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Laura Kraut and Anthem take huge paycheck
Monday, April 14th, 2008
tIn some of the most exciting show jumping action that the United States has
seen, it was Laura Kraut of Wellington, FL, and Anthem who stayed clear through
three rounds to win the $500,000 Grand Prix of Charlotte, CSI 5* for the
Charlotte Bobcats Cup. Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa and Rufus finished
second, while Chris Kappler of New
Jersey was third on VDL Oranta. Ben Maher of
Great
Britain with Rolette rounded out the group that
competed in the jump-off and finished in fourth place.
The
courses today were designed by Steve Stephens of Palmetto, FL. In the first
round of 38 entries, it took 15 trips until the great crowd at the Time Warner
Cable Arena saw a clear trip. Earlier, Eric Lamaze (CAN) and Hickstead were
clear, but they accrued one time fault. Pessoa and Rufus, owned by Double H
Farm, were the first completely clear round. Nine other riders would join Pessoa
to come back for the second round. In the first round, there were nine riders
with just four faults.
Pessoa was the first to return for the
second round, and the course consisted of 10 jumps, including a triple
combination in a bending line to the final oxer, which was set by the in-gate.
Pessoa had trouble fitting in the five strides to the final jump, and when Rufus
took off, Pessoa threw his hands to give Rufus as much as help as he could.
Rufus gave a great effort and cleared the final jump to become the first double
clear entry.
Pessoa explained, "He has a very big stride, and
it got really tight. I came really close to the wide oxer. When he took off, I
tried to give him the reins and see if he could stretch. I was really happy that
he made it."
Georgina Bloomberg and Gotham Enterprizes' Curius
were next in to contest in the second round. They had a great round going until
the final jump, where they had a rail for four faults. They also had one time
fault to finish with five total faults in 65.16 seconds. Eduardo Salas Herrera
(MEX) and RMW Estina, owned by Rocky Mountain Warmbloods, were unable to go
double clear when they had a rail at fence 9b of the triple combination. They
finished with four faults total.
Kraut and Anthem, owned by
the Summit Syndicate, were up next in the second round. They put in an easy trip
to secure a jump-off when they went double clear.
Christine
McCrea and Vegas, owned by Candy Tribble, had a rail at jump 2 to finish with
four faults total. Next in was Chris Kappler with VDL Oranta, and with his
second clear round, the crowd was assured of an exciting
jump-off.
Richard Spooner and Show Jumping Syndicate's
Cristallo were unable to stay clear, pulling a rail at fence 9b to finish with
four faults, and the same happened to Beezie Madden and Abigail Wexner's
Authentic, who knocked a rail at fence 5a. The last horse in the ring was
Rolette, owned by Mr. D Paul and ridden by Ben Maher. The pair found the key to
a second clear round and advanced to the jump-off.
Pessoa had
the difficult task of being the first back for the jump-off as well. He and
Rufus were great to the first and second jumps, and when he landed easily from
the oxer, Pessoa made a split second decision to go inside the pillars that were
set approximately six feet away from the jump he had just landed from. Rufus
made the turn and had only a few strides to get to the next vertical. He made it
clear through the one stride and made the right hand rollback to the next oxer,
then continued through the long run down the ring to the final oxer. Rufus
finished with no faults in a time of 36.74 seconds to start the jump-off with a
bang.
2000 Olympic rider Kraut and Anthem, a 17-year-old Dutch
Warmblood gelding, followed Pessoa. Kraut did not make the same difficult turn
after the second jump, but instead went around the pillars quickly. They stayed
to the right of the oxer on their way to the one stride, and after the fifth
jump, Anthem dug in through the turn as Kraut pulled through the short rollback.
Kraut positively galloped flat out to the final oxer and left long to the last
jump. Anthem soared over the final oxer and to the screams of the crowd, stopped
the timers in 34.83 seconds to take the lead.
