Dressage
The Palm Beach County Jim Brandon Equestrian Center in West Palm Beach, FL, hosted The Wellington Classic Spring Challenge CDI-W. On Friday, Tina Konyot and her partner from the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, Calecto V, topped the field in the Grand Prix for Freestyle scoring a 70.043%. Elizabeth Austin riding Olivier and Shawna Harding riding Come On III collected second and third place honors. Konyot took another commanding win in the Freestyle, scoring a 75.300%. Harding and Austin swapped places to finish second and third respectively.
Pierre St. Jacques was the leading American rider in the Grand Prix for Special on Saturday, riding to second place with Lucky Tiger, just behind Sweden's Tinne Vilhelmson-Silfven and Don Auriello. In the Grand Prix Special held Sunday Tinne Vilhelmson-Silfven and Don Auriello were once again the victors with the veteran American combination of Todd Flettrich and Otto a close second.
In Friday's Prix St. Georges test Heather Blitz and Paragon bested Shawna Harding and Rigo by a slim margin to win on a score of 70.614%. Harding and Rigo went onto win the Intermediaire I and Freestyle tests over the weekend.
For more information and complete results please visit: http://www.wellingtonclassicdressage.com/schedule.htm
Endurance
On Saturday, Ceci Butler-Stasiuk, Deborah Reich and Valarie Kanavy started in The Presidents Cup in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The 160km race saw 99 starters from 17 countries and just 32 riders completing the rigorous course.
Butler-Stasiuk and DJB Cytron Kon were the top placed U.S. pair, finishing 20th in a time of 8:19.43. Reich and DJB Juniper finished 32nd in a time of 10:06.08. Kanavy and Spectacular Gold completed the course, but were eliminated in the final vet check.
Sultan Ahmed Al Baloushi (UAE) and Cronus won the race in a time of 6:25.13.
For complete results please visit:
http://www.adec-web.com/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_detail&agid=247&year=2011&month=02&day=12&Itemid=24.
Jumping
At the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival Laura Kraut and Cedric added to their impressive resume winning the $150,000 FEI World Cup Grand Prix CSI3*-W presented by Spy Coast Farm, this was their second Grand Prix win in the International Ring at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in a week's time. A field of 40 started over the Alan Wade designed course with eight combinations advancing to the jump-off. McLain Ward and Antares F crossed the timers just .18 seconds behind the winning duo to collect second place honors. Earlier in the week, Ward and the grey gelding held off 63 other starters to win the fifth round of the $31,000 WEF Challenge Cup Series.
For more information and complete results please visit: http://www.equestriansport.com.
In Thermal, CA, Rich Fellers and his longtime partner Flexible continued their streak of collecting top placings in the indoor arena at the HITS Desert Horse Park. On Thursday the veteran pair bested 39 other competitorsto win the $31,000 HITS Welcome Classic, presented by Pfizer Animal Health. Californians Karl Cook riding Uno de Laubry and Richard Spooner riding Cristallo were second and third.
On Saturday, Fellers and Flexible led the American effort placing fourth in the $50,000 HITS CSI-W Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health. Brazil's Eduardo Menezes and Tomba claimed the top placing over Florencio Hernandez' challenging course.
For more information please visit: http://www.hitsshows.com/thermal/index.html.
In Thailand, young rider Mary Kate Hassett scored 1-2 finishes aboard Lola and American Beauty respectively in both the 1.15m and 1.20m classes at the at the CSI1* W Samut Prakarn.
For more information and complete results please visit: https://sites.google.com/a/equestrianparadice.com/equestrian-paradice/Home
ENDS