Shane Sweetnam and Cyklon 1083. Photo © Sportfot.
Wellington, FL – March 27, 2013 – Week twelve of the 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF), sponsored by FTI Consulting, featured the $33,000 Spy Coast Farm 1.45m speed classon Wednesday with a win for Ireland’s Shane Sweetnam and Cyklon 1083, owned by Spy Coast Farm. Earning points on the Longines FEI world ranking list, the pair beat Laura Kraut (USA) and Woodstock O in second and Darragh Kenny (IRL) and Everest de Muze in third.
The 2013 FTI WEF circuit will conclude with its twelfth week of competition, and the entire circuit, on March 27-31 featuring CSI 5* show jumping. Highlights of the week include the $33,000 G&C Farm 1.45m and $50,000 Ruby et Violette WEF Challenge Cup Round 12 on Thursday, the $33,000 Suncast 1.50m Classic and $500,000 FTI Consulting Finale Grand Prix CSI 5* on Saturday, and the $50,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby on Sunday. The week will also feature the Adequan Young Jumper Championship Classics with the $10,000 5-Year-Old Classic on Thursday and the $15,000 6-Year-old and $20,000 7 and 8-Year-Old Classics on Friday.
Ireland’s Alan Wade is the course designer in the International Arena at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center for the final week of FTI WEF competition. In Wednesday’s $33,000 Spy Coast Farm 1.45m class, 61 entries contested Wade’s speed track with 13 clear rounds. The winning time of 62.01 seconds belonged to Shane Sweetnam and Cyklon 1083.
Laura Kraut and Joan Kalman/The Freedom Group’s Woodstock O finished second in 62.76 seconds. Darragh Kenny and Alexander LLC’s Everest de Muze stopped the clock in 64.01 seconds to place third. Fourth place honors went to Germany’s Daniel Deusser and Domingo, owned by Stephex Stables, with their time of 64.21 seconds.
Shane Sweetnam continued his success on the 2013 winter circuit with another great win aboard Cyklon 1083, a twelve-year-old Swedish Warmblood stallion by Cardento x Cortus. The pair has had a lot of top results over the last few months and earned a great win against some talented competitors in Wednesday’s class.
Sweetnam noted, “Cyklon is a very quick horse. We were third last Friday. We have been knocking on the door. We were quick the week before and had one down. He has had a good circuit. He goes to Europe with me, so I didn’t really do so much the first half. He did Spy Coast week and he won a 1.40m and he was second in a 1.40m and third in a 1.40m the first half of circuit. Today was a good win for him. He is always very competitive; he wants to win.”
Darragh Kenny and then Laura Kraut were both very fast before him, but Sweetnam went for the win. “I watched Darragh go and that looked very fast and actually I think Laura was watching at the same time,” he detailed. “Laura was two seconds quicker than Darragh, so I knew she must have been really going, so I basically didn’t try to pull anywhere. I just went for it.”
“The round went pretty much according to plan,” he continued. “I was a little lucky at the second to last jump. I ended up getting a little long in the six-stride, but he tried really hard and we got away with it and then the last fence he jumped really well. He was very quick, so I thought it was going to be hard to beat when we came out.”
“He is an unbelievable trier,” Sweetnam said of Cyklon. “He is so, so careful. He is allergic to the poles. Sometimes we get in trouble because he is so eager to do well, so sometimes he doesn’t listen to wait, but he is a very good horse. He has great results everywhere.”
Also showing on Wednesday, Wilton Porter and Sleepy P Ranch LLC’s Radio City won the $8,000 G&C Farm 1.45m jump-off class for the second week in a row. In the Adequan 7-Year-Old Young Jumpers, Sweetnam and Balavan, owned by Sweet Oak Farm, jumped to victory. In the Adequan 8-Year-Old Young Jumpers, the winner was Ireland’s Cian O’Connor riding Carlo 343, owned by Andreas Herskovitz.
Week twelve of the FTI WEF will continue on Thursday with the $10,000 Adequan 5-Year-Old Young Jumper Classic Final, the $33,000 G&C Farm 1.45m speed class, and the $50,000 Ruby et Violette WEF Challenge Cup Round 12 all featured in the International Arena. For full results, please visit www.showgroundslive.com.
Lauren Fisher for Jennifer Wood Media, Inc.
About the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival
The 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival has 12 weeks of top competition running from January 9 through March 31. The FTI WEF is run by Equestrian Sport Productions, LLC, and Wellington Equestrian Partners and held at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. All 12 shows are “AA” rated and Jumper Rated 6, and more than $7 million in prize money will be awarded. For more information, please visit www.equestriansport.com.
About FTI Consulting
FTI Consulting, Inc. is a global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations protect and enhance enterprise value in an increasingly complex legal, regulatory and economic environment. With more than 3,800 employees located in 24 countries, FTI Consulting professionals work closely with clients to anticipate, illuminate and overcome complex business challenges in areas such as investigations, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory issues, reputation management, strategic communications and restructuring. The company generated $1.56 billion in revenues during fiscal year 2011. More information can be found at www.fticonsulting.com.
Please visit www.equestriansport.com or call 561-793-5867 for more information.
Jennifer Wood Media, Inc.
Equestrian Public Relations
info@jenniferwoodmedia.com