WELLINGTON, Fla.--Kelli Cruciotti Vanderveen won the last international class of the Winter Equestrian Festival as, riding Forever SFN, she won the $50,000 Grand Prix CSI2* on the Derby Field on April 3.
Kelli Cruciotti Vanderveen and Forever SFN (Photo by Sportfot)Guilherme Jorge's final course was for 45 two-star competitors in the class, from which 11 were clean.
Crucioitti Vanderveen was the second to return in the jump-off and had the first clear round on Forever SFN in a time of 38.18 seconds.
Five other horses went clean, but none would come close to the leader’s blazing time.
“I don’t know this horse very well as this is only our fifth class together,” said Cruciotti Vanderveen. “When I walked the course, I thought it was quite technical, and I knew the time allowed would be tight based on Friday’s qualifier. I thought the first round actually rode quite well, and then I just stuck to the plan I had made for the jump-off. I think where we ended up having the better time was our approach down to the final fence. I’m not sure how many strides I ended up doing but it felt quite fast.”
CRUCIOTTI VANDERVEEN said the win was extra special for her after not riding in international competition for a while due to the retirement of her previous top mount.
“It is really special for me not only to be showing at WEF in FEI classes again but also to be able to win here at the end of the season,”said Cruciotti Vanderveen. “It’s hard to put into words how incredible this moment is, and I feel grateful to ride alongside such amazing combinations every day.”
Fabio Leivas Da Costa of Brazil on Ilex was also clean to place second, but but he was two seconds off Cruciotti Vanderveen’s time, finishing in 40.14 seconds.
Katherine Dinan was third on Dijon Terdoorn Z., clean in 40.19.
Nicola Philippaerts of Belgium on Gijs won the final class in the International Arena, the $50,000, 1.50m National Grand Prix.
With 51 entries, including six Olympians and riders from 13 countries, course designer Ken Krome set a formidable test that had only six for the jump-off.
Philippaerts was third in the jump-off, following a time of 44.446 seconds set by Darragh Kerins of Ireland on Intuitive, which would hold up for third place.
Philippaerts was clean in 41.421 seconds for the win, and in second was 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games individual gold medalist Ben Maher on Point Break, clean in 43.344 seconds.
“He has a very good personality, and he doesn’t act like a stallion at all,” said Philippaerts of the 11-year-old KWPN stallion. “He always wants to give the best of himself. I think he has a fantastic character. You can see today that he’s very quick for a big horse, and he has a lot of blood for a big horse.”
This is Philippaerts’s second season showing at WEF.
“It’s been very good for us the last two years both sales wise and with our results,” he said. “This year I had a very good circuit. My top horse jumped very well. I think for sure for next year there will be quite a big future here as well. It will be exciting to see what’s going to happen and what the plans are, and I will be happy to come back. It’s a nice place to be for a few months, and it’s nice for me as a European to ride against different people and be amongst a bit of a different crowd here. It’s been good for me, so I really want to come back.”
“The grands prix are quite difficult enough classes here," he said. "In the jump-off there are always a lot of good riders, so it’s always nice to win a class like this before you go back home.”
