David McPherson Captures Top Two Spots in the $25,000 Suncast® 1.50m Championship
Monday 20 February 2012
At the end of the sixth week of the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival British riders are still strong in the placings in the top classes.
Once again British riders dominated the $25,000 Suncast® 1.50m line up with David McPherson partnering his own Silver Exchange II for the win and his own Leonitas for 2nd place. Picking up 4th place was Ben Maher riding Quainton Stud’s 8 year old chestnut gelding Quiet Easy 4, 9th place went to Tina Fletcher riding Lady Harris’ 13 year old chestnut gelding Hello Sailor and Nick Skelton picked up 10th place riding Beverley Widdowson’s 11 year old bay mare Unique XVIII.
The course designer for this week was Anthony D'Ambrosio of Red Hook, NY. There were seven clear rounds over his course that began with twenty seven entries.
David rode his first of two rides in the jump off Silver Exchange II, an 11 year old grey gelding early in the class and was the second to go clear. Silver Exchange II completed the jump-off course with a time of 43.29 seconds. When he returned as the last to attempt the jump-off course, David was just shy of beating his leading time in 45.81 seconds on his own Leonitas, another 11 year old grey.
Of the course, David said, "I walked the track and thought, 'This is strong.' I thought he [Anthony D'Ambrosio] was going to get five, maybe six, clears. It was technical, you had to have ride ability and be very careful."
David described his plan for today's class, "My tactics were real simple. I just wanted to jump clean rounds with these two. They're not up to speed to go and do heroics, at this moment in time anyway. Thank God all of my dressage is paying off somewhere down the line."
Silver Exchange II and David have been a pair for just over a year and David said, “Silver Exchange II finished off last year wonderfully and did some really good things. Then he was on a long layoff; he had a slight injury. I've come here and basically just jumped last weekend and this weekend, so I'm delighted with him. All of my horses came here after a long holiday."
David and Leonitas also picked 3rd place in the $8,000 G&C Farm 1.45m Jumpers earlier this week.
Earlier on in the week the $30,000 WEF Challenge Cup Round 6 Grand Prix took place. Although this saw American rider Reed Kessler taking three of the top four spots, it was British rider Tina Fletcher that split his rides with Unique IX in second.
There were thirty four entries in the Grand Prix, and they competed over a course designed by Richard Jeffery of Great Britain. There were eight that went clear to advance to the jump-off.
Reed Kessler had the daunting task of going first on Cylana, they turned up the speed and set a clear round time of 40.49 seconds that couldn't be beat. The next and only other clear round in the jump-off came from Tina Fletcher riding Lady Harris’ 11 year old bay gelding Unique IX. They recorded a time of 48.81 seconds for the second place position.
Also picking up results in this class was Nick Skelton on Unique XVIII placed 10th and Scott Brash riding Intertoy Z placed 11th.
For full results, please visit www.showgroundslive.com
Final Results: $25,000 Suncast 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic
1st David McPherson riding Silver Exchange II – 0/0 in 43.92 seconds
2nd David McPherson riding Leonitas – 0/0 in 45.81 seconds
3rd Nicolas Pizarro riding Saskia – 0/0 in 46.07 seconds
4th Ben Maher riding Quiet Easy 4 – 0/4 in 41.89 seconds
5th Jimmy Torano riding Walk About – 0/4 in 42.98 seconds
6th Lauren Hayes riding Starlet – 0/8 in 45.40 seconds
7th Kent Farrington riding Valhalla – 0/8 in 45.51 seconds
8th Marie Hecart riding Ninon Des Loulou – 4 in 73.35 seconds
9th Tina Fletcher riding Hello Sailor – 4 in 73.19 seconds
10th Nick Skelton riding Unique XVIII – 4 in 74.49 seconds
Final Results: $30,000 WEF Challenge Cup Round 6
1st Reed Kessler riding Cylana – 0/0 in 40.49 seconds
2nd Tina Fletcher riding Unique IX – 0/0 in 48.81 seconds
3rd Reed Kessler riding Ligist – 0/4 in 40.14 seconds
4th Reed Kessler riding Pacha de Nantuel – 0/4 in 41.20 seconds
5th Lauren Hough riding Casadora – 0/4 in 43.98 seconds
6th Mario Deslauriers riding Calle – 0/4 in 44.42 seconds
7th Nicolas Pizarro riding Crossing Jordan – 0/8 in 48.12 seconds
8th Pablo Barrios riding G&C Sinatra – 0/12 in 43.48 seconds
9th Callie Schott riding Wrigley – 4 in 92.06 seconds
10th Nick Skelton riding Unique XVIII – 4 in 92.13 seconds
11th Scott Brash riding Intertoy Z – 4 in 92.67 seconds
Photo Credit: Photos © Sportfot, Official Sport Photographer of the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival, www.sportfot.com.
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