Deslauriers wint WEF Challenge Cup voor Pessoa

Deslauriers Races Past Pessoa for $25,000 WEF Challenge Cup Win at Winter Equestrian Festival...

Wellington, FL ? February 2, 2006 ? Week two of the thirty-fourth annual Winter Equestrian Festival is in high gear at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club in Wellington, Florida. Mario Deslauriers and Naomi went into overdrive to race away with the victory in today´s main event at the Gold Coast Jumper Classic, presented by Carlisle.

Today was Round Two of the $25,000 WEF Challenge Cup Series. The nine week long series of Thursday grand prix events, major money qualifiers for the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, are also qualifying events for the all new $200,000 FTI Rider Challenge, a rider bonus pool of $200,000. Riders accumulate points from both their performances in the Thursday WEF Challenge classes and Sunday Grand Prix events. The rider with the most points on March 12 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. FTI Consulting of Annapolis, MD, is sponsoring the $200,000 FTI Rider Challenge.

Cloudy skies and a threat of showers greeted the sixty-nine starters who went to the post for the 1p.m. feature. Scoring for today´s WEF Challenge Series was under FEI Table A. art. 238.2.1, One Round Against the Clock. 2004 Athens Olympic Games Course Designer Olaf Petersen of Germany is designing this week´s courses in the Internationale Arena.

Riding out of the fourteenth spot in the order, Kim Prince set the early pace with Overlook Farm´s Couletto K. James. Prince toured the speed course in what appeared to be a very handy time of 64.22 seconds.

Fourteen horses later, Olympic Gold Medalist Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil vanquished Prince from the top of the charts, making her time appear as if she had cantered the course. Aboard Signane Van de Grudeval, owned by M. Sunberg, Pessoa tripped the timers in an incredible 59.83 seconds, a full 4.39 seconds faster than Prince.

Pessoa was immediately challenged by nine-time Olympian from Canada, Ian Millar. Millar followed Pessoa into the ring on In Style, owned by Susan Grange and Lothlorien. Millar broke the beams in 60.62 seconds, just 7/10ths of a second short of Pessoa´s target time.

Twenty-four horse and rider combinations later, Olympian Mario Deslauriers would seal the deal for Canada.

Deslauriers, a former World Cup Champion, brought Naomi into the ring from the fifty-fifth spot in the jumping order. ´I saw Rodrigo take the lead,´ he said. ´I was competing at another ring but got back just in time to see him go, so I knew the time to beat.´ And beat it he did. Deslauriers managed to shave a razor thin .27 seconds off of Pessoa´s top time for the hard fought victory. He raced across the finish in line in 59.56 seconds.

Following the win, Deslauriers explained his strategy, ´Well, I knew my horse is very, very quick, so if I made similar turns and kept on the same pace, I knew I had a chance, and it could be very close.´ He added, ´Naomi jumped fantastic. She´s a very fast horse naturally.´

´Everything worked out beautifully today from the first jump on. Usually when you end up at the top of a great speed class like that,´ Deslauriers explained, ´you´ve got to meet every jump perfectly and keep it smooth and flowing, and today really worked out well.´

With new stock, Deslauriers is excited about competing at the Winter Equestrian Festival this year. ´I have a brand new string of horses,´ he said. ´When you have a few good horses and you place them right and you ride them right, then you automatically become more comfortable on the horses, and it seems to go better and better. We´ve certainly started out on the right foot.´

Team Canada has had a great start at the 2006 Winter Equestrian Festival as well. Asked if this might be the best Canadian contingent ever, Deslauriers said, ´I think so. This year we have five or six riders here in Wellington, and they each have a few nice horses. We hope to build on our success this winter. We hope to do well in the Nations´ Cup here in March and then go into Aachen for the World Championships with some momentum and maybe move back into the top six or seven nations in the world. At least that´s the plan,´ he added with a smile.

Results Class 101 $25,000 WEF CHALLENGE CUP CSI 3*- Round II -TABLE A 238.2.1- Gold Coast Jumper Classic Presented by Carlisle CSI***

2/2/06-Internationale Arena

1 2287 MARIO DESLAURIERS CAN NAOMI 0.00 59.56

MARIO DESLAURIERS

2 2631 RODRIGO PESSOA BRA SIGANE VAN DE GRUDEVAL 0.00 59.83

M SUNDBERG

3 2017 IAN MILLAR CAN IN STYLE 0.00 60.62

SUSAN GRANGE

4 1533 LAURA KRAUT USA ANTHEM 0.00 62.12

SUMMIT SYNDICATE

5 817 CHRIS PRATT CAN RIVENDELL 0.00 62.90

SUSAN GRANGE

6 2502 BEEZIE MADDEN USA DESILVIO 0.00 63.12

ABIGAIL S. WEXNER

7 2377 MARGIE ENGLE USA HIDDEN CREEK"S WAPINO 0.00 63.76

HIDDEN CREEK FARM

8 2254 CANDICE KING USA CALISKAN 0.00 63.91

LOUISBURG FARM

9 183 KIMBERLY PRINCE USA COULETTO K. JAMES 0.00 64.22

OVERLOOK FARM

10 2635 KERI POTTER PESSOA USA ROCKFORD I 0.00 64.97

KERI POTTER PESSOA

11 1364 KEN BERKLEY USA CARLOS BOY 0.00 65.01

RIVERS EDGE GROUP

12 214 ANGELA K. MOORE USA CLAUS 0.00 65.03

STEALAWAY FARM

13 3528 KYLE KING USA CAPONE 1 0.00 65.04

CORRINE SUGAR

14 819 CHRIS PRATT CAN MUSTIQUE 0.00 65.77

SUSAN GRANGE

T15 1291 NONA GARSON USA LANGUSTER 0.00 67.19

RYAN AUTOMOTIVE

T15 3176 ELLIOT STONE CAN ANCHO DE POMME 0.00 67.19

MICHAEL STONE

(bron: Phelps Media Group)