Posted March 26, 2006

Brianne Goutal Finishes First and Third in $20,000 1.50m Classic at Winter Equestrian Festival in Tampa

Tampa, FL – March 25, 2006 – New York City’s Brianne Goutal and her mount Onira edged out Alison Firestone and La Supra by 8/10ths of a second to take the top prize in the $20,000 1.50m Classic at the 2006 Winter Equestrian Festival in Tampa, Florida. The Tampa Bay Classic, the eighth week of competition at WEF, is being held at the Bob Thomas Equestrian Center on the Florida State Fairgrounds.

The Saturday feature was scored under USEF Table II, Sec. 2 (a), Time First Jump-Off. Aki Veikko Ylaenne of Finland designed the test for the starting field of fourteen.

Goutal, the youngest rider in the starting field at seventeen, qualified both of her mounts for the timed tiebreaker. Returning first on Casar, Goutal went fault free for the second time around, cruising home in a handy 39.160 seconds.

Alison Firestone, with a speedy round, managed to slice 3/10ths of a second off of Goutal’s time and grabbed the lead with La Supra. Firestone came home in 38.857 seconds.

With Olympic Gold Medalist McLain Ward still waiting in the wings to follow her, Goutal followed Firestone into the arena to try and reclaim the lead.

Up on Onira this time, Goutal quickened her pace and tightened her turns just enough to move back on top with a sparkling time of 38.011 seconds. When Ward and his mount Harriett ran into problems on a quick cut trying to catch her, the victory for Goutal was assured.

Goutal talked about the benefits of qualifying both of her mounts for the tiebreaker. “It’s a huge advantage,” she said. “You get a chance to see a spot where you can make up some time that you might have missed the first time around. Today I had a chance to see where Alison beat my first time, and I was able to make that up on Onira.”

“Onira has really surprised us. He went from a Low Junior Jumper to a High Junior Jumper to a 1.50m horse to the greatest horse I have. I just hope he keeps surprising us,” smiled Goutal.

“The course was a nice course, not a huge 1.50m, but it was indoors so it had to be a little smaller,” she went on to say. “It was a good course for both of my horses. The course tested a lot of different things but it wasn’t overbearing at all.”

For Goutal, the only rider in United States history to win all four national equitation finals as a junior rider, moving up to the Open Jumper division is a real learning experience. “Definitely a wake up call,” she admitted. “It’s a whole different league. The Juniors are great, but riding against McLain (Ward) and Beezie (Madden) and the other great riders is a whole new ballgame. They win so many classes. They’re so consistent. I’m excited about competing with them and learning from watching them.”

And what are Goutal’s plans for the rest of the year? “I want to jump as high as possible for as much money as possible,” she said with a laugh. “I hope to begin doing the Sunday events pretty soon. It depends on how my two horses keep progressing. If they keep going as good as they’re going now, hopefully I’ll get to the Sunday classes soon.”

Earlier in the day, Alison Leone and Galliano topped a field of sixteen to win the $10,000 Show Jumping Hall of Fame Amateur Jumper Classic. Leone, clocking in at 40.562 seconds, beat Charlie Jayne and Urbanus by 1.16 seconds.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled,” said Leone following her win. “My three young boys keep me busy and from showing as much as I’d like, and I didn’t get a chance to show at all in Palm Beach. So, coming here to Tampa and winning the Classic the first week out is fantastic.”

Tomorrow, the $75,000 Grand Prix of Tampa, presented by Kilkenny/ICH, CSI-W takes center stage at WEF. The Grand Prix of Tampa is the final East Coast League World Cup qualifying class and is one of only two remaining qualifying events for the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational at Raymond James Stadium.

Next week in Tampa, the Tournament of Champions, is the last week of the 2006 Winter Equestrian Festival. Next Thursday’s $30,000 WEF Challenge Cup Series Final is the last chance to qualify for the Budweiser American Invitational.

