast horse, so it helped. We thought he could be competitive today,” Momrow pointed out. Brooks added with a smile, “I didn’t think anybody was going to beat him. He was just pedal to the metal the whole time. McLain always goes for it, so why not?” Ward plans to show Summer Storm again on Friday afternoon in the Speed Stake class. He will show Sapphire in the Nations’ Cup and the Sunday grand prix, while Larioso will compete in the WEF Challenge Cup and the 1.50m Classic. Veteran rider and Olympic gold medalist Joe Fargis (USA) added two more wins to already impressive 2007 season today. In the first class of the day, the 1.45m Jumpers, Fargis and the venerable Edgar 12 raced to the win in 62.862 seconds over the second place finishers, Darvin Garbo and Henrik Gundersen (DEN). Darvin Garbo posted a time of 65.280 seconds and looked healthy after their slip and fall in the World Cup qualifier grand prix in Jacksonville this past January. After the first class, Fargis beamed, “He’s just a great horse. I have complete faith in him to do the right thing, and he was perfect.” In the second section of the 1.40m Jumpers, Fargis and 17-year-old Diams III posted yet another victory in a speed class. The pair darted around the course and stopped the timers in 57.451 seconds to edge out Molly Ashe (USA) on Concerto, who finished in 59.158 seconds. “What can I say?” Fargis expressed. “Today was my lucky day. Diams is a very fast horse when she’s on, and today she was right on the money.” In the first section of the 1.40m class, the incredibly fast pair of Leslie Howard (USA) and Youp stood in the winner’s circle after 65 entries were unable to catch their clear time of 56.730 seconds. The next closest competitor was Darlene Sandlin (USA) on Holiday, who had a time of 58.148 seconds. The CN Wellington Open CSIO 5*, presented by Cosequin, continues tomorrow with jumper action in four rings. The Internationale Arena will host the national jumpers in a 1.45m class, while the international division will show in the WEF Challenge Cup Round 7, slated to start at 1 p.m. Results of Class 101 Welcome Stake CSIO* FEI Table A, Art 238.2.1 CN Wellington Open CSIO 5* - March 7, 2007 T/A: 80.00
Results of Class 1002 $8,000 1.45m Time First Round, II, Sec 1 -CN Wellington Open CSIO 5* - March 7, 2007 T/A: 79.00
Results of Class 1004A $6,000 1.40m Time First Round, II, Sec 1 - CN Wellington Open CSIO 5* - March 7, 2007 T/A: 72.00
Results of Class 1004B $6,000 1.40m Time First Round, II, Sec 1 - CN Wellington Open CSIO 5* - March 7, 2007 T/A: 69.00
Photo Credit: McLain Ward (USA) and Summer Storm, winners of the $5,000 Welcome Stake at the CN Wellington Open CSIO 5*, presented by Cosequin. Photo © 2007 Peter Llewellyn/PMG Pictures. |
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Wellington,
FL – The international division of show jumping had their first
class today in the Internationale Arena at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian
Center. Today marked the beginning of the seventh week of competition
in the 2007 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF). The CN Wellington Open
CSIO 5*, presented by Cosequin, is the host week of the Nations’
Cup competition, which will be held under the lights on Friday evening,
March 9, 2007. In today’s $5,000 Welcome Stake, McLain Ward (USA)
and Summer Storm, owned by Shaine Brooks, sped to victory over the only
other two clear rounds, Palona and Laura Bowery (USA) and Mazelle with
Eric Flameng (BEL).
