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| Yann Candele atnd Redefin. By www.sportfot.com |
Round one of the $30,000 WEF Challenge Cup was held in the International Arena at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center over a track set by course designer Anthony D'Ambrosio of Red Hook, New York. Out of 26 original entries, seven made it to the jump-off and four were able to go double clear, each besting the leading time until the final competitor completed the fastest round.
Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa, celebrating the birth of his and wife Alexa's daughter Sophia a few days earlier, and HH Ashley, owned by Double H Farm, were the first pair to jump clear in a time of 40.06 seconds, but were then pushed out of the lead by the USA's Margie Engle (Hidden Creek's Pamina L) with a time of 35.91 seconds.
McLain Ward, riding for the USA, and Louisburg Farm's Esplanade 7 completed the course in an even faster time of 35.59 seconds, but along came Yann Candele and Redefin and shaved another second off the clock to finish in a 34.49 seconds. In the end, the top four riders finished in just that order respectively.
Class winner Redefin is a 13-year-old Dutch gelding by Larino x Zeus. Previously shown by Ian Millar, Yann got the ride almost one year ago and was very pleased with the horse's performance here.
"Starting off the circuit like that is always nice and especially with that horse that just came down from Canada before New Year's," said Yann. "I am very happy and actually a little bit surprised because McLain and Margie were very fast. We had some nice turns, I guess, because I do not think that my horse was much faster."
Yann had the opportunity to watch the other competitors navigate the jump-off course since he was the last entry, and he acknowledged that benefit.
"That is always a huge advantage because then you know pretty much how many chances you have to take and today was pretty much all out," he said. "Redefin is an experienced horse; yesterday he had a good warm-up but he had two rails down in the jump-off. The first round today I think I was lucky in one or two parts, but in the jump-off he jumped very well. I challenged him pretty hard to fence two and in the last line I was late to bring him back, but his reaction was very good."
Bonus
In addition to earning the top prize for his efforts, Yann was also presented with a $3,000 bonus for riding in his SSG Digital Gloves during today's class. The SSG Go Clean for the Green promotion will be offered weekly in the WEF Challenge Cup series, the amateur owner-jumper low classic, and the amateur owner- jumper high classic competitions. If the winning rider in any of these three competitions is wearing SSG Digital Riding Gloves with the SSG horse head logo clearly visible on the wrist, they will be presented with a cash bonus during the awards presentation.
Yann was not about to pass up that opportunity and said with a laugh: "Of course I wore my gloves. I have ridden with SSG gloves for a long time. They have always been a part of the sport and the new gloves are lovely. I was actually hoping that a few people didn't know about the challenge, but I think it is great. It is a very good idea and they are great gloves, so I think that at the end of the day everyone is in a win-win situation."
The 2011 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival will continue today with the Spy Coast Farm 1.40m speed challenge, held at 1 pm local time in the International Arena. The highlight class of the week is Sunday's $30,000 Speed Derby at 1 pm local time.
For full results, click here (you may need to register for the results service)
For more information, click here
Held at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, Florida, the 2011 WEF will hold 12 consecutive weeks of competition for its winter show circuit, running through 3 April 2011.
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