Afterward, Kraut
pointed out, "I'm just lucky because he's fast. He has so much experience that
he's helpful in the jump-off."
2004 Olympic team gold medalist
Chris Kappler and VDL Oranta were quick and neat through the turns of the
jump-off, and the grey mare jumped brilliantly throughout. Kappler took a more
controlled pace to the final fence and finished in 36.84 seconds with a third
clean round, and he finished in third place.
The final one in
was Maher and Rolette. Their turns looked to be a bit slower, but they finished
in a speedy time of 35.48 seconds. The time was not enough to win however,
because they had a rail at jump 5 and finished with four
faults.
This was a new experience for Rufus, who has only been
showing at the grand prix level for a year. It was old hat for Pessoa, who was
the 2004 Olympic individual gold medalist. "It's always difficult to go first.
You try to put (in) a good time," he said. "Laura was really good today, and her
horse jumped amazing. She deserved to win. I'm really happy with the performance
of my horse. I'm really pleased with how he jumped today with three rounds, and
our team is really happy with second place today."
About her
win, Kraut remarked, "I'm a bit in shock right now. I was just happy to make the
top ten. I figured I'd come away with a little bit of money and a nice weekend
here. I'm quite surprised and happy."
Kraut was elated to have
done well in tonight's $500,000 Grand Prix of Charlotte and noted that this
event sets an incredible precedent in the sport of show jumping. "It's
tremendous for us anywhere in the world to have this kind of prize money," Kraut
said. "This very weekend, they were jumping in Doha, Qatar for 300,000 euros. It's really
showing how the sport is growing when there are two events like this in one
weekend. Hopefully, that trend will continue. I think what Bob Johnson is doing
and what others around the world are doing is really hopefully going to put the
sport on the worldwide map."
The winner of today's $50,000
Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic was Subliem and Whitney Weeks.
Final
Results: $500,000 Grand Prix of Charlotte, CSI 5* 1. Anthem, Laura
Kraut: 0/0/0/34.83 Summit Syndicate 2. Rufus, Rodrigo Pessoa:
0/0/0/36.74 Double H Farm 3. VDL Oranta, Chris Kappler: 0/0/0/36.84 M
& K Oranta Llc. 4. Rolette, Ben Maher: 0/0/4/35.48 Mr. D Paul 5.
RMW Estina, Eduardo Salas Herrera: 0/4, Total 4 faults in 2 rounds Rockymt
Warmbloods 5. In Style, Ian Millar: 0/4, Total 4 in 2 rounds Susan
Grange 5. Cristallo, Richard Spooner: 0/4, Total 4 in 2 rounds Show
Jumping Syn. 5. Authentic, Beezie Madden: 0/4, Total 4 in 2 rounds Abigail
S. Wexner 5. Vegas, Christine McCrea: 0/4, Total 4 in 2 rounds Candy
Tribble 10. Curius, Georgina Bloomberg: 0/5, Total 5 in 2
rounds Gotham Enterprizes 11. Hickstead,
Eric Lamaze: Total 1 in 1 round Torrey Pines Stable 12. Up Chiqui, Kent Farrington: Total 4 in 1
round Alex Boone 12. Sapphire, McLain Ward: Total 4 in 1 round McLain
Ward and Blue Chip Bloodstock 12. Ublesco Cara Raether: Total 4 in 1
round Trelawny Farm 12. Onira, Brianne Goutal: Total 4 in 1
round Cloverleaf Farm 12. Sassicaia 11, Katie Prudent: Total 4 in 1
round PlainBay Farm 12. Crelido
Michael Morrissey: Total 4 in 1 round Eugene R. Mische 12. Carlsson Vom
Dach, Will Simpson: Total 4 in 1 round El Campeon Farms 12. Rayana Chiara,
Jonathan Asselin: Total 4 in 1 round Attache Stables 12. Hidden Creek's
Quervo Gold, Margie Engle: Total 4 in 1 round Hidden Creek Farm
