WELLINGTON, Fla.--Beat Mändli, Charlotte Jacobs and Kevin Gallagher won the $25,000 Future Challenge 7-Year-Old Developing Jumper Series Classic, the 6-Year-Old and the 5-Year-Old sections respectively on March 18 at the Winter Equestrian Festival.
Beat Mandl on Cinderella (Photo by Sportfot)Mändli of Switzerland on Cinderella 770 beat a jump-off field of 19 from 45 starters over a course set by Michel Vaillancourt.
The lead changed hands several times early on before Mändli stopped the timers in 30.942 seconds.
“Today we had a very fast jump-off and a large one,” said Mändli. “I was early in the returning order, but she had given me a good feeling in the first round so I just gave it my best shot.”
“The plan was not originally to have her come, but I was a bit short on horses when I came over here and I had an extra stall, so I figured why not and shipped her over from Europe,” he said. “I just wanted to play around with her a bit, but she has had a great season so far with a handful of double-clear rounds, and then obviously winning the final today. I didn’t have much of a plan for the jump-off; I just rode as neat and fast across the ground as I could without pushing her too hard.”
Luis Fernando Larrazabal of Venezuela on Baroness was second in 31.183 seconds, and Great Britain’s Matthew Sampson on King Lepatino was third in 31.786 seconds.
JACOBS on Pablo C Victorious won the $15,000, 6-Year-Old Developing Jumper Series Classic in a nine horse jump-off from a starting field of 24.
Jacobs finished in the fastest time of 31.994 seconds.
“We got him from Barnadown Show Jumping in Ireland after having followed his career throughout the summer,” said Jacobs. “He is incredibly easy, fun, and careful. He is everything you would want in a show jumper.”
Jacobs said that he is a bit bigger and slower than some of the other mounts.
“I had to be a bit creative in the jump-off, so I actually jumped a bush that was between the water and another jump to make up some time,” she said.
Matthew Boddy of Great Britain was second place on Rockette, clean in 32.464 seconds, and David O’Brien of Ireland was third on Headley’s Kineticin 33.296 seconds.
Gallagher of Ireland rode Montana to win the $10,000 5-Year-Old Developing Jumper Series Classic.
Gallagher was one of five in the jump-off from a starting field of 13, and his quick time of 31.832 seconds gave him the win.
“She’s inexperienced, but she’s very careful,” said Gallagher of the mare also owned by Jacob's North Star. “It’s easy to be fast when you know the horse isn’t going to knock the jumps down.”
“I only started riding her a couple of months ago here; we help Charlotte so it’s her young horse,” said Gallagher. “They bought her as a foal and have produced her all the way up through now. She has gotten better and better every week so it’s an exciting one to do with her.”
“This series is brilliant,” said Gallagher. “You get to jump in the best rings, the courses are nice, and they’re not too challenging. You can bring on a young horse easily.”
Second in the classic was Bianca La Fontaine of Canada on Mister Diamant VG, and third was Tyson Fury, owned and ridden by Laura Chapot.