The 34th Annual $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational presented by The Tampa Tribune and Kash n’ Karry, the showcase event of the Winter Equestrian Festival, takes place on Saturday, April 1, 2006, at 7:00 p.m. under the lights at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium. The event, the richest and most prestigious outdoor show jumping event in the United States, will feature top riders from around the world.

Results of Class 1001 $20,000 1.50M Classic – Table II, Sec 2 (a) - Tampa Bay Classic CSI-W-Covered Arena – 3/25/06

• 1 529 BRIANNE GOUTAL ONIRA 0.00 70.970 0.00 38.011 $6000 CLOVERLEAF FARM
• 2 278 ALISON FIRESTONE LA SUPRA 0.00 70.282 0.00 38.852 $4000 BERTRAM FIRESTONE
• 3 530 BRIANNE GOUTAL CASAR 0.00 72.042 0.00 39.160 $2000 CLOVERLEAF FARM
• 4 661 MCLAIN WARD HARRIET 0.00 71.017 4.00 45.201 $1400 MCLAIN WARD
• 5 691 JIMMY TORANO ORMSBY HILL 0.00 75.166 5.00 48.751 $1200 JIMMY TORANO
• 6 385 ROBERT KRAUT PROVIDENCE 0.00 71.400 8.00 36.785 $1000 PETER WETHERILL
• 7 146 MEGHAN MORAN QUARNAK DE LONGPRE 4.00 71.714 $1000 MEGHAN MORAN
• 8 504 MAGGIE JAYNE RIVANO 4.00 74.227 $800 RACHEL SPENCER
• 9 852 KEEAN WHITE VIENNA ROUGE 8.00 68.879 $800 ANGELSTONE FARMS
• 10 662 MCLAIN WARD OASIS 8.00 70.270 $600 DOUBLE H FARM
• 11 694 DANIELLE TORANO PANDOER 8.00 70.714 $600 JIMMY TORANO
• 12 461 LESLIE HOWARD CALGARY 16.00 73.829 $600 DAVID GOODWIN

Results Class 1025H $10,000 Amateur Owner Show Jumping Hall of Fame Classic- Table II Sec 2 (a) - Tampa Bay Classic CSI-W- Covered Arena – 3/25/06

• 1 139 ALISON LEONE GALLIANO 0.00 70.267 0.00 40.562 $3000 RI-ARM FARM
• 2 472 CHARLIE JAYNE URBANUS 0.00 67.358 0.00 41.723 $2000 ALEX R. JAYNE
• 3 693 DANIELLE TORANO BAUER 0.00 67.671 0.00 42.482 $1000 JIMMY TORANO
• 4 689 CLARA LINDNER LAMALUSHI 0.00 71.812 0.00 43.720 $700 ALL SEASONS FARM
• 5 152 AGATHA D'AMBRA LANDGERO 0.00 67.693 0.00 45.085 $600 TRADE WINDS FARM
• 6 700 DANIELLE TORANO VANCOUVER 0.00 70.694 4.00 41.832 $500 JIMMY TORANO
• 7 805 CARA CHESKA MY FAIR LADY 0.00 71.608 4.00 43.044 $475 CARA CHESKA
• 8 144 MEGHAN MORAN GRAF LANDO 0.00 71.265 4.00 43.533 $400 MEGHAN MORAN
• 9 374 SVEN FREI QUEBEC 4.00 66.274 $380 EUROPEAN WARMBLOOD
• 10 442 ANDREW WELLES MAESTRO 4.00 67.396 $315 PETER WELLES
• 11 812 MEGHAN MORAN MR HAPPY 4.00 68.562 $315 MEGHAN MORAN
• 12 197 AMY LEFFERDINK COSTA SUR 4.00 70.372 $315 AMY LEFFERDINK

PHOTO CREDIT: Brianne Goutal and Onira win $20,000 1.50m Classic at WEF in Tampa. Photo by Randi Muster