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From www.bridleandbit.com Jumping ______________________________
Wellington, FL – This seems to be Laura Kraut’s year, as those ribbons keep coming in. Despite struggling with a cold, she still managed to win it all today. This time, it was Miss Independent who took her to the winners circle in the $75,000 Cosequin Florida Open on Sunday, March 6th, at the 2005 Winter Equestrian Festival at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club in Wellington, Florida. Right behind her was Anne Kursinski on Roxana 112, who despite losing a shoe after the last fence on the first course, was the only other pair to produce a double clear round. Being in the winners circle for the Sunday Grand Prix wasn’t new for either of these riders. Kursinski and Roxana also won the Idle Dice Classic on February 20th, while Kraut claimed the win one week earlier (February 13) on Anthem. “I just can’t believe it,” said Kraut. “It’s hard to even win one class here. You get on rolls and I appreciate every minute that I am rising up, because you don’t know how long it will last.” Olympic veterans Kraut and Kursinski were two of six riders from a starting field of 58 to make it to the jump-off. Kraut’s clear go in a time of 43.13 seconds just barely beat Kursinski’s 43.30. Third place went to Cayce Harrison on Coeur, who were the fastest of the four faulters (43.24). Beautiful sunny weather drew a large crowd today to enjoy watching the nation’s finest riders try their skills over the Dr. Arno Gego designed course. His course of 14 fences, with one triple and one double combination required 17 jumping efforts in the grassy Internationale Arena. Gego likes a course that has the possibility for faults everywhere. “I don’t like tricky courses,” he explained. “I like courses that are fair from the beginning to the end.” Gego’s course was different. All of the riders consistently used one word to describe the course. It was “big.” “I was intimidated when I walked the course,” said Harrison, who is new to grand prix jumping. “I knew my horse would jump it – he’s brave and scopey – but I haven’t done many of these classes.” “I thought it was a very big course and yet the horses jumped it so well. It was big. Not that they were standing on their heads, but it was big,” added Kursinski. She continued on saying, “It was impressive, the time was tight enough and there were very delicate fences, but I couldn’t get over how well the horses jumped and the riders rode.” The “delicate” part of the course that Anne was talking about began at fence #4, which was a tall vertical. The top part was a plank on flat cups. Another “delicate” fence was near the end of the course, in front of where a lot of the spectators were sitting. It was an oxer, which also had a plank on flat cups as the front part. This fence required a bold but careful ride. The “big” that they talked about happened throughout the course, beginning with the triple combination (5A-B-C). Very often combinations end with oxers, but not on Gego’s course. He started with a wide ascending oxer followed by a white, bold square oxer and ended on a vertical. Kraut said that the middle white oxer, “was very plain looking.” However, because of the bold size of this fence the horses needed to jump big. In the end, this was the fence that came down the most on both courses. “Big” continued after the triple combination with a distance problem to the next fence #6. “That fence was set at an Olympic width,” chimed Kursinski and Kraut. In fact, it was the widest fence on the course set at a 1.90m and just looking at the width of that fence was enough to intimidate even the boldest of riders. The tallest fence on the course was #8 – a wall jump set at 1.65m. On the jump-off course, 5B (the white wide oxer) and 5C stayed in and that part of the course was what riders worried about the most. Three of the six riders in the jump-off had some part of that combination down. Coming back first in the jump-off was Mac Cone on Melinda. They were seventh to go clean in the original order. They started out at a steady pace over the first three fences, but when they came to #5B they took down their only rail. They finished in a time of 44.10 seconds. Next in was Jeffery Welles on Armani, who managed to get further along than Cone, clearing both the B and C part of the combination. However, they then took down the next two fences, a vertical followed by a water with poles on top. Their time of 41.96 seconds would end up being the fastest of the six jump-off riders, but their two rails put them near the end of the pack. Harrison and Coeur would follow. She started out a bit slower and more concentrated. She went as far as Cone had, when her horse also nailed 5B. Her time of 43.24 seconds was a bit faster and meant she now was leading the way for the three riders that had gone so far. Even with her four faults, Harrison was pleased. “I was really excited to jump a clean round that it didn’t matter what happened in the jump-off.” So far this was her second time in the top three, as she also finished second on Sunday, February 13, in the Kilkenny/ICH Internationale Cup, the grand prix that Kraut and Anthem had won. “I’m thrilled,” said a happy Harrison. “I couldn’t be happier. I was glad just to make it to the jump-off.” The temperature started rising as Kursinski and Roxanna 112 showed that a clear round was possible. Kursinski’s plan was “to go fast but clear and be careful at the in and out.” Roxana rubbed 5B but jumped with her heart and managed not to take it down. In the first round, the mare lost her right front shoe just after jumping the last fence, but