Olympic Footing Expert To Create All-Weather Arenas for Wellington Shows

Wellington, FL - The 2008 Olympic Games footing specialist, Bart Poels of Belgium, has been engaged to create world quality arenas for jumping, hunters and dressage at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center.

The first major improvement will be to install an all-weather surface in the Internationale Area at The Show Grounds in time for the Winter Equestrian Festival in January that is operated by Equestrian Sport Productions, LLC (ESP).

All-weather footing is also scheduled to be installed at the adjacent Stadium facility that is being completely rebuilt to become a major high performance event arena.

"We selected Bart Poels and the family enterprise created by his father because we wanted only the best for the horses, riders and owners who choose Palm Beach as their home or as their preferred winter destination," ESP Managing Partner Mark Bellissimo said.

"With dozens of the top veterinarians and other experts from around the world scrutinizing every aspect of preparing for the 2008 Olympic equestrian events to be held in Hong Kong in tropical hot and humid conditions not unlike South Florida in mid-summer we feel very confident we have selected the right person for the job."

Bellissimo said the Internationale Arena at The Show Grounds will have both all-weather and grass surfaces.

An area measuring almost 70 by 120 meters (230 by 394 feet) on the side of the arena closest to the Jockey Club will be all-weather.

At 8,400 square meters that is more than double the size of 4,000 square meters required for International Equestrian Federation (FEI) outdoor jumping competitions and larger than Hong Kong's Olympic arena. Grass will be retained in an area 180 by 380 feet on the other side of the arena.

"The all-weather ring that riders, owners and officials have told us they prefer because it will retain its high quality and is better for the health and safety of the horses, will be used for most of the Grand Prix level jumping events," Bellissimo said.

"The size of the all-weather ring will also allow us to create at least three dressage arenas so the Internationale Arena can be a showcase for dressage.

"The grass ring will only be used for feature hunter and jumper classes. "It will be used very sparingly and maintained diligently to retain the quality and the special appeal of the traditional grass arena. "Only one class will be held at any time in the International Arena during high performance events; either the all-weather ring or the grass ring, but never simultaneously.

"The grass field will be used primarily as an infield area during the Grand Prix jumping in order to expand general admission seating for what we expect will be larger crowds of spectators that will provide a big boost to the sport. Various premium hospitality tents will be relocated prior to the circuit to reflect the change."

Poels and Oliver Hoberg of Germany were selected to install and maintain the footing for the 2008 Olympic equestrian events in Hong Kong in August.

Different types of sand that are the primary ingredient of what is known as the "Poels-sand" surface footing were sourced to several quarries in Florida. Mixing the sand and other ingredients has been underway at a site near Wellington since Nov. 27.

Poels said that within hours of the completion of the National Horse Show in Wellington on Sunday, Dec. 9, bulldozers and trucks will start removing grass and dirt from the arena up to a foot deep.

Over the following two to three weeks, about 4,500 tons of rocks of varying sizes and 2,000 tons of sand will be installed in four layers.

In addition to the Hong Kong Olympic arena, the Poels family has installed indoor and outdoor arenas in their native Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Austria, Italy, Portugal, United Arab Emirates and Turkey. Individual customers include top riders Francois Mathy, Ludo Philipaerts, Philippe Lejeurne, Mark van Dijck and Henk Nooren.

All-weather outdoor arenas have replaced grass at some of the world's top horse shows in recent years because of concerns over the welfare of horses and the difficulties of maintaining grass for longer than the four to six days of a major competition. Among those to have made the switch are Rotterdam and Rome, both of which are in the elite Samsung Super League Nations Cup series.

ESP is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wellington Equestrian Partners, LLC that bought The Show Grounds and The Stadium in September and acquired the U.S. Equestrian Federation Wellington licenses in November to enable it to stage several months of hunter, jumper and dressage shows, including the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in Wellington.

WEF in 2008 is being expanded to 12 weeks in Wellington, from Jan. 16 through April 6 with record prize money of more than $4.7 million. The WEF Parade of Champions will occur in Wellington at the old Polo Stadium on Sunday, April 6.

Photo: Equestrian Sport Productions, LLC Managing Partner Mark Bellissimo (left) and Olympic footing expert Bart Poels (right) surveying Palm Beach International Equestrian Center's Internationale Arena in preparation for installing an all-weather surface. Photo by Ken Braddick