Jan. 10, 2024 – Myakka City, FL – The sun shone high in the sky on Wednesday morning as the Sarasota Winter Classic launched into its second week of competition at the stunning TerraNova Equestrian Center. Held throughout the first two weeks of January, the event features elite hunter, jumper, and equitation competition that includes a weekly welcome stake, grand prix, national hunter derby, and various junior/amateur and child/adult classics in both the hunter and jumper rings. The series is currently celebrating its fifth anniversary as it promises to continue to offer exhibitors and spectators a boutique horse show experience. The $10,000 1.40m Welcome Stake sat as the premiere event on Wednesday’s calendar where Shannon Hicks and Al Pachini displayed incredible form to capture the win.

David Jennings & Presley Degli Assi. Photo by Eye Was Here Photography

Mauricio Garcia (PUR) put forth a track worthy of its 16 horse-and-rider combinations which featured top athletes including David Jennings, Morgan Ashby, Allen Nabors, and, last week’s welcome stake winner, Marylisa Leffler. While the course challenged its entries in several areas, the tight time-allowed appeared to pose the biggest risk for the riders. Two pairings went fault-free over the fences but suffered a single penalty on the clock, and several other duos earned an unfortunate rail in their effort to race home. As the second combination on course, Marylisa Leffler and Rolling Acres LLC’s 14-year-old Warmblood mare (Zandor Z), Za Za Z, once again laid down the gauntlet by producing the first double-clear effort in the immediate jump-off. Hicks sat towards the bottom of the starting order with her second mount, Helen Gilbert’s 15-year-old Warmblood gelding (Cheers Cassini) Al Pachini, but she shot straight to the top of the leaderboard as they clocked in at a blazing 36.105 seconds across the short track.

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