Ocala, FL – Another picturesque afternoon at World Equestrian Center – Ocala set the stage for 22 top athletes in the $24,000 C. Jarvis Insurance Welcome Prix. FEI Level III course designer Colm Quinn (IRL) laid the welcoming tracks for today’s class where six entries managed to find the path to a clear first round. Last to go, Tracy Fenney (USA) piloted crowd favorite MTM Apple (Favorit Ask x Kong’s Whopsie) to victory.
“It was a perfect Welcome. If you had a new or green horse is was a nice track and if you had ole’ faithful like me, it was perfect. He added a few questions, but nothing super tough where the horses struggled. I think it was a great course to start out the week,” shared Fenney about the opening tracks.
Elisabeth Yeager (USA) and her own Centadel Blue were the first pair of six to return to try their hand at Quinn’s short track. However, the pair incurred a few faults along the way.
Olympic Gold Medalist William Simpson (USA) followed aboard Coxe Hores LLC’s Whoop De Doo. The pair raced around the jump-off track in 39.392 seconds to set the pace.
Simpson’s pace was soon matched by a fellow Olympian Santiago Lambre (BRA). Lambre and his own Pampero navigated a speedy track to stop the clock at 38.794 seconds.
Jill Gaffney (USA) and Freestyling Farms LLC’s FF Blade Runner were next and gave a solid performance in 42.694 seconds.
Dorothy Douglas (USA) and Davenport Farm’s MTM Pablo (Perigueux x Celina) were the second-to-last pair to attempt to snag the victory from Lambre. Douglas and the careful ten-year-old Warmblood gelding yielded a clean and fast round in 38.196 seconds to take over the lead.
Tracy Fenney was the final athlete to attempt Quinn’s jump-off track, “I was able to watch the few go before I went. Santiago was fast, but had to wrestle with his horse to the combination. Jill was pretty quick everywhere except the last line where she did ten. It walked a ten, but we all know the horses open up so much in this ring, our plan was to do the eight. Which is insane to say. Dorrie ended up drifting a bit toward the ingate in the last line and had to really push for the eight, so I knew if I caught it direct Apple would be able to get down the line easily.”
Fenney and the 12-year-old Danish Warmblood mare owned by MTM Farm entered down the ramp of the WEC Grand Arena, “I was walking in the ring past Dorrie, and the thought passed for a second to let her have it, but I am never one to let somebody else win,” laughed Fenney.
“I found a nice distance to fence one, then I think I added one more to the yellow than Dorrie, but left one out to the blue. The in-and-out was good, then Apple was perfect through the rest,” shared Fenney.
Fenney and MTM Apple flew over the C. Jarvis Insurance oxer to stop the clock at 36.927 seconds to snag the victory.
$24,000 C. Jarvis Insurance Welcome Prix Results:
1 MTM Apple, Tracy Fenney, MTM Farm: 0 | 0 | 36.927
2 MTM Pablo, Dorothy Douglas, Davenport Farms: 0 | 0 | 38.196
3 Pampero, Santiago Lambre, Santiago Lambre: 0 | 0 | 38.794
4 Whoop De Doo, William Simpson, Coxe Horses LLC: 0 | 0 | 39.392
5 FF Blade Runner, Jill Gaffney, Freestyling Farms LLC: 0 | 0 | 42.694
6 Centadel Blue, Elisabeth Yeager, Elisabeth Yeager: 0 | 12 | 61.658
7 Aquiles Del Caribe Z, Nikko Ritter, Nikko Ritter: 2 | 74.409
8 Harakiri Z, Mustafa Shah, Mustafa Shah: 4 | 66.744
9 Hakini, Adam Sklansky, Ellen Walker: 4 | 71.030
10 James Bond HX, Samantha Schaefer, Bonne Chance LLC: 4 | 71.082
Photos courtesy of Andrew Ryback Photography.
Videos available at ClipMyHorse.TV
Visit Show Management System for the daily class schedule, estimated start times, orders of go, counts, live scoring and results.