Alison Firestone and Intrepide Du Valon Dash to 1.45m Victory. Sprite and Chapot Record 30th Winter Equestrian Festival Win

Wellington, FL – March 2, 2005 - Clear skies and unseasonably cool temperatures greeted competitors on Wednesday morning as the Cosequin Wellington Open got underway at the 2005 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club in Wellington, Florida. This is the sixth of seven weeks of action at the festival in Wellington, the nation’s largest and longest running equestrian extravaganza. The final week, the CSI-O United States –CN Finale, presented by Canadian National Railroad, features the exciting Samsung Nations Cup on Friday night, March 11th.

While the world equestrian spotlight is expected to be shining brightly on Wellington next week for the Samsung Nations Cup, it’s already aimed at many of the international show jumping stars in Wellington this week competing in various classes across the show grounds. Adding to the international flavor this week is the Cannes Festival International Celebration.

Germany’s Dr. Arno Gego is the Course Designer this week in the Internationale Arena. The opening day feature was the $7500 1.45m Jumpers. The scoring was Table II Sec 2(b), Time First Jump-Off. Fifty-two entries braved the early morning chill and went to the post to tackle a tough first course by Dr. Gego. Only nine horse and rider combos produced clear first rounds. Nevertheless, eight of those nine went double clear. One rider accumulated one time fault and 23 riders had four faults. 17 riders had eight faults or more.

Alison Firestone emerged victorious today with her new mount, Intrepide Du Valon, owned by Bertram and Diana Firestone. It was the first win on “the big field” for a duo that has only been together since late November. Firestone was double clear and her winning time was 38.314 seconds.

Firestone, a reserve member of the 2004 Olympic Silver Medal Show Jumping squad from Athens, Greece, edged out fellow Olympic teammate Chris Kappler for the win. Riding Primeur 58 for owner Kathy Kamine, Kappler fell just shy of the target time in 38.728 seconds, 0.414 off the pace set by Firestone.

Anne Kursinski finished in the third spot today with Faldo, owned by Robin Hill Farm. Kursinski was clean and tripped the timers in 40.239 seconds. Clare Bronfman and Slate River Farm’s Equinox were fourth in 40.575 seconds.

Firestone picked up the fifth place ribbon as well. Sansierra, also owned by Bert and Diana Firestone, crossed the finish line in 40.681 seconds. Sixth went to Caucalis and Joe Fargis in 40.989 seconds. Caucalis is under the ownership of Frederick Graham.

Intrepide Du Valon is a horse that Firestone is very excited about. “She’s a really nice horse. I’m still trying to get to know her, but I’m really excited about the win today. Markus Beerbaum saw her showing over in Europe,” Firestone revealed. “She’s a nine year old Selle Francais that we purchased in France from a lady that had her since she was a four year old. We bought her in late November.”

Firestone says that she wants to take all the time necessary to get to know her new mount. “The first couple of shows, it was a time to get to know one another; taking it easy and slow,” said Firestone. “I’m getting to know her more and more and we’re slowly moving up, but still taking it one day at a time.”

“She’s a naturally fast horse,” explained Firestone. “So I didn’t have to go ‘belly to the ground’, but I cut her loose a bit on the long runs on the course. She’s really a lot of fun and she’s really game. I know she’s going to be a big time horse but I don’t like to plan too far ahead. I know she’ll do tomorrow’s 1.45m and the $20,000 1.50m Classic on Saturday. As far as next week, or what comes after that? We’ll just take it day by day,” laughed Firestone.

Samsung Nations Cup international participants Ellen Whitaker of Great Britain, Federico Fernandez and Simon Nizri of Mexico and Philippe Putallaz of Switzerland all made appearances in today’s opening feature.

The show jumping excitement continues at the Winter Equestrian Festival on Thursday night at 7pm, with a special night time edition of the $25,000 WEF Challenge Cup Series, Round Six CSI 3*. It will be the first chance to ride under the lights in Wellington for many of the show jumping stars from around the world. For those that have an eye on a spot in the starting roster for the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational in Tampa in April, the Thursday night WEF Challenge Cup is a major money qualifier.

Official Results - #1003 - $7500 1.45m – Table II Sec 2(b) – 03-02-05 – Internationale Arena

• 1 – Intrepide Du Valon, Alison Firestone -0-0/38.314
• 2 – Primeur 58, Chris Kappler – 0-0/38.728
• 3 – Faldo, Anne Kursinski – 0-0/40.239
• 4 – Equinox, Clare Bronfman – 0-0/40.575
• 5 – Sansierra, Alison Firestone -0-0/40.681
• 6 – Caucalis, Joe Fargis – 0-0/40.989
• 7 – In Style, Ian Millar – 0-0/42.468
• 8 – Oberon, Michael Walton – 0-0/44.582
• 9 – Fanfan du Oberec, McLain Ward -0-4/39.478
• 10 – Katerina, Clare Bronfman – 1-72.269
• 11 – Fit 3, Cody Baird - 4-64.822
• 12 – Onira, Brianne Goutal -4/67.255

PHOTO CREDIT: Intrepide Du Valon and Alison Firestone. Photo by Randi Muster