Alvaro de Miranda and AD Rahmannshof’s Bogeno. Photos © Sportfot.

Kent Farrington Wins $100,000 FTI Consulting Rider Challenge; Jessica Springsteen and Vindicat W Score Second FTI WEF Suncast 1.50m Victory

Wellington, FL – March 30, 2013 – Brazil’s Alvaro de Miranda and AD Rahmannshof’s Bogeno jumped to an exciting victory on Saturday night in the $500,000 FTI Consulting Finale Grand Prix CSI 5* at the 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF). The International Arena at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center saw its biggest crowd ever with a packed house of 8,600 fans in attendance to watch the best of the best from the winter circuit compete in the final event under the lights. Great Britain’s Ben Maher and Cella finished second and de Miranda’s wife, Athina Onassis de Miranda of Greece, placed third with Camille Z.

Ireland’s Alan Wade designed the course for Saturday night’s grand prix and set a challenging track for the 40 competitors. Ten entries cleared the first round course without fault to advance to the jump-off and three of those completed clear rounds over the short course in the race for the top prize. Alvaro de Miranda and AD Rahmannshof’s Bogeno, owned by de Miranda and Victory Equestrian BV, had the fastest round in 43.96 seconds for the win.

Athina Onassis de Miranda was first to go in the jump-off and put in a steady clear round in 54.46 seconds aboard her horse Camille Z, owned by the rider and Victory Equestrian. Although she was slower than many of the other riders, her controlled approach paid off when most of the combinations had faults in their attempt to put in the fastest round. The pair’s clear round finished in third.

Ben Maher and Jane Clark’s Cella were the only other pair to complete a clear round in the jump-off and briefly held the lead with their time of 44.88 seconds, but Bogeno and de Miranda soon took over.

Kent Farrington (USA) and Robin Parsky’s Blue Angel had the fastest time of the night in 43.52 seconds, but a rail at the last fence left them in fourth. Nick Skelton (GBR) and Beverly Widdowson’s Big Star were also extremely fast in 44.21 seconds, but had one rail down to finish fifth.

De Miranda’s winning mount, AD Rahmannshof’s Bogeno, is a 13-year-old Belgian Sport Horse gelding by Baloubet du Rouet x Elanville. Flying in the jump-off, one of Bogeno’s shoes actually flew off halfway through the round, but he went on to jump four more fences and blaze through the finish as if nothing ever happened.

“The jump-off was very good for my horse,” the rider stated. “My horse is very quick when you have a long jump-off like that. I tried to go very fast to the wall. I really went as much as I could. I took a lot of risk, but I knew that I had to come into the double holding in seven strides because sometimes if I go too open coming in, I can make a mistake in the second of the double. My horse is so great and that makes my job much easier. He’s very good. In the first round sometimes he’s a little bit tense, but then in the jump-off he’s very calm. When I ride well, normally he is first place.”

This is the first time that de Miranda and his wife have placed at the top of a major class together and they were both thrilled. He was especially happy for the improvement that she has made in her riding this year.

“She trains very hard,” he stated. “I think it’s important to see somebody who really wants to do good. Not only buying good horses, but she really wants to give the best that she can always. She’s a hard worker and she loves the horses. She thinks about the horses 99% of her time. When she’s awake, she’s thinking about horses. It’s impossible for her not to succeed because she trains so hard and she loves them.”

Commenting on her success, Onassis de Miranda smiled, “My horse was great today. It was really good. I knew they were going to come really fast after me. I knew they would be faster, but I was happy to be close.”

Both Alvaro and Athina Onassis de Miranda have been training with legendary former U.S. Chef d’Equipe George Morris. Morris has also been helping Ben Maher with his new mounts for owner Jane Clark. All of the riders gave huge credit to Morris for improving their performances throughout the circuit.

“I would like to thank George Morris very much for all of his support here, especially for Athina,” de Miranda stated. “He also has helped me and without his help, I’m sure that it would not be possible to have this great result, especially with my wife.”

Second place finisher Ben Maher had a great finish in the class with Cella despite riding with three fractures in his lower back after a fall in the schooling ring last week. He congratulated his fellow competitors and praised his horse for helping him through the night.

“I’m very happy. Congratulations to everybody here,” Maher smiled. “It has been a great finish to a great circuit for me. Cella compensated for me tonight. I’ve had a few injuries this week and I wasn’t sure if we were going to ride earlier today. A lot of people have been helping me to make it as comfortable as possible. There were a couple of moments there that if I wasn’t riding Cella, I wouldn’t be sitting here. I’m very, very lucky to ride her. I just had to adapt my style a little bit to a lighter seat, which Cella thought was fun, but I didn’t. She’s unbelievable and she really helped me on a couple of jumps tonight.”

