2005 Winter Equestrian Festival in Tampa, FL

Updated April 5, 2005

McLain Ward and Laura Kraut Win on Opening Day of Final Week at Winter Equestrian Festival at Tampa

Tampa, FL– March 29, 2005 – It was a tale of two seasons on Tuesday morning as the ninth and final week of the 2005 Winter Equestrian Festival kicked off at the Bob Thomas Equestrian Center on the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa, Florida. The Tournament of Champions runs through Saturday, April 2, at the Fairgrounds. The grand finale of this year’s festival is the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational on Saturday evening at 7pm at Raymond James Stadium.

For McLain Ward and Laura Kraut, two of America’s most successful riders, this year’s Winter Equestrian Festival tour couldn’t be more different. While Ward has struggled to find the winners circle throughout the circuit, Kraut’s victory total is reaching record proportions.

“Four faults has been the story of my season,” chuckled Ward. “My horses have jumped great, but I’ve had a lot of unlucky rails, all season long.”

Kraut, on the other hand, can’t be stopped. “I’m blessed with wonderful horses and a lot of good luck this season,” she said.

On Tuesday, both Kraut and Ward emerged victorious.

The Course Designer for the final week at Bob Thomas Equestrian Center is Luc Musette of Belgium.

The early morning feature was the 1.45m Jumpers with twenty-one starters. Scoring was Table II, Sec 2 (b). Time First Jump-off. Six horse and rider combinations produced clear rounds and three ended up double clear in the tiebreaker. Seven riders had four faults, while eight had eight or more faults.

Ward’s brightest and best this season has been his speed horse Galant. Today, the duo proved how dominant they can be, producing a jump-off clear and an amazingly fast time of 31.142 seconds. Ward’s time was 5.4 seconds faster that second place finisher, Kate Levy and 15.2 seconds faster than Alison Firestone in third.

Levy, riding her Funny de Liere, was the second of three clear in the tiebreaker, coming home in 36.542 seconds. Third place went to Alison Firestone and Intrepide du Valon, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Bert Firestone. Firestone’s time was 46.370 seconds.

Cara Raether and Trelawny Farm’s Quilano de Kalvarie finished fourth. Raether, in 35.524 seconds, came closest to Ward’s winning time, but had a knockdown for four faults.

“Finally, a win!” said Ward following his 1.45m win today. “Actually, Galant has been great this circuit, I’m the one hurting for victories. Galant has won five or six on the tour, so he’s been fantastic,” laughed Ward. “The key today was to be double clean. There were only three clear, and I know with Galant, if I leave the jumps up, he’s going to be among the top three.”

“This was one of the hardest 1.45m classes we’ve jumped all whole circuit,” said Ward. “It was big. The guy built a tough course, today.”

Official Results - #1003 - $7500 1.45m Table II, Sec 2(b) – 03-29-05 – Covered Arena

• 1 – Galant, McLain Ward – 0-0/31.142
• 2 – Funny de Liere, Kate Levy – 0-0/36.542
• 3 – Intrepide du Valon, ASlison Firestone -0-0/46.370
• 4 – Quilano de Kalvarie, Cara Raether -0-4/35.524
• 5 – Cosequin’s CEO, Debbie Stephens – 0-4/35.617
• 6 – Coeur, Cayce Harrison – 0-8/40.315
• 7 – Firefly, Lauren Bass – 4-64.398
• T8 – Anthem, Laura Kraut – 4-68.844
• T8 – Lionel, Lauren Bass – 4-68.844
• 10 – King Louie, Molly Ashe – 4-69.737
• 11 – Primeur 58, Chris Kappler – 4-70.828
• 12 – Olympus, Cara Raether – 5-72.055

A total of 40 starters went to the post for the 1.40m Jumpers, the second feature of the Tuesday schedule. Scoring was Table II, Sec 2(b). Time First Jump-Off.

Of the forty starters, eleven were clear and eight produced double clear rides. Two riders had one time fault and one had two time penalties. Nine riders had four faults and seventeen had six or more.

Joyous and Laura Kraut, riding for the Summit Partners, came home with the victory. Kraut cruised across the finish line clear and tripped the timers in 31.456 seconds. While Ward totally dominated the 1.45m jumpers earlier, Kraut was just fractions faster than second place finisher, Ramiro Quintana.

Quintana, riding Labelle, for the Turnabout Farm, jumped the speed course without penalty, but fell just 0.28 seconds shy of Kraut’s top time. Quintana finished in 31.737 seconds. Kraut wasn’t satisfied with just the win. She grabbed the third place finish on Pasmore Stable’s Antigua RG. Kraut’s third place time was 32.153 seconds.

McLain Ward and Goldika 559 from the Double H Farm were fourth. Ward’s clean round time was 32.267 seconds.

Wednesday’s jumper card features the $30,000 Ariat WEF Challenge Cup Series Finale at 1pm. The final event in the nine week long Challenge Cup Series is also the final qualifying event for the Budweiser World Cup. The World Cup will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 20-24. The seven top riders, plus one “wild card” will qualify from the East Coast League.

Official Results #1004 – 1.40m Jumpers – Table II Sec 2(b) – 03-29-05 – Covered Arena

• 1 – Joyous, Laura Kraut -0-0/31.456
• 2 – Labelle, Ramiro Quintana – 0-0/31.737
• 3 – Antigua RG, Laura Kraut – 0-0/32.153
• 4 – Goldika 559, McLain Ward -0-0/32.267
• 5 – Hidden Creek’s Charlie Brown, Margie Engle – 0-0/32.797
• 6 – Redefin, Ian Millar – 0-0/36/776
• 7 – Cindy, Judy Garofalo – 0-0/42.519
• 8 – Sansierra, Alison Firestone -0-0/42.960
• 9 – Quincy B, Sheila Burke – 0-4/32.503
• 10 – Ole, Mac Cone – 0-4/33.550
• 11 – Octavius, Jeffery Welles – 0-4/33.748
• 12 – Fanfan du Orbec, Michael Morrissey – 1-76.169

PHOTO CREDIT: Galant and McLain Ward win 1.45m at Tournament of Champions. Photo by Randi Muster

Article courtesy of EuroDressage.com & Mary Phelps, PhelpsPhoto.com, HorsesDaily.com, DressageDaily.com

Image copyrighted: Mary Phelps/Phelpsphotos.com

Article courtesy of EuroDressage.com & Mary Phelps, PhelpsPhoto.com, HorsesDaily.com, DressageDaily.com