At the Lucky Sevens Welcome Stake, which kicked off week II of the Atlanta Summer Classic, the crowd was left singing the praises of Troubadour.

With the Leary, GA, based Mariano Bedoya Guido at the controls, the young gelding bested the field of 28, including eleven in the jump-off round, with two clear rounds and a sizzling jump-off time of 30.33 seconds.

“I liked this course very much, it looked not too big, but it was very technical,” said Guido of the Allen Rheinheimer designed challenge. “Honestly,” he continued, “I did not expect to win. My horse was really good, but he is still very young. He only turned eight last month. So I thought we’d be in the top five or top four.” Guido noted he also never expected to beat such competitors as Derek Peterson who had three horses in the class, Sergio Campos, who rode two and ended in fourth place with Cancun Z, and Daniel Geitner, who was last Saturday’s Grand Prix winner.

Guido and Troubadour navigated round one perfectly, even avoiding what appeared to be the “fence of death,” the 9 A-B in-and-out that cut down many in the field. “That line, coming to the in gate was tough,” admitted Guido, “as was the triple combination at fence 5.” But Troubadour stayed clean and fast.

The top performance has encouraged Guido to possibly enter Saturday’s Outback Steakhouse-sponsored “Horses Helping Horses” Grand Prix, the finale of the annual charity weekend hosted by the Classic Company as a benefit for Old Friends, the Thoroughbred Retirement Facility in Georgetown, KY.

“If it’s not too big we will do it,” said Guido. “My friend, Pablo Barrios, won the first Horses Helping Horses Grand Prix in 2005, and my wife was working for him at the time. So for me, it would be an honor to jump in this Grand Prix.”

Rounding out the results for the Lucky Sevens Welcome were Leopoldo Paoli and Remonta Escaupil in second place, Elizabeth Boyd and First Lady in third; Sergio Campos and Cancun Z finished fourth, while Andres Quintero and Golas were fifth.

The Atlanta Summer Classic continues through June 29. For more information, contact the show office at (843) 768-5503.