Wellington, FL – January 23, 2010 – By setting down a very quick, clean jump-off round, Mario Deslauriers (USA) and Urico, owned by Jane Clark, won the first major grand prix competition of the 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in the $50,000 Purina Mills Grand Prix, CSI 2*. More than 4,000 people were in attendance for the first nighttime event at the FTI WEF, and they enjoyed an exciting jump-off.
Following behind Deslauriers in the awards presentation were Nick Skelton (GBR) and Carlo 273, owned by Beverly Widdowson, in second place and Yann Candele (CAN) on Susan Grange’s Pitareusa in third.
This is the second week of the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival, and the week two title sponsor is Purina Mills. Competition this week ends Sunday, January 24. The 2010 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival has 12 weeks of competition that conclude on April 4, 2010, and the circuit will be awarding almost $6 million in prize money through the circuit.
Purina Mills Event Marketing Manager Nancy Shearer commented, “This is our first year to sponsor WEF, and we’re really excited to be here. We’re here to preview our products, and we sell our Purina feed on the show grounds. A lot of the riders use Purina feed, and we want to support the riders.”
Course designer Steve Stephens of Palmetto, FL, designed a track with13 numbered obstacles that included a line with the open water to a combination with liverpool. There were 40 entries in the first round, and six of those were clear to advance to the jump-off. Deslauriers said of the course, “I thought the course was quite good. It was difficult and a lot of work, but it was good.”
The first to return in the jump-off would prove to be unbeatable. Mario Deslauriers and Urico, a nine-year-old Dutch gelding by Zandor Z, were very neat and quick throughout the twisting jump-off course. Deslauriers made a great slice across “The Breakers” wall jump and kept moving forward through short turns. They waited down the last line to keep the final, delicate gate vertical standing, and then crossed the timers in 40.34 seconds.
“I set the pace,” Deslauriers said afterwards. “My horse is very, very quick. I was a little slow to the far oxer, but other than that I was pretty much on track. My horse has a big step and is extremely quick in the air. If I can keep it pretty steady and smooth, people have to run. I was lucky that no one beat me. Yann beat me, but he had one (fence) down. It was a great class.”
Following Deslauriers, Nick Skelton and Carlo 273 looked to be very fast as well. Skelton made a good turn to the final line and when they stopped the clock, they were just two-tenths of a second behind the winner with a clean round in 40.51 seconds, which would leave them in second place.
Skelton said, “This was the first time my horse has jumped a grand prix, and it was the first time he’s been under the lights. I was happy with him. If he’d been third or fourth and jumped clear, I would have been happy. I was maybe a little bit slow to number one. That’s where I’d say I lost it, but I was really pleased with him.”
Yann Candele and Pitareusa were the fastest in the jump-off in 37.98 seconds, but a costly four faults at the vertical into the one-stride combination left them in third place.
McLain Ward (USA) and Rothchild, owned by Sagamore Farm, would suffer the same fate with a rail at the combination, and a slower time of 40.79 seconds placed them fourth. Beezie Madden (USA) and Danny Boy had a rail at the fourth jump in the shortened course and their time of 45.82 seconds put them in fifth place. Katie Monahan-Prudent (FRA) and Sassicaia II had a quick round going, but a misstep in the final line led to a fall. Monahan-Prudent was eliminated and finished in sixth place.
Deslauriers is a native Canadian and became an American citizen in September of 2009. He first rode for the United States team at the Nations Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in November last year, but this is his first grand prix win as an American. “It feels great!” he exclaimed. “Jane was here tonight, and everybody was here to watch. It’s always good to start on a good note. The (World Equestrian Games) trials are coming up, and we’ve got important classes. The horse seems to be in good form. We should have a good season.”
Deslauriers started riding Urico in April of last year and they had a very good tour at Spruce Meadows in the summer, winning five classes at the 1.40-1.45m level. They also competed in the World Cup qualifier in Syracuse in November. “He was only eight last year. We were trying to peak for these trials coming up to go to the World Equestrian Games,” he explained. “This is our number one.”
By: Jennifer Wood for Jennifer Wood Media, Inc.
