Yann Candele and Sun Shine at the Winter Equestrian Festival in 1.45M Jumpers
Equestrian News Release
Wellington, FL- February 1, 2006- The Gold Coast Jumper Classic, presented by Carlisle, CSI-3* kicked off Wednesday, starting the second week of the 2006 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF). The jumpers are highlighted this week, with the main event, the $60,000 Wellington Cup, presented by Carlisle, on Sunday at 2 p.m. WEF is the largest and longest running equestrian event in the world, and this year’s show hosts riders from around the nation and over thirty countries.
The course designer for this week in the Internationale Arena is Germany’s Olaf Peterson. Peterson started the day with the 1.45M, II, Sec 2(b) class, where riders rode their jump-off round directly after completing their first clear round.
With a time allowed of 82 seconds, few riders had trouble with time faults. However, many were caught by distance questions between fences. Of the 58 first round entries, 22 advanced to the speed round.
Of those 22 that attempted the jump-off, 13 achieved a second clear round. The first of those was the very first rider into the ring, Markus Beerbaum and La Supra, owned by Bertram and Diana Firestone. Beerbaum took easy turns to come home in a time of 36.282 seconds.
Five horses later, a new class leader emerged when Yann Candele and Ashland Stables’ Veritia blazed around the jump-off with tight turns in a time of 34.751 seconds. Their lead would hold for another 13 horses.
Despite big names like Ian Millar and Rodrigo Pessoa chasing Candele’s time, he held the lead until United States Olympic gold medalist McLain Ward entered the ring with Optimum Pozitano. Owned by Gut Einhaus LLC, Optimum Pozitano and Ward had very good turns and stopped the timers in 34.182, just 6/10ths of a second faster than Candele.
The lead changed hands another 13 rounds later when Canadian Eric Lamaze piloted another Ashland Stables entry, Narcotique de Muze, to a clear and lightning fast jump-off ride in 33.806 seconds.
Fellow Canadian rider Ian Millar was the next competitor to take over the lead. On In Style, owned by Susan Grange and Lothlorien Stables, Millar was smooth and effortless over the shortened course. They came in 4/10ths of a second faster than Lamaze in 33.423 seconds.
It looked as though Millar would hold onto the lead, until the second to last horse entered the ring. Yet another Ashland Stables horse flew to the top of the leaderboard with Yann Candele of France. Sun and Candele made very tight turns and crossed the timers in 32.181 seconds. “In the jump-off, I tried to be efficient, but he went even better than I was thinking,” Candele said with a smile.
While the jump-off did not provide any options in striding, time could be shaved through two tight rollbacks on course. Candele explained, “The striding was the same for everybody. It was two rollbacks where you have to be as tight as possible and have the stride come to you, so you could do the tight turns.”
Candele mentioned that this type of class was the perfect way for the young seven year old horse to learn his job. “He came here this year just to develop. He started very well last week, so that’s why we’re pushing him a little bit. We just do 1.45M here and there, so his performance was very, very good,” he noted. “We’re going to keep him at this level because he is still very young. This will give him experience and we’ll have a great horse in the next few years.”
In addition to taking home the blue ribbon, Candele also finished fifth with Veritia. “She’s one year older and she jumped unbelievable,” he remarked. “She’s still improving. We’re going to keep moving with her because she’s at the right age. We’ll push her a little bit and see how she performs the rest of the week.”
While winning is always a goal, Candele said that the main idea for his horses today was to have a good learning experience. “You go with the mindset to be efficient, to teach them what is going to be a jump-off.” He added, “The idea for these two horses is to do the big grand prix. Right now, we’re just halfway through. You go to be efficient and the result comes to you or not. Today, that was the case for Sun, and the mare was efficient. They both reacted very well and were double clear.”
The jumpers continue tomorrow at the Winter Equestrian Festival in five rings of competition. The highlight is the $25,000 WEF Challenge Cup Round Two, which starts at 1 p.m.
Official Results: Class 1002, $8,000 1.45M Time First Jump-off II, 2 (b)
1. Sun, Yann Candele: 0/0/32.181, $2375
Ashland Stables
2. In Style, Ian Millar: 0/0/33.423, $1350
Susan Grange, Lothlorien Stables
3. Narcotique de Muze, Eric Lamaze: 0/0/33.806, $800
Ashland Stables
4. Optimum Pozitano, McLain Ward: 0/0/34.182, $650
Gut Einhaus LLC
5. Veritia, Yann Candele: 0/0/34.751, $550
Ashland Stables
6. Ormsby Hill, Jimmy Torano: 0/0/34.765, $450
Jimmy Torano
7. Redefin, Ian Millar: 0/0/34.864, $400
Susan Grange
8. Candaletto 4, Kevin Babington: 0/0/34.997, $350
Kindle Hill Farm
9. Ollandaise, Megan Lamaze: 0/0/35.752, $300
Stoney Hill
10. La Supra, Markus Beerbaum: 0/0/36.282, $275
Bertram and Diana Firestone
11. Loriana, Ellen Holtgers: 0/0/36.691, $250
Gut Einhaus LLC
12. Souvenir, Markus Beerbaum: 0/0/37.327, $250
Michaels & Beerbaum
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