“I did everything I could in the jump-off; maybe I wasn’t as quick as I can be,” Maher remarked. “I tried to beat the ones in front of me and Alvaro was just too fast.”

Along with the winner’s share of $150,000, de Miranda was presented with the brand new Dennis D. Dammerman Perpetual Trophy. The trophy was created to honor the contributions to equestrian sport of Dennis D. Dammerman, a longtime owner of horses and founding member of the Wellington Equestrian Partners.

This was one of de Miranda’s biggest wins and he had a great experience during his first time competing in Wellington.

“For sure this was one of the most important wins of my life,” he acknowledged. “To have the best riders and the best horses all jump in one class and they’re all very fast. It was important especially to have a good program to keep the horse jumping good for the last week. It’s also my first time here and I was a little bit lost. When I came and I saw the prize list and I saw all the classes, I didn’t know how to fit it. That was what we spoke about with George; a plan about how to get to the last Grand Prix. This horse, I have him for a little bit more than one year, and he has been so nice for me. Every time there’s something difficult, I know he’s there and he’s fighting for me and I’m happy to have so many good horses.”

“This was my first time here, even to watch,” de Miranda added. “I’m very happy and I hope we can come next year. We look forward to coming again. I’m really, really happy, especially to have good results and leave with good memories.”

The $100,000 FTI Consulting Rider Challenge concluded on Saturday night after twelve weeks of jumper competition at the 2013 FTI WEF. Kent Farrington led the standings and earned a $50,000 cut of the bonus money for his success during the circuit. Conor Swail finished in second place to earn $25,000, Reed Kessler was third and received a $15,000 check, and Beezie Madden finished fourth for a $10,000 bonus.

Farrington was second last year and moved up to take the top prize with many great finishes throughout the circuit this year.

“It means I can take home some more money, which is great,” Farrington smiled in response to the win. “I was second last year, and I’ve been telling Dennis Shaugnessy that I was going to take his money one of these years, so finally. It’s great to have rider incentives like that. It’s a long winter here and any time there are bonuses, it’s really exciting for our sport and something we all look to a little bit. I have a good team of horses and I have a great group of owners to thank, along with my staff. It’s a big team of people helping that happen.”

Several other awards were presented on Saturday for the final week of competition in Wellington. Ben Maher’s mount Cella had a fantastic circuit and her owner, Jane Clark, was presented with the Simba Run Perpetual Trophy as the owner of the open jumper who has earned the most prize money in classes held at 1.45m or more during the 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival. Clark was also presented with The Harrison Cup Perpetual Trophy, which is awarded to the owner whose horses won the most jumper money in all of the open jumper classes held throughout the circuit. In addition, Cella’s groom Joy Montgomery was presented with the Oliver O’Toole Perpetual Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the groom of the horse who has earned the most money in the grand prix jumper classes.

Other awards included the Leading Lady Grand Prix Rider for the circuit, which was presented to Reed Kessler on behalf of Martha Jolicoeur of Illustrated Properties in memory of Dale Lawler. Conor Swail received theNiall Grimes Perpetual Trophy as the Irish rider that earned the most money during the week of CSIO competition. Laura Kraut and Woodstock O were presented with the Champion Equine Insurance Jumper Style Award for the overall circuit, which is awarded to the jumper whose style best exemplifies a show jumper based on scope, rideability, technique and competitive spirit.

Jessica Springsteen and Vindicat W Score Second Suncast 1.50m Victory

On Saturday afternoon, the $33,000 Suncast 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic was held with a win for Jessica Springsteen (USA) and Stone Hill Farm’s Vindicat W. Forty entries showed in the class with 15 advancing to the jump-off and only three clear rounds over the short course. Springsteen and Vindicat W cleared the course in 44.33 seconds for the win.

Richie Moloney (IRL) and Equinimity LLC’s Carrabis Z finished second in 44.86 seconds. McLain Ward (USA) finished third with The Wannahave Group’s Wannahave with a clear round in 45.77 seconds. Ward was also fourth with the fastest round of the day but incurred four faults in 41.88 seconds aboard Grant Road Partners’ Super Trooper de Ness.

