Posted February 23, 2006

Peter Leone and Timbuktu Gallop to Opening Day Win to Start Week Five at the 2006 Winter Equestrian Festival

Wellington, FL – February 22, 2006 – Under a sizzling South Florida sun and with temperatures climbing into the mid to upper eighties, week five of the 2006 Winter Equestrian Festival, the Zada Enterprises, LLC Wellington Masters got underway on Wednesday morning at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club in Wellington. Peter Leone of Greenwich, Connecticut turned up the heat even more when he opened the week’s action with a scorching jump-off ride to win the Wednesday morning feature over seventy-three fellow competitors.

A total of seventy-four went to the post in the 8 a.m. 1.45m Jumpers, scored under USEF Table II, Section 2b, Time First Jump-off, with an immediate jump-off. The Internationale Arena Course Designer for week five at Wellington is Olympic veteran Leopoldo Palacios-Jugo of Caracas, Venezuela.

Of the seventy-four that started, twenty-two produced a clear go over the first track, and twelve of those went on to go clear again in the jump-off. Five riders in the first round were clear with time faults, eighteen had a single knockdown, seventeen had two rails, and twelve had 12 faults or more.

The early pacesetter out of the tenth spot in the order was Yann Candele on the Ashland Stables’ Veritia. Candele was clear and broke the beams in 42.504 seconds. That score and time would eventually wind up eighth.

McLain Ward, competing twenty-seventh, then grabbed the top spot from Candele with Optimum Pozitano, owned by Gut Einhaus, LLC. Ward shaved an impressive 3.11 seconds off of Candele’s time, clocking in at 39.394 seconds.

Riding thirty-first, Eric Lamaze of Canada came close, but not quite close enough, with the Ashland Stables entry of Narcotique de Muze. Lamaze fell 1.26 seconds shy of Ward’s target time, crossing the finish line in 40.660 seconds.

The lead changed hands a couple of horses later when Olympic Gold Medalist and three time World Cup Champion, Brazil’s Rodrigo Pessoa, tripped the timers in 38.931 seconds aboard Roadrunner, owned by the Kinloch Enterprises.

Ward, who had four rides in the class, regained the lead two horses later piloting Oasis, from the Double H Farm. Ward sliced a razor thin 2/10ths of a second off of Pessoa’s time, flashing home in 38.640 seconds.

Riding out of the sixty-eighth spot in the morning marathon, Peter Leone put the pedal to the metal and was able to cut an additional 2/10ths of a second off of Ward’s time for the Wednesday victory. Leone, riding Timbuktu for Emily Zand, raced home in a blazing time of 38.423 seconds to rack up his first Internationale Arena win of the 2006 WEF season.

With the already big prize money increasing and the international spotlight shining brightly, the open jumper ranks have swelled even more this week in Wellington. One indication of that increase was the WEF record two hundred plus entries scheduled to compete in the three sections of the 1.40m Jumpers on Wednesday afternoon.

This week at the Winter Equestrian Festival will include the ninth and tenth qualifying events for the FTI Rider Challenge, a rider bonus pool for $200,000 in which the riders receive points based on the number of riders in the seven Thursday and seven Sunday Grand Prix events that are part of the WEF Wellington series.

Thursday features the $25,000 MJS Dealerships WEF Challenge Cup Series, Round V, CSI 3*. Sunday’s $100,000 Zada Enterprises, LLC Masters Cup is the second East Coast League World Cup Qualifier in as many weeks and one of only two remaining. The main event also marks the fourth competition on the 2006 American Grand Prix Association (AGA) tour in South Florida. The AGA Grand Prix Series is the nation’s richest and longest running series of equestrian show jumping events. In its twenty eighth year of equestrian excellence, the AGA tour includes thirty two events in twenty two different equestrian markets and offers over $2.5 million dollars in prize money.

Results of Class 1002 1.45m Table II Section 2b - Zada Enterprises Wellington Masters CSI 3* - Internationale Arena – 2-22-06

• 1 1399 PETER LEONE TIMBUKTU 0.00 69.149 0.00 38.423 $2375 EMILY ZAND
• 2 563 MCLAIN WARD OASIS 0.00 70.792 0.00 38.640 $1350 DOUBLE H FARM
• 3 789 RODRIGO PESSOA ROADRUNNER 0.00 69.865 0.00 38.931 $800 KINLOCH ENT.
• 4 2987 MCLAIN WARD OPTIMUM POZITANO 0.00 73.793 0.00 39.394 $650 GUT EINHAUS LLC
• 5 1897 ERIC LAMAZE RAMIVILLE 0.00 73.105 0.00 39.705 $550 STACEY KREMBIL
• 6 505 JAIME GUERRA RMW LORENZ 0.00 72.072 0.00 39.760 $450 ROCKYMT WARMBLOODS
• 7 1862 ERIC LAMAZE NARCOTIQUE DE MUZE 0.00 71.832 0.00 40.660 $400 ASHLAND STABLES
• 8 1880 YANN CANDELE VERITIA 0.00 73.321 0.00 42.504 $350 ASHLAND STABLES
• 9 2294 SCHUYLER RILEY CINCINATTI KID 0.00 69.608 0.00 44.637 $300 SOUTH BEACH STABLE
• 10 1500 MARGIE GAYFORD STUNTMAN 0.00 72.480 0.00 44.811 $275 WINGBERRY FARM
• 11 2986 ELLEN HOLTGERS LORIANA 0.00 71.694 0.00 44.886 $250 GUT EINHAUS LLC
• 12 3155 MICHAEL WALTON LA ROCCO JUN 0.00 72.506 0.00 48.101 $250 PENLYN FARM

PHOTO CREDIT: Peter Leone and Timbuktu win 1.45m Jumpers at Winter Equestrian Festival on Wednesday. Photo by Kenneth Kraus/PhelpsSports.com