it was put back on before the jump-off. Having to deal with that in between the two rounds didn’t faze the mare. In fact, after jumping the water, which was the next to last fence, she bucked just the tiniest bit. Anne later explained, “Sometimes she gets excited; that’s her character. She just expresses herself.” Kursinski thought she might have been a little slow to the water and that’s where Kraut was able to make up some time. It was Kraut who followed Kursinski and although this combination appeared slow and graceful as they moved across the ground, their turns were like dancers spinning in place. They wasted no energy getting from jump to jump. She pulled out all the stops to the last fence and ended mere fractions ahead of Kursinski to take over the lead. When Candice King and Verelst Camillo V, as the last pair to go, knocked down the second fence in the course, it was all over and the victory went to Kraut and Miss Independent. King would also nail the first part of the combination as well and their eight faults in a time of 46.52 seconds would place them sixth in the order. Kraut has had Miss Independent for a year and a half now and this was her biggest class so far. “She felt great,” exclaimed Kraut. However, she recalled that in the first round, “I really tried to get her to have the last fence down in the triple bar.” Kraut was talking about the fact that the distance she brought her horse to was too far from a fence that jumps better when you are close to it. “I ended up so far from that triple bar.” Regardless, her horse jumped it without a hitch. Kraut has a lot of faith in Miss Independent, who she says “has been game for anything (they’ve done so far). I have a lot of confidence in her mentally … she is so confident that it helps.” Kraut continues on as the leading money winner at WEF and with her win in this class, she adds 20 points to her World Cup total of 81 for a new point total of 101. This puts her in the lead in the standings and secures her placement as one of the eight riders to go to Las Vegas in April. Kraut plans to ride Anthem in the World Cup. The $75,000 Cosequin Florida Open is a Qualifier for the World Cup to be held in Las Vegas this April 20-24. It is also a member event of the AGA Series of Show Jumping and was conducted under the current rules of the FEI Rules for World Cup, Rules for Jumping Events Article 238.1.2 (USEF International Level). The time allowed of 96 seconds was based on a speed of 350 meters per minute. All horses competing in this class were stabled in the official FEI stable area starting on Wednesday, March 2. While the total prize money for the class was $75,000, the first place winner was presented with the H.R. “Kappy” Kaplan Perpetual Memorial Trophy and took home $22,500 of that pie, with the remaining money given out through 12th place. Horses tied for other than first were placed based on their time in the first round. WEF hosts its major grand prix each Sunday. On Sunday, January 30, 2004 Olympic veteran Beezie Madden won on her Pan American mount Conquest II. On February 6, 2004 Olympic teammate Chris Kappler and Primeur 58 were the big winners. On February 13, Olympian Laura Kraut rode Anthem to the win. On February 20, yet another Olympian, Anne Kursinski, was in the irons on Roxana 112 for the win. On February 27, Laura Chapot won with Little Big Man. Today’s event wrapped up week six of the seven week long festival in Wellington, from here it moves on to Tampa for two weeks, culminating with the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational on April 2. Also featured today was the $10,000 High Junior Jumper Classic, won by Addison Phillips aboard Rastella. They produced a double clear round with a jump-off time of 32.460 seconds. Phillips also placed third on Flight (0-0-33.288). Second place honors went to Hertel Landman, ridden by Ali Wolff to a clear go in 32.533 seconds. Wolff also rode Lanoo to a ninth place finish (0-4/33.668). Wednesday through Sunday, March 9-13, is CSIO 4* United States – CN Finale week at the Winter Equestrian Festival. Next Sunday is the grande finale, featuring the $100,000 US Open Jumper Championship CSIO 4*, presented by CN, a member event of the AGA Series of Show Jumping. Thursday, March 10, features the $25,000 Ariat WEF Challenge Cup Series, Round VII. The $50,000 Samsung Nations Cup CSIO 4* presented by CN will take place Friday night, March 11, under the lights. On Saturday, March 12, the RW Mutch WEF Equitation Championship will be showcased. Competition on the showgrounds begins at 8 a.m. daily. Official Results - #100- $75,000 Cosequin Florida Open CSI-W – FEI 238.2.2 -3-6-05-Internationale Arena 1 – Miss Independent, Laura Kraut (USA) – 0-0/43.13 2 – Roxana 112, Anne Kursinksi (USA) – 0-0/43.30 3 – Coeur, Cayce Harrison (USA) – 0-4/43.24 4 – Melinda, Mac Cone (CAN) – 0-4/44.10 5 – Armani, Jeffery Welles (USA) – 0-8/41.96 6 – Verelst Camillo V, Candice King (USA) – 0-8/46.52 T7 – Languster, Nona Garson (USA) - 1-99.05 T7 – Goldfinger Gerbaux, Gilbert DeRooch (BEL) – 1-99.87 Official Results - #1055H $10,000 High Junior Jumper Classic – Table II 2a / 3-6-05 – Internationale Arena 1 – Rastella, Addison Phillips - 0-0/32.460 2 – Hertel Landman, Ali Wolff -0-0/32.533 3 – Flight, Addison Phillips – 0-0/33.288 4 – Miss Kitty, Miasha Fisher – 0-0/33.888 5 – River, Blythe Marano – 0-0/34.657 6 – Lorano, Nikko Ritter – 0-0/35.803 7 – Cloud Nine, Sloane Coles – 0-4/32.591 8 – Pedro,Maggie McAlary – 0-4/33.238 9 – Lanoo, Ali Wolff – 0-4/33.668 10 – Blast, Carolyn Kelly – 0-4/35.246 11 – Ratina Z, Carolyn Kelly– 0-4/37.002 12 – Lavaro, Natalie Johnson – 0-4/37.799 www.bridleandbit.com |
