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Eric Lamaze Leads the Way Right from the Start in Round Five of the WEF Challenge Cup at the Winter Equestrian Festival
The WEF Challenge Cup, a nine week long series of $25,000 Thursday Grand Prix events, concludes in Tampa as part of the final week of the Winter Equestrian Festival. The Challenge Cup is also a major money qualifier for the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational to be held on Saturday night, April 2, 2005, under the lights at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium. Today’s event, a CSI 3* competition was scored under FEI Article 238.2.2, Time First Jump-Off. Knowing that Tempete would be competing in Sunday’s Masters Cup Grand Prix, a member event of the AGA Series of Show Jumping, during this fifth week at the Winter Equestrian Festival, in Wellington, FL, Lamaze had a plan. “I wanted to just give him a smooth round and keep the jumps up,” said Lamaze who later explained that Tempete is not a fast horse. “My time is always beatable on that horse. He’s not a speed horse. It’s about leaving the rails up.” Even though Tempete is not a speed horse he felt the course suited “a big galloping horse” like Tempete, and the difficulty that Palacios always builds into his courses. “He uses the design of the fences to create a lot of problems,” explained Lamaze. Added Ken Berkley, who ultimately finished just behind Lamaze on Ratina Z, “The course was built brilliantly, tricky, trappy, in a very fast time and a brutal last line.” That “brutal line” Berkley was talking about was the very last line in the first course. Fence number 11 was an oxer to a tight in and out combination 12a-b followed by another bold oxer which completed the course. Sixteen of the horses took down 12a. Berkley felt it had to do with the fact that the riders were galloping boldly by the time they came to this line and “it’s a tight last line,” where the riders had to make a decision to either shorten or lengthen their horses stride in order to get to 12a at a good distance. But that was one of many difficult tests around the course which included three double combinations. Lamaze, who also went clear on Lorrain Z, intended to go for speed with this mount. Tempete, “is a big horse,” continued Lamaze, who felt that it would be Lorrain Z who he was going to “take a shot with.” Since Lorrain was done for the week he knew they’d have enough downtime before his next week of showing. Since Lorrain Z was not only his second clear round but the second clear round of the class, Lamaze had to quickly switch mounts before entering the ring to try out his different faster approach to this course. As he entered the ring announcer called him the “Quick Change Artist,” and just as quickly Lamaze moved his horse into gear to give the course a go. Things were going well until about half way through the jump-off course when the 5th fence came down with one more tough line to go. That same 12a-b combination followed by a gallop to the final fence caused more problems for Lorrain Z as they dropped the last two rails of the course. They finished with 12 faults in a time of 41.99 seconds. Next to enter the jump-off was Debbie Stephens on Cosequin’s CEO, owned by Centennial Farm. The problems for Debbie started early in the course at the second fence, a high vertical. They ultimately dropped two more rails, with one of those rails at 12a. They also totaled 12 faults in a slower time than Lamaze of 45.82 seconds. Ramiro Quintana entered the ring next on Hurricane I, owned by Turnabout Farm & Sarah B. Willeman, and from the beginning you could see he was going for broke. He too was taking tighter turns and keeping his pace moving until he knocked down a rail at a bold oxer. Quintana rode a bit more cautiously after that and as a result left the remaining rails up finishing with 4 faults in a time of 43.49 seconds. Next was Olympic veteran Peter Leone riding Timbuktu, owned by Emily Zand, who started out with a determined fast ride but as luck would have it they took that first jump down. It appeared that this had little effect on Leone’s approach to the course as they continued to ride boldly around the course shaving off corners where they could. They finished with the best time of the jump-off round of 41.44 seconds but with 4 faults. There were still three more riders to go. Next to enter the ring was Darrin Dlin aboard Catwalk, owned by Odyssey Venture LL, who try as they might were unable to keep the rails