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Laura Kraut Rides Anthem to Victory Posting Her Second Win of the Week at the 2005 Winter Equestrian Festival
An enthusiastic crowd of 9,083 was on hand today as forty seven starters turned out for the $50,000 Kilkenny/Internationale Cup CSI 3* Grand Prix, the first American Grand Prix Association (AGA) tour event of this year’s festival. Scoring was under FEI Article 238.2.2, Time First Jump-Off. Time separated those tied for other than first place. The ambitious course was designed by Robert Ellis of Hickstead, Great Britain, and featured 13 numbered obstacles and 16 jumping efforts with a double and triple combination along with an open water jump. Only three starters negotiated the first round course without penalties. Two horse and rider combinations had clear jumping rounds but each accumulated one time fault. 18 of today’s riders came home with four faults, and five had eight faults. The balance of the starters had nine or more. None of the first 17 competitors in today’s class was able to master the Ellis designed course. Coming the closest was Roxanne with Eric Flameng who exceeded the 85 second time allowed by .51 seconds, picking up one time fault. Roxanne is owned by Floriac, LLC. Eight of the first 17 had one knockdown or a water jump penalty with Ramiro Quintana and Turnabout Farm’s Hurricane making it all the way to the final fence before pulling a rail. Riding out of the 18th spot in the order, Laura Kraut, who had stormed to a one-two finish in Thursday’s $25,000 WEF Challenge Cup Series Grand Prix, came in on her Olympic partner, Anthem. Much to the delight of the huge cheering crowd on hand, the veteran duo was flawless and went to the top of the leader board with the first clear ride of the day. For the next 23 horses it was a roller coaster of emotions for the masses gathered at the Internationale Arena as one competitor after another disappointed them somewhere on the course. A number of competitors had a foot in the water jump or, if successful over the wide water, faulted at the tall green vertical that followed it immediately on a bending line. Three riders made it to the final fence before having their knockdown. Lauren Hough, an Olympic teammate of Kraut, was up on her Sydney partner, Clasiko in the 41st spot in the jumping order. The pair were perfect and the thousands of fired up faithful exploded when Hough crossed the finish line clear, forcing the jump-off with her Sydney teammate. Four horses later, it was heartbreak for Clare Bronfman as she and Equinox were flawless over the fences but exceeded the time allowed by .85 seconds to pick up a single time fault. Two horses later, as the last to go in the first round, grand prix novice Cayce Harrison and Coeur delighted the crowd with the third clean ride of the day to set up a three horse tiebreaker. The jump-off was a lengthy nine fence challenge with Anthem and Kraut first to return. Kraut sailed around the speed course penalty free and put up a rapid time to beat of 43.50 seconds.
Hough and Clasiko had an early rail in the tiebreaker and breezed in with four faults in 47.92 seconds. Harrison and Coeur followed, but a later rail cost them a shot at today’s title and the duo finished up with 4 faults in 47.83 seconds. For Kraut, the excitement of two big wins in one week had her beaming. “Wow! I’ve had just an amazing week and Anthem has just been fantastic,” she said. Kraut beat a field of 17 challengers in her win on Thursday and said that today’s smaller jump-off field made it a tougher task. “It’s hard going into the jump-off with so few. The other day when we had 17 in the jump-off you knew you just had to go in and run, but today with only three and Lauren and Cayce behind me, I went as fast as I could have gone,” Kraut recounted. “I slipped on one turn but he recovered from that amazingly well, so I guess I was a little lucky to get the clear round.” What about the long time between her clear ride and Hough’s? “That was a long wait. I had a student that was competing over in the Junior Jumper ring so that was a really nice distraction,” admitted Kraut. “But, I could hear the crowd from there and I never heard them scream once; and I heard a lot of ‘awws’ so I knew I was the only one clear.” Kraut felt ahead of time that she wouldn’t be the only one. “I had a very positive feeling that Lauren (Hough) was going clear today and I came over to watch her go and she was fantastic out there,” Kraut said. “Then I was getting on for the jump-off when Cayce went clean.” Kraut talked about confidence when riding a veteran equine partner like Anthem. “We’ve ridden these horses for so long and when you walk the course like we did today you just know exactly what you’re going to do. With these horses, you know they’re going to get it done for you,” Kraut confirmed. “There’s a confidence that you gain that gives you that little bit of an edge, whereas if I was on a younger horse, I might have questioned something or not been positive I could get it done,” she said. For second place finisher Cayce Harrison, it was a big step up. “I just got this horse in late July in Europe and I rode him at a couple of shows in Holland and it didn’t really go very well,” Harrison said. “I had a rough couple of shows and I was doubting our partnership a little bit. But I credit all the help that Barney and McLain Ward have been giving me. They really believed in me and believed in the horse and our relationship,” she said. “We’ve really come a long way since the summer. I’m ecstatic. This is almost surreal for me,” Harrison smiled. “But I can see why people get addicted to this and want to go in the ring every Sunday and I’m thrilled. This is my first year doing the big classes and only my third Sunday in the ring at Wellington,” admitted Harrison. “I never really thought I could get to this level, but I’ve got so many people behind me and supporting me that I feel I can go on. I’m very excited about it and can’t wait to keep going.” Hough paid testament to the rising stars of show jumping. “Last week with Paige Johnson finishing second and now this week with Cayce being second, it’s so great to see these young riders doing so well,” she said. “And at the highest level at one of the hardest venues in the world. Their families have been such wonderful supporters of our sport and it’s so great to see this happening.” Kraut had only one worry on the day. Anthem failed to give his signature neigh when he came in the ring. “He did not whinny today!” exclaimed Kraut. “He always whinnies! And today all the way to the first fence I’m saying to him, ‘whinny, come on, you’ve got to whinny,’ but he never did,” she laughed. “Thursday he whinnied before the first round and before the jump off and today, he didn’t do it, twice! I was stressed out over it in the first round, but I didn’t worry about it in the jump-off,” giggled Kraut. Kraut sang the praises of course designer, Robert Ellis. “He built phenomenal courses all week, but especially today. It seemed that there were faults at every fence on the course and even though it wasn’t the biggest course we’ve jumped here on a Sunday, it was difficult to jump clean,” Kraut divulged. “There were a lot of four faulters and only the three clean, but no horse was really struggling, so I thought it was a brilliant job.” Kraut did feel that there would be more than four in the jump-off. “When I walked the course I said to Katie Prudent, ‘I really like this course.’ Usually when I say that everyone else likes it too and there a bunch of clear rounds,” Kraut laughed. “So I was a little surprised that only three managed to go clear. I was really hoping for only one!” The Lincoln Florida Classic WCHR Hunter Spectacular takes center stage on Wednesday. Next week’s featured events are the $60,000 Idle Dice Classic, presented by the Palm Beach Post. CSI-W on Sunday and round four of the $25,000 WEF Challenge Cup Series on Thursday. Official Results - #10- $50,000 Kilkenny/ICH Internationale Cup – FEI 238.2.2 -02-13-05-Internationale Arena
PHOTO CREDIT: Anthem and Laura Kraut are victorious in the $50,000 Kilkenny/ICH Internationale Cup. Photo by Randi Muster |
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Wellington,
FL – February 13, 2005 - 2000 Olympian Laura Kraut and her Sydney
Olympic partner, Anthem, galloped to victory in the $50,000 Kilkenny/ICH
Internationale Cup, CSI 3* on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon at the 2005
Winter Equestrian Festival at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club in
Wellington, Florida. Today’s event wrapped up week three of the
nine week long festival, the nation’s largest and longest running
equestrian sporting series.
