Red Hot Jaime Guerra Wins the $75,000 Budweiser AGA Championship at the 122nd National Horse Show and Family Festival

Wellington, FL – December 4, 2005–Beautiful sunny skies and warm temperatures greeted a huge Sunday afternoon crowd for the final day of the 122nd National Horse Show and Family Festival at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club in Wellington, Florida. That crowd got to watch red hot Jaime Guerra of Mexico win Sunday’s main event, the $75,000 Budweiser AGA Championship. It was Guerra’s third victory in the five days of competition at the National Horse Show.

Twenty-six starters took the field for the $75,000 Budweiser AGA Championship, scored under FEI Table A over two rounds, 1st round not against the clock and 2nd round against the clock, with a designated jump-off. Only the top eight from the first round would advance to round two, with time deciding among those with four faults or more.

Jose “Pepe” Gamarra of La Paz, Bolivia designed the challenge for the final class of the 2005 American Grand Prix Association tour and the final event of this year’s National Horse Show.

Of the twenty-six starters, only three mastered the first round course, and were guaranteed a spot in the second round. Eight competitors had four faults, but only the fastest five of those would advance to round two. Two horse and rider combinations had five faults, while another six had eight and four duos had more than eight. Two riders were eliminated.

The scores from first round carried over to the second round and were added together to determine the fault total and the time over the course in the second round was the tiebreaker.

The four fault horse and riders from round one returned first. Cara Raether and Trelawny Farm’s Quildano de Kalvarie led off the second round action and picked up two rails and finished with a twelve fault total for the two rounds, in a time of 52.32 seconds.

Kent Farrington aboard the AGA Horse of the Year Madison, owned by Alexa Weeks, came back for round two and stunned the large gathering with a fault free performance and a time that wouldn’t be caught the rest of the afternoon. Farrington blazed across the finish line in 46.14 seconds and took over the lead with a total of four faults from the two rounds and the time of 46.14.

Next up was Norman Dello Joio and the Wembly Farms’ entry of Quriel. Dello Joio equaled his first round performance, picking up four faults and coming home in a time of 46.73 seconds. His two round total of eight faults dropped him into second place.

Alison Firestone and Intrepid du Valon, owned by Bert and Diana Firestone, entered the fray fourth. Firestone also picked up a second round rail and her eight fault total with a time of 48.56 dropped her below Dello Joio, into third place.

Lauren Hough and Casadora, owned by Lauren Mateo, were the final duo to return with four faults from the first round. Hough was fault free in round two, but couldn’t catch Farrington’s top time and slid into second place, with a total of four and a finish time of 47.25 seconds.

The three that were perfect in the first round now faced the challenge of topping Kent Farrington who was perfect in the second round.

Ken Berkley and Carlos Boy, owned by the Rivers Edge Group, returned first. Berkley, in a careful yet efficient performance, produced his second clean round of the day but left the door slightly ajar with a modest time of 53.01 seconds.

Jaime Guerra, winner of two speed classes at the National Horse Show this week, walked through that door left open by Berkley. Guerra, aboard Santa Terisita Power Point, owned by Santa Terisita of California, was careful and clean, and just narrowly faster than Berkley, tripping the timers in 52.65 seconds. He took over the top spot by 0.36 seconds.

Todd Minikus and Harry R. Gill’s Flier were the final challengers of the day. Minikus, not wanting to be caught by the first round four faulters, unfortunately failed to catch his two clean round adversaries. Minikus came home with no faults but in a time of 54.50 seconds to finish in third place behind Berkley.

“I’m thrilled,” said a beaming Guerra following the class. “My horse really hasn’t jumped a course this big before and he struggled a little through the triple combination in the first round, but I couldn’t be happier.”

Asked about his second round strategy, Guerra said, “In the second round I just decided not to be crazy fast. But it was tough to decide what to do with the fast four faulters in front of me and Todd still to come behind me.”

“That format, I think, doesn’t or shouldn’t apply to show jumping,” said an obviously agitated Todd Minikus following today’s class. “The three horses that were clear over a very difficult course could have been severely penalized by having to compete in a second round with horses that had four faults in the first round!” he said. “Any one of us could have ended up in eighth place theoretically. That format penalizes horses that jumped their ass off in the first round. It penalizes the riders and it penalizes the owners. It’s a bad format,” he emphasized. “I’ve had the same complaint last year and before that too. The crowd doesn’t understand it, the media doesn’t understand it and I don’t understand why they keep using it,” Minikus said.

“I don’t think it’s the best format either,” agreed second place finisher Ken Berkley. “But, it’s the format they chose so you play by their rules, but with that in mind I was a little conservative to the last two fences, knowing I could drop down to fourth or worse.”

Today’s champion agreed with Minikus. “I’d prefer a normal jump-off,” said Guerra. “It was difficult enough to jump without having to worry about horses with four faults beating you, for sure. It created a situation where those with four faults had everything to win and those of us that were clear in the first round had everything to lose.”

Official Results #1005 -$75,000 Budweiser AGA Championship CSI***-FEI Table A over two rounds, 1st round not against the clock and 2nd round against the clock – National Horse Show -12-04-05-Internationale Arena