WELLINGTON, Fla.--Ireland’s Bertram Allen rode the 9-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Pacino Amiro to win the $37,000 Challenge Cup Round 2 CSI3* on the Derby Field at the Winter Equestrian Festival on Friday, Jan. 22.

Bertram Allen on Pacino Amiro (Photo by Sportfot)The Challenge Cup had a starting field of 78 entries with 12 electing to return for the jump-off.

In the second round, many combinations opted to do nine strides to the final fence on course, but Allen did it in eight strides to fly over the final oxer and finish in 39.72 seconds.

“I thought it was a good, tough class, and it was quite a long track in the jump-off,” he said. “My guy is a little bit inexperienced; you could see that at the start of the jump-off, but the more he went, the better he got. I could use his big stride in the big arena, so it worked well for me. He’s only 9, so he’s only stepping up to this level but he’s a very genuine, kind horse that’s always trying do the right thing.”

Paris Sellon was clean on Anna Jo, finishing just over a second off the lead in a time of 40.77 seconds to place second, and Enrique Gonzalez of Mexico on Chacna was third in 42.40 seconds.

 

LIKE THURSDAY'S 1.45m winner Sydney Shulman, Allen had only great things to say about the quality of the footing and opportunity to jump on the derby field.

“The field is fantastic. I love it,” he said. “The ground and everything is really, really good and the horses love it. It’s beautiful. In two weeks, we’re back out here, so I’m going to skip next week just to make sure I can jump as much as I can on the grass. I think it’s brilliant.”

“Obviously there’s not much happening in Europe, so we said we’d come over here again,” he said. “We were here last year, and we’re just going to take it week by week. Pacino Amiro is probably going to be my best horse, so I’ll just try to develop him up to the CSI5* shows hopefully.”

Sydney Shulman, who rides for Israel, turned 26 years old in style with a win aboard Azilis Du Mesnil on the Derby Field on Thursday.

Shulman was clean in the two-phase competition stopping the clock in 30.76 seconds.

Shulman and Azilis Du Mesnil are no strangers to success on the grass after regularly campaigning last season in the Hermès U25 series, capturing the overall title for 2020.

“This is definitely one of the better birthdays," she said. "You can’t do better than this, first class of the day, winning, on your birthday. I absolutely love jumping on the grass and this field. The course was great especially for my horse. She has a massive stride, especially off the left lead, and the two places to leave out were off the left so I was thrilled with it. She jumped beautifully.”

Like many riders competing in the first few weeks of WEF, Shulman gave her horse some time off leading up to the opening of the winter circuit.

“She feels better than ever before,” said Shulman. “She’s a great horse – really simple, brave, really competitive, and super game. I can’t speak more highly about her. I’m thrilled with how she performed, and the course worked out in our favor today.”

Adrienne Sternlicht on Cadans Z was second in 30.80 seconds and U.S. Olympic team gold medalist Laura Kraut on Fleurette was third in 31.23 seconds.

Coming off a stellar third place finish in the $137,000 Wellington Regional Medical Center Grand Prix CSI3* on Saturday night, Shulman was forced to rest, without riding her horses, leading up to Thursday’s competition.

“I have to say thank you to my team at Back Country Farm because I have an injury, and I haven’t ridden since Saturday night,” she said. “They have been riding my horses every day. It really goes to show that it’s a team effort. They prepared her, they’ve been riding her all week, they brought her to the ring, and I’m really grateful for them.”

 

SCOTT STEWART of Flemington, N.J., rode Love Note to the championship in the Green Hunter 3’9”, placing first once, twice second and once each third and fourth in 2 days of competition.

Stewart has ridden Love Note for three years and has shown him twice this season, taking the championship both times.

“I showed him as a first year horse pretty regularly, and last year we showed a couple times and he was very good,” Stewart said. “He primarily does the amateur-owner hunters with his owner, Nancy Hooker.”

“He was great,” Stewart said. “I know him very well, and I can trust him because he is so brave.”

 Love Note will be shown by Hooker and also in the Green Hunter 3’9” throughout the season.

“Since he is so competitive in this division, we will continue to show him in it and hopefully qualify for Devon,” said Stewart.