Green Cove Springs, FL –The second week of competition proved to be a great one for new comers to the series. Owner-rider Sharn Wordley’s first visit to the Jacksonville Winter Series got off to a blazing start with his 15 year-old Irish bred gelding Quick Flash taking the victory in the Lucky Sevens Welcome Jumper Stake presented by the Grubb & Ellis Company on Thursday afternoon.
“I like it here! Great facility,” the winner said of his debut at the Winter Series, “Everyone has been terrific and this certainly is a nice start.” The New Zealand born rider-trainer now divides his residence between Ocala, FL during the winter season and Knoxville, TN for the spring-summer, though lately the majority of Sharn’s time is spent on the road to either the next big event or across the continent in search of the next great mount. Quick Flash was one of the four rides Sharn had in the starting field of 21 of which only five returned for the jump off round and Wordley had two of those. “I thought the course suited the class. You didn’t have too many in it and had the right amount of clears.” Sharn said.
Course designer Pierre Jolicoeur of Wellington, FL set what he referred to as a “Simple layout. I’m all about simple today.” he commented with a hardy laugh and then in a more serious tone explained his strategy for the afternoon was to merely gage the level of riders he had coming in for the weekend’s Grand Prix. A generous time allowance of 76 seconds for the first round was offered to the riders taking on the 14-obstacle layout. Sharn’s partner lived up to his name with a Quick 68.228 clear first run. Wordley felt this certainly wasn’t a bad performance for a second show together or a first jump off and a fast final time of 27.533 more than confirmed him right. Second place went to owner-rider Larry Hollahan and his mount Sky King with a finishing time of 29.476. Following in third was Sharn with new ride Rockville and a time of 31.139 while fourth place went to veteran rider Chuck Waters riding his own 747 to a time of 31.276 with 4 faults, and completing the top five was Gautama “G” Tschannerl and Black Forest Commodaro for owner Karola Giebmanns with a time of 36.448 and 8 faults.
From the Hunter Divisions it was a repeat in all four of the major classes, with the busiest rider of the week Scott Hofstetter taking three of the Championships. Riding Lazy Sunday for owner Keli Colby, Hofstetter won the 1st Year Green Working division again; from there he rode Bonfeuer for owner Jan Marie Milani to a Green Conformation Hunter Championship and finished up with tri colors in the Regular Working Hunters on board White Heart for owner Charlotte Fetridge. Rider Mary Nicholson-Leffler partnered with Sam Adams for owners Ashley and Kevin Foster won the 2nd Year Green Working Hunter Championship.
Saturday evening the grand prix arena was a buzz with excitement before the first horse even entered beginning with the always-popular leadline class spotlighting future equestrian athletes and followed by a special exhibition of Freestyle Dressage. Wellington, FL based International Grand Prix Dressage rider Rick Silvia and his 11 year-old Swedish Warmblood stallion Mr. Magic wowed the audience with a musical freestyle demonstration. Rick imported Magic from Europe this past summer and will be competing throughout the US this season with their sights set on qualifying as a team member for the 2007 Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Next up crowd favorite Tennessee and Florida based trainer Dennis Mitchell of Kimbeden Farms provided commentary on his walk through of the course laid out by Pierre Jolicoeur for the main event of the evening sponsored by Grubb & Ellis. “As unassuming as this might be,” Dennis began with the red vertical fence one, “chances are it could come down as much as any other fence on course because there’s a short turn to it and if the horses aren’t carrying enough momentum there’s good chance they’ll have this down.” He continued through the remainder of the course explaining to the audience the sharp turns, long gallops, as well as how best to approach each of the 16 efforts in the time allowance of 83 seconds.
At seven o’clock sharp the first of 26 horses crossed through the end gate to take on Pierre’s challenge. Having the first 5 horses ride clean and within the time allowed almost gave a false impression of just how difficult the course was. Among those first clears were both the New Zealand born riders Sharn Wordley and Kirk Webby, both now based in the Ocala, FL area. Sharn had the second horse in the order, Rockville a 9 year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding which he owns and had a clear time of 82.265 while Sitah, the 12 year-old Belgium Warmblood mare owned by Tolleshunt Horse Farm, Inc. was the first of 2 mounts for Kirk in the event and had a clear first round time of 78.430. “It was a nice run” Kirk said of the first round. Nearly a dozen more horses would try and fail before another clear round was had. In the end only 8 returned for the 48-second jump off round, with Kirk having one chance in Sitah and Sharn bringing three. USET veteran Tony Font of Magnolia, TX was among the talented 8 and in a daring move that put the crowd into a frenzy. Partnered with Gardenio the 17 year-old gelding owned by the YZ Partnership, Tony made a hairpin turn coming off oxer #2 that had them squeezing between the standard of fence #13 and a decorative tree, a space of barely 3 ½ feet in width to take over the lead with a blazing time of 37.366 seconds. “That was really small!” Kirk Webby said of the spacing, Sitah was the next and only other horse to attempt the squeeze play. It paid off with an amazing time of 34.076 that cinched the victory for Kirk in the $25,000 Grubb & Ellis Grand Prix.
“She was fast!” exclaimed Kirk after the win, he went on to say of Sitah, “I got her through McClain (Ward) at the start of last summer. She was good during the summer with 8 or 9 grand prix placings and she’s just starting back now. She can be difficult but very big hearted.” After the Jacksonville Series the pair will return to home base in Ocala for a couple