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February 16, 2007 Joe Fargis and Diams III Sprint to Victory in Acorn Hill 1.40m Speed Challenge, Cheeky and McLain Ward Win Section B
The winner in the first section of the Acorn Hill 1.40m Speed Challenge was Diams III, owned by Mary B. Schwab and ridden by Olympic gold medalist Joe Fargis. Fargis raced to the win over 5 other competitors and was six-tenths of a second faster (70.326 seconds) than second place finisher Nick Skelton and Salamander Farm’s Sunny Boy (70.902 seconds). Diams III is a 16-year-old Selle Francais mare that Fargis has ridden for six years. “Right now at this stage in her life she is a speed horse, but she’s won some nice grand prixs in her life,” Fargis said. “Maybe there are a few more.” Fargis remarked that Diams has a “fragile temperament.” He added with a smile, “She has her days where she’s very good, like today, and she has her days when she’s very bad. I’ll take today. I had fun with her.” Fargis “couldn’t be happier” to have won today and explained the difference between showing in such a large class at the Winter Equestrian Festival compared to a smaller horse show. “I went earlier in the class. You just do the best you can when you jump the course and then you have to go to another ring here,” he said. “You get disconnected knowing where you stand. It’s just a pleasant surprise an hour later to find out that I was still winning, and [that] I won. It made my day.” First place in the section B of the Acorn Hill 1.40m Speed Challenge was Cheeky, ridden by McLain Ward. Ward recently imported the nine year old Belgian Warmblood by Darco. They showed last week and placed, and this was their first win together. “He’s a fast horse,” Ward said. “We bought him and think he’ll be a good junior jumper here in the U.S.” Ward went early in the class and decided to test Cheeky’s speed. “I went for it right off the bat and he performed well,” Ward concluded. Ward won in a time of 55.013 seconds. Second in the class was Scott Lenkart of Minnesota on Impulsive, a ten year old Dutch Warmblood owned by Bennett Sport Horses. Lenkart moved Impulsive up to the grand prix height this year and after an off-day in the WEF Challenge Series grand prix yesterday, decided to show in the 1.40m to improve Impulsive’s confidence. “Today definitely helped,” Lenkart acknowledged. “He likes to go fast. When you’re slowing down, I think that’s when you get into trouble. He doesn’t like to hit the jumps either. That’s what happened yesterday, and he backed himself up a little bit.” Lenkart recently got the ride on Impulsive. “He was my wife’s horse before I started riding him. She had a few too many [to ride], so she gave him to me,” he said with a laugh. Lenkart went 50th out of 54 entries, so he knew the time to beat. “I saw McLain go, and I knew he was the fastest from fence three to four. My horse jumped really high over three, so I knew I was going to be second. Even if I left them up, I knew I couldn’t beat him,” he conceded. “Everywhere else, we were right on.” Lenkart finished just off Ward’s time in 55.691 seconds. The Acorn Hill 1.40m Speed Challenge is a part of the North American League (NAL). The NAL runs season-long series in six hunter-jumper divisions – Children’s Hunter, Children’s Jumper, Adult Hunter, Adult Jumper, Pony Jumper and Open Jumper Speed. Each series culminates with a championship final at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in Harrisburg, PA in October. Riders need not be members of the NAL to compete in any qualifying classes, but only current members earn points toward year-end finals. For more information, a list of qualifying competitions and results, please see the Ryegate Show Services website at www.Ryegate.com. Carolyn Kelly and Omona AW won the High Amateur-Owner Jumper Power and Speed Class today. Last year’s Farnam/Platform Horse of the Year in the High Junior Jumpers, Kelly has made the transition to the amateur division easily. Kelly raced around the course and finished clean with a time of 31.152 seconds over Marley Goodman and U-2, who finished in 31.836 seconds. Kelly had a successful year in 2006 and reported for this year, “We’ve really connected and figured each other out.” Kelly will compete tomorrow in the Show Jumping Hall of Fame High Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic with Omona AW and in the 1.50m Jumper Classic with her horse Rulanda before heading back to classes at Princeton University. In the High Junior Jumper Power and Speed Class, Aimee Aron and Heaudine raced to the win almost three seconds faster than second place finishers Lanoo and Ali Wolff. Aron, who trains with top grand prix rider Laura Kraut, has owned the 12 year old mare for two years. Before Aron bought her, Heaudine showed internationally with Emile Tacken of Holland. “She’s really a great junior horse; a great speed horse. There aren’t many that you can just go fast and not have to worry about being careful or protecting anything. She is a blast to ride,” Aron remarked. “It took me a little while to get used to her, but I feel like I know her really well now. She has benefited my riding.” Aron thought today’s course suited her fast horse. “I felt really confident. It was a really good course for her. The double combination coming home, a lot of people would have to slow down, but as Laura said, I didn’t really have to pull at all. She took care of it,” Aron conveyed. The FTI Consulting Rider Challenge updated rankings (after yesterday’s WEF Challenge Round IV) are listed below with the top 50 riders on the circuit. The Canadians have a very strong presence with three of the top five riders. The top four riders are eligible for the incredible rider bonus money. The rider with the most points accumulated at the end of WEF in Wellington will be awarded $100,000. Second place will be given $50,000, third place will receive $30,000 and $20,000 will be given to fourth place. Last year’s winner was Beezie Madden, a 2004 Athens Olympic gold medalist. Madden made a big jump up the rankings this week after her win in yesterday’s $25,000 WEF Challenge Series grand prix on Authentic. $200,000 FTI CONSULTING RIDER CHALLENGE RANKINGS
For more information on FTI Consulting, please visit their website at: www.fticonsulting.com. The Kilkenny Internationale, CSI 3* week continues tomorrow. The main jumper ring, the Internationale Arena, will begin competition at 10 a.m. with the Show Jumping Hall of Fame High Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic, followed by the 1.50m Jumper Classic at 1 p.m. Results of Class 1005A $6,000 1.40M ACORN HILL FARM CHALLENGE SEC A T/A: 86.00
Results of Class 1027 $2,500 HIGH AMATEUR-OWNER JUMPER II, 2(C) T/A: 60.00 T/A: 43.00
Results of Class 1061 HIGH JUNIOR JUMPER POWER & SPEED, SEC 2(C) T/A: 55.00 T/A: 47.00
Photo Credit: Diams III and Joe Fargis, winners of section A of the Acorn Hill 1.40m Speed Challenge at the Winter Equestrian Festival. Photo © 2007 Kenneth Kraus/PhelpsSports.com. |
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Wellington,
FL – The Kilkenny Internationale, CSI 3* continued today at the
Winter Equestrian Festival with three jumper classes held on the field
of the Internationale Arena. The first in the morning was the High Amateur-Owner
Jumpers sponsored by Prestige Saddles, followed by the High Junior Jumpers
sponsored by Animal Planet and the Acorn Hill 1.40m Speed Challenge.
