Ronan McGuigan and Chapeau (Sportfot)
Week twelve, sponsored by FTI Consulting, runs March 27-31 featuring CSI 5* competition. Highlights include the $33,000 Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic and $500,000 FTI Consulting Finale Grand Prix CSI 5* on Saturday and the $50,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby on Sunday.
The $15,000 Adequan 6-Year-Old Jumper Classic Final was the first class of the day with a win forIreland's Ronan McGuigan and Blythe Masters' Chapeau. Sixty entries navigated course designer Alan Wade's track with 19 clear rounds and 11 double clears in the jump-off. McGuigan and Chapeau completed the fastest round in 35.058 seconds for their victory.
Ramiro Quintana and St. Bride's Farm's Tua Efele finished second with a jump-off time of 35.725 seconds. Laura Kraut and Hi Hopes Farm's Cavalia were third in 35.858 seconds. Kraut also finished fourth aboard the Freedom Group's Zeremonie in 35.895 seconds and tied for fifth aboard the Freedom Group's Cleo in 36.252 seconds, the same time as Darrin Dlin and Susan Grange's Tennyson. Seventh place honors went to Luis Larrazabal and Anabel Simon's Close Up in 36.530 seconds.
Class winner Chapeau is a six-year-old KWPN gelding by Indocto x G. Ramiro Z, bred by Stal Hendrix. He was imported in October of last year and showed for the first time in the U.S. this winter.
"We bought him in the Hendrix auction and we bought him off the DVD actually, we never even went to try him," McGuigan explained. "We just liked what we saw and trusted in it and he has been super all season."
"He is very easy, very light and he has lots of scope," the rider detailed. "You don't have to try too hard at the oxers and he is very careful at the verticals. I think he is a very good horse, one of the better ones."
Commenting on the class, McGuigan stated, "The first round was good. He jumped around pretty confident. In the jump-off, everyone was doing the same numbers, so the only thing you could do was be a little tighter in the turns. I took a real chance in the last line and it paid off."
McGuigan explained that Chapeau has had a lot of clear rounds this winter but has never gone as fast as they did today.
"That is his first time going fast," he noted. "Yesterday we had him in the jump-off and we stayed tight, but we didn't go fast. I didn't know how he would react, so we are happy with it. He did pretty well."
"We never really ran him against the clock," McGuigan continued. "He has jumped a lot of double clears, but we never really pushed him. We were sort of just saving him for this week. Now we will go back again and bring him on slowly. We just wanted to let him find his footing. Today we tested it and he proved himself, so we will ease off again. He will have a break and then we will start up slow again until the finals in the Hamptons."
Final Results: $15,000 Adequan 6-Year-Old Jumper Classic Final
1. CHAPEAU RONAN MCGUIGAN BLYTHE MASTERS: 0/0/35.058
2. TUA EFELE RAMIRO QUINTANA ST. BRIDE'S FARM: 0/0/35.725
3. CAVALIA LAURA KRAUT HI HOPES FARM: 0/0/35.858
4. ZEREMONIE LAURA KRAUT FREEDOM GROUP: 0/0/35.895
5= TENNYSON DARRIN DLIN SUSAN GRANGE: 0/0/36.252
5= CLEO LAURA KRAUT FREEDOM GROUP: 0/0/36.252
7. CLOSE UP LUIS LARRAZABAL ANABEL SIMON: 0/0/36.530
8. CHABALOUBA SUN HEATHER CARISTO WILLIAMS M/M RALPH CARISTO: 0/0/37.796
9. COBERLINA PETER LUTZ ORCHARD FARM: 0/0/38.284
10. CANNY WINDSOR Z PATRICIA GRIFFITH PATRICIA GRIFFITH: 0/0/38.585
11. CALAIS JEFFERY WELLES TRITON VENTURES FARMS INC: 0/0/39.330
12. COLLETTE RAMIRO QUINTANA SPENCER RANCH: 0/4/35.941