Springsteen and Vindicat W, an eleven-year-old KWPN gelding by Guidam x Libero H, also won the $82,000 Suncast 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic during week nine of FTI WEF competition. Springsteen purchased the horse in August of last year just after the Olympic Games in London where he was the mount for Peter Charles in the British team’s gold medal win. The rider, who is currently in her junior year at Duke University in North Carolina, has traveled back and forth from school to compete this winter. She has been taking her time to build a good partnership with the talented gelding while showing as much as possible in between a busy schedule of classes.

On Saturday, the duo proved that they were perfectly in sync with another exciting win. They went third in the jump-off and could not be beat after that.

“I had a pretty good plan,” Springsteen explained. “I kind of like going early in these big jump-off classes because watching everybody go so fast and then having to go after makes me a little nervous. I did miss one inside turn, so I definitely thought that somebody would beat me because I kind of left that door open, but he is so fast. He is so amazing.”

“I am really happy,” Springsteen said of their growing partnership. “It took a second to get used to going fast with him and get used to a jump-off, so I feel like I have gotten that down and I am excited to try it over the bigger tracks.”

Springsteen also won the $15,000 RCG Farm SJHOF High Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic on Saturday with Stone Hill Farm’s Wish. With some of her top horses going so well throughout the FTI WEF circuit, she is looking forward to traveling to Europe for the summer to compete.

“It feels great to be coming off of this winter and be ready to go to Europe,” she noted. “I am really excited. All of my horses feel amazing. I only came down six weekends, so they haven’t been doing so, so much, which I think is nice. They all still feel fresh and ready to go for the summer.”

Molly Zisook Tops THIS National Children’s Medal 14 & Under Aboard C’est Si Bon

Molly Zisook rode her eight-year-old Westphalian mare C’est Si Bon to victory in the THIS National Children’s Medal 14 & Under class during week twelve of the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival. Zisook, of Lake Forest, IL, bested the class of twenty-nine entries after a first round score of 87 landed her in the top four called back to test.

Second place went to Lucy Deslauriers, who finished with a score of 86 with Stonehenge Farms’ Al Pacino. Olivia Bruyn came in third with a score of 84 with Square One, owned by Beacon Hill Show Stables. The top four was rounded out by Emma Kurtz and Marigot Bay Farm’s Starts Go Blue. The pair scored an 83.

Zisook has owned her mare, affectionately known as “Bon Bon,” since 2012 and has successfully shown her the final two weeks of the FTI WEF. Before Saturday’s victory, Zisook and Bon Bon placed second in the THIS National Children’s Medal 14 & Under class during week eleven. The pair has also shown in the Coldwell Banker’s Children’s 14 & Under Hunter division.

Zisook’s dedication to improving her mare’s rideability paid off this week with their blue ribbon finish. “We practice a lot of lengthening and shortening to help get her on the bit more. We also do a lot of trot jumps and practice the turns,” Zisook described.

The pair was clearly well prepared as Zisook and Bon Bon had no issues with a course that overfaced several competitors. “I thought the course was straight-forward. Going into the test, I wanted to be able to do it efficiently and not get stuck anywhere,” Zisook commented.

Zisook’s bond with her affectionate bay mare was clear as she commented on Bon Bon’s best attributes. “She’s really sweet and she’ll do anything for me,” Zisook smiled. “She’s really soft and easy over the jumps.”

Zisook and Bon Bon will continue to show throughout the spring and summer, with their ultimate goal being to move up to Junior Hunter divisions. Trainer Jill Knowles is confident in Zisook’s progress over the past year and looks forward to coaching her as she moves up.

“Molly’s a great student. She really has shown a lot more discipline this year and effort to be efficient and ride a lot better,” Knowles praised. “Our goal is to move her into the Small Junior Hunters this year. We’ll go to Kentucky and try for the 3’3″ Children’s, and then when she’s ready, we’ll move her up to the Juniors.”

The first round of the $50,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby was held in the E. R. Mische Grand Hunter arena to wrap up hunter competition for the day on Saturday. Fences for the class reached nearly four and a half feet tall for the high options, providing particularly exhilarating entertainment for the large crowd of hunter fans watching the class.

Brunello and Liza Boyd emerged victorious from the round of forty-one entries with a score of 188. Skyfall and Louise Serio were second with a combined score of 187. Taken and Kelley Farmer rounded out the top three with a score of 187, with the lower score from the tie-breaker judges’ panel.

Week twelve of the FTI WEF, presented by title sponsor FTI Consulting, concludes Sunday with the Beval Palm Beach Adult Medal Final, hosted in the Rost Arena of the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC). The $50,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby will also crown its winner Sunday afternoon at The Stadium at PBIEC. For full results, please visit www.showgroundslive.com.

Lauren Fisher and Laura Cardon 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