up. They finished with two rails down for 8 faults in a time of 44.09 seconds. When Ken Berkley entered the arena on his mare Ratina Z as the next to last rider to go the audience was jumping each fence with him. Ken negotiated his mare carefully but boldly around the course with an obvious push down the last line because by that time he had kept all the rails up and with one line to go he opted to be cautious but bold in an attempt to overtake Lamaze’s leading score. He almost made it but in the end less than a second separated the two. Ratina Z finished on a clear round but in a slightly slower time of 43.88 seconds on the Carolyn Kelly owned horse. With only one rider to go it was do or die for Christine Tribble on Promised Land, owned by Candy Tribble. Her mount moved with long determined strides over the carefully constructed technical course and as the fences continued to stay up at the half way point Tribble picked up her pace realizing she had a chance for the lead. She went all the way to the end stopping the clock with the winning time but that last fence proved to be the bogie as Promised Land touched it just enough to knock it down. Later Lamaze referred to Tribble’s round noting, “This course wasn’t over until the end. Every jump had to be jumped including that last line.” Berkley was pleased with his second place finish having only started competing Ratina Z at the grand prix level less than a year earlier in May of 2004. And since he share’s the ride with Ratina’s owner 16-year-old Carolyn Kelly, who competes in the juniors – making the change from juniors to the grand prix level is an amazing feat and speaks well for this 10-year-old mare’s talent and potential. “She has huge scope and a big stride,” noted Berkley who also admitted that the mare is “a little difficult to ride. She is a little hot and a little temperamental.” Berkley explained that Ratina Z goes best when you don’t hurry her. “If you just ride her, the better she jumps.” Berkley did not follow his original plan in the jump-off after he had some difficulty finding the distances he wanted early in the course. “I was hoping to go a little faster,” he said but when he realized he might not be fast enough he added, “I had to go clean to be second and so I stepped it up.” Earlier in the week Lamaze won the 1.45m and was second in the 1.40m and so it was a good week for him. When asked about his successes he commented, “You can’t win here without a great horse and it needs to be your day…you hope sooner or later you can win.” For 36-year-old Lamaze part of his victory was having a good horse, a good round, a good week and “there is a bit of luck.” And since Tempete’s “next big goal,” will be competing in the World Cup in April in Las Vegas, having a good day here at a show like the Winter Equestrian Festival is especially rewarding. Said Berkley, “Any class you win here you’ve won something big.” Added Lamaze, “It always feels good to win.” He further explained that to compete at a show the caliber of the Winter Equestrian Festival, “you have to go to Europe to compete in something like this and even there you don’t get this many horses. Here you really feel like you won something.” The Acorn Hill Speed Challenge is the Friday feature, scheduled to get underway at 1 p.m. at the Internationale Arena. Week five’s main event is Sunday’s $50,000Zada Enterprises, LLC Masters Cup – CSI 3*. Start time is 2pm. The festival, the nations largest and longest running equestrian extravaganza, runs through March 13, 2005 at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club on Pierson Road in Wellington. Official Results - #101 -$25,000 Zada Enterprises, LLC WEF Challenge Cup Series, Round 5, 02-24-05 – Internationale Arena
PHOTO CREDIT: Eric Lamaze and Tempete V/H Lindehof win Round 5, $25,000 WEF Challenge Cup Series. Photo by Randi Muster |
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Wellington,
FL – February 24, 2005 - Eric Lamaze aboard Tempete V/H Lindehof,
owned by Ashland Stables started out in the first place position as
the first to go in the first round of the fifth round of the $25,000
WEF Challenge Cup Series, and never looked back. Sixty-one horses negotiated
the Leopoldo Palacios designed course at the Winter Equestrian Festival
during the Zada Enterprises, LLC Wellington Masters. Tempete was one
of only eight to go clear, over the 13 jump course. In the shortened
jump-off course, Tempete set the pace and his clear round in a time
of 43.36 seconds proved unbeatable. 
