Skelton starts his season off in style at the Winter Equestrian Festival, Wellington.

The first week of the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival concluded yesterday and it saw a great start for Britain’s Nick Skelton.

 

Saturday hosted the first “Saturday Night Lights" event with the $30,000 Surpass Grand Prix. The week's course designer in the International Arena was Steve Stephens of Palmetto, FL. There were 36 entries, and 7 were clear in the first round.

 

The first to return for the jump-off was Irelands Cian O'Connor on Blue Loyd. They set a quick clear round in 42.642 seconds to start the second round. Their time held up for third place.

 

Alcester based Nick Skelton was next in partnering Beverly Widdowson’s 11 year old bay mare Unique XVIII and put down a speedy time of 40.88 seconds and with no faults, they jumped to the top. However it was Beezie Madden and his new ride Simon that took the top stop from Nick jumping clear in a time of 40.764 seconds for the win.

 

"I was happy with my horse; he jumped good. He is a good horse. He is a good user," Skelton said of Unique. "He can do anything, and if you really wanted to he could do even more. He can go quick. He wins a lot of classes through the year. Whatever show you take him to he will win a class somewhere."

 

Yesterday saw the first week conclude with the $25,000 Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic. Nick continued with his solid week of success and capped it with a win once again partnering Unique XVIII.

 

Six riders were clear in the first round and returned for the jump-off. Drawn last to go Nick and Unique XVIII had the prime position to know the time to beat with no competitors left. Nick took advantage of this and pressed Unique XVIII around the shortened course. They won handily by almost two seconds in 36.537 seconds.

 

"He felt good. He's fresh," Skelton commented. "This is the fourth time he's jumped this week, but he's in a good swing now and he's going well. I thought after last night that I might as well jump him today. There weren't too many in it. I'll rest him now this week. I might jump him next Sunday and see how he goes. I'll start Carlo next week."

 

The Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Series will return this year with the $50,000 Leading Horse/Rider Combination Award. Nick won last year's first prize of $25,000 and has got off to a good start this year.

 

On his successful week, Skelton said with a smile, "It's always nice to get off to a good start. It's keeping it up that's the hardest thing. We've got 11 weeks to go."

 

For full results please visit www.showgroundslive.com.

 

1^st Beezie Madden (USA) riding Simon - 0/0 in 40.764 seconds

3^rd Cian O’Connor (IRE) riding Blue Loyd – 0/0 in 42.642 seconds

4^th Charlie Jayne (USA) riding Uraya – 0/4 in 41.029 seconds

5^th Margie Engle (USA) riding Lord Spezi – 0/4 in 41.340 seconds

6^th Reed Kessler (USA) riding Ligist – 0/4 in 41.490 seconds

2^nd Darragh Kenny (IRE) riding Wanna Have – 0/0 in 38.375 seconds

3^rd Alexa Pessoa (USA) riding Madison – 0/0 38.533 seconds

4^th Cian O’Connor (IRE) riding Everything – 0/0 in 38.634 seconds

5^th Katherine Dinan (USA) riding Nougat Du Vallet – 0/0 in 40.067 seconds

6^th Leslie Howard (USA) riding Lennox – 0/4 in 38.190 seconds

Photo © Sportfot, Official Sport Photographer of the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival