Wilmington, OH – Spring II feature class action at World Equestrian Center – Wilmington began this afternoon in the Main Jumper Ring with the $7,500 Devoucoux Welcome Stake. Twenty-six talented horse-and-rider combinations put forth their best efforts over an open track built by Bobby Murphy (USA), but it was Nikko Ritter (USA) who emerged victorious aboard Wendy Peralta’s Kandle (Kannan x Ceska).
Nine combinations successfully navigated a clear first round to qualify for the jump-off, where only two managed to produce a double clear effort.
Building on their success from Spring I, Nikko Ritter and Kandle maintained their momentum into Spring II. “He is a nine-year-old and quite the success story. He was gifted to my stepfather as a foal. He came over from Europe around four or five years old and has been developing ever since,” shared Ritter. “He has grown up so much this year. I was out of a top-level horse, and I knew he had the ability, so he kinda got thrown into the deep end, but he has really rose to the occasion.”
The jump-off course suited the nine-year-old Holsteiner gelding’s strengths, according to Ritter, “He is a big horse with a huge stride. He has such a big step, when he’s up and in front of me, we cover so much ground. So, I was able to leave out a stride in both of the last lines.”
In 36.382 seconds, Ritter and Kandle climbed to the top of the leaderboard and secured the victory.
Looking ahead, Ritter plans to further develop Kandle over the summer, “I’m going to keep it light this summer to prepare for the fall and winter. The goal is hopefully a Championship in Europe next year. We’ll do a few three-star events this summer to add a few buttons and get him used to the height. He has all the scope in the world; he just needs to learn how to use it.”
Samuel Pegg (CAN) returned to World Equestrian Center – Wilmington right where he left off. Pegg piloted his own 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding, Gin Tonic 158 (Graftop x Sanjador) to the only other double clear effort with a jump-off time of 38.369 seconds for second place.
Kelly Soleau-Millar (USA), aboard Michael Meller’s eight-year-old KWPN mare, Fire Fly (Arezzo VDL x First Price G), was the fastest of the four-fault jump-off combinations, finishing with a quick time of 37.100 seconds with one unfortunate rail.
$7,500 Devoucoux Welcome Stake Results:
1 Kandle, Nikko Ritter, Wendy Peralta: 0 | 0 | 36.381
2 Gin Tonic 158, Samuel Pegg, Samuel Pegg: 0 | 0 | 38.369
3 Fire Fly, Kelly Soleau-Millar, Michael Meller: 0 | 4 | 37.100
4 Doonaveeragh Balou, Kelly Soleau-Millar, Qbs Equestrian LLC: 0 | 4 | 38.372
5 Hendrik Wildricks, Richard Rinehart, Chris Richards: 0 | 4 | 38.600
6 Jack Sparrows, Oliver McCarthy, Ashfield Stables: 0 | 4 | 39.152
7 Formidable Diamant, Samuel Pegg, Harlow Investments Enterprises LLC: 0 | 8 | 40.427
8 Jazil Du Houssoit, Kady Abrahamson, Abrahamson Equestrian LLC: 0 | 8 | 53.110
9 Icon Nr, Savannah Embly, North Ridge: 0 | 13 | 54.367
10 Brook De Brekka, Sarah Meier, Sarah Meier: 4 | 72.760
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Results can be found at horseshowing.com.
All horse show images are provided by Winslow Photography and can be purchased onsite at WEC – Wilmington or online through their website.