Samantha Senft Secures the Ariat National Adult Medal Victory
 

Wellington, FL - Venezuela's Andres Rodriguez had a great morning at the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) on Friday, earning the top two prizes in the $1,500 Adequan Seven-Year-Old Young Jumper Qualifier.

Week four of the FTI WEF runs February 1-5, and is sponsored by Adequan. The Budweiser Clydesdales will be making two appearances at the FTI WEF this week. The first will be before the $80,000 Adequan Grand Prix, CSI 2* on Saturday, February 4, and again on Sunday, February 5 before the Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic. The 2012 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival has 12 weeks of competition that conclude on April 1, 2012, and they will be awarding more than $6 million in prize money through the circuit.

Showing over a course set by Guilherme Jorge of Brazil, Rodriguez jumped his horses Aberdeen and Fifty-Fifty to first and second place in the class of 35 entries. Ten went clear over the first round course to jump-off, and Rodriguez captured the two fastest times out of six double clear rounds.

Rodriguez showed first aboard Fifty-Fifty, a seven-year-old mare by Action Breaker x Darco, who he owns in partnership with Stephex Stables. The pair cleared the jump-off course in 37.775 seconds to take the lead. Several rounds later Rodriguez returned with Aberdeen, a seven-year-old stallion by Heartbreaker x Indorado. With Aberdeen, he was able to beat his own leading time in 36.997 seconds to take over the top spot, placing Fifty-Fifty in second.  

Rodriguez was pleased with the success of his young horses and explained that he has high hopes for Aberdeen and Fifty-Fifty to become future grand prix mounts. Following the class he stated, "I am really happy that these two horses won first and second today because I sold some of my bigger horses and I replaced them with these younger ones, so the fact that they are winning classes already makes me feel that I did the right thing."

"I got Aberdeen last summer as a six-year-old in Europe and he has been great," Rodriguez detailed. "Fifty I have had a little bit longer, I have had her since last circuit. She was doing the six year olds but a little bit slower and taking more time. I really think that she has all the potential to go to the biggest level. I think they are both really good."

Describing how the class played out, Rodriguez noted, "I was pretty fast with Fifty, but I knew that I had a lot of good riders behind me, so I thought that if I had a chance I was going to try to be a little bit faster with Aberdeen and then just make sure that I was going to win. The plan went great and both horses jumped really well." 

Following Rodriguez in the class, Carlos Ribas rode Campos & Miranda Investments' Spirit Of Alena to third, jumping double clear with a time of 38.025 seconds. Matt Williams and Samantha Tuerk's Ayla were fourth in 38.354 seconds, and Freestyle De Muze, owned by Equinimity LLC and ridden by Richie Moloney, placed fifth in 38.427 seconds.

Rodriguez plans to continue both horses in the Young Jumper division throughout the circuit and also hopes to step up to the 1.40m classes in the International Arena in a week or two to get them each more experience.

Ariat National Adult Medal Finds a Winner

Samantha Senft and her mount, L. Alta Vida, claimed victory in the Ariat National Adult Medal during week four. With a high score of 86, Senft and L. Alta Vida were the last pair to test and successfully maintained their lead position to bring home the blue. Second went to Charity Durgin and her ride, Lead Story, who finished with a score of 79.

L. Alta Vida is a sixteen-year-old warmblood owned by Anders Keitz. According to Senft, the bay gelding has been a veteran of the show circuit for years. "This is my first WEF with him," Senft explained, "but he's been in our farm for a while. It worked out well because Anders needed a rider and I needed a horse to do the Ariat and he has been great."

Following her ride, Senft commented on her performance in the ring. "The course rode very nicely," Senft said. "I didn't get a chance to take him around the ring this morning because it was so dark but he was perfect anyway. He always walks right in and does his job so it's really just getting from point A to point B with him. As far as the test, I've been doing the eq for so long that it has become second nature to me to treat it as just another round. You just ride each jump as its own and hopefully it falls into place. 

Senft has been competing in equitation classes since she was eleven years old and finished tenth at the ASPCA Maclay Finals during her last year as a junior. Describing the difference between equitation as an adult versus a junior, Senft commented, "A lot of the same people I competed against in the past aged out just as I did. So, the competition is still there but there's less pressure to be perfect because the jumps aren't as big. I also feel like expectations are lower because we are adults; it's more laid back. At the same time, though, they still test us, which is nice. Honestly, I enjoy the equitation a lot more now."

In addition to the adult equitation division, Senft competes in the High Amateur-Owner Jumpers on her mount, Early Morning. In the coming weeks, Senft hopes to claim further victory in both the jumper and equitation rings.

The FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival will continue tomorrow with a full schedule of hunter, jumper, and equitation competition, including the THIS Children's 14 & Under Medal. The highlight class of the week, the $80,000 Adequan Grand Prix, CSI 2*, will be held in the International Arena at 7 p.m.

For full results please visit www.showgroundslive.com.

Final Results: $1,500 Adequan 7 Year Old Young Jumpers
1 ABERDEEN, ANDRES RODRIGUEZ, ANDRES RODRIGUEZ: 0/0/36.997
2 FIFTY FIFTY, ANDRES RODRIGUEZ, ANDRES RODRIGUEZ: 0/0/37.775
3 SPIRIT OF ALENA, CARLOS RIBAS, CAMPOS & MIRANDA INVESTMENTS: 0/0/38.025
4 AYLA, MATT WILLIAMS, SAMANTHA TUERK: 0/0/38.354
5 FREESTYLE DE MUZE, RICHIE MOLONEY, EQUINIMITY LCC: 0/0/38.427
6 VEGAS DU HOUSSOIT, CHRISTOPH SCHROEDER, GK PERFORMANCE HORSES: 0/0/41.396
7 CASCON, DEREK BRAUN, SPLIT ROCK FARM INC.: 0/4/37.705
8 FEE QUIRA, COLIN SYQUIA, EURASIA INC.: 0/4/40.989
9 OREGON 30, AINSLEY VINCE, TRINITY FARM: 0/8/41.789
10 VALESKA, CHARLIE JAYNE, PONY LANE FARM: 0/12/37.421
11 CRACK 31, KEVIN BABINGTON, BROOKE CROZIER: 2/82.372
12 COULEUR LADY, BLAIR WILLMER, GLADEWINDS FARM INC.: 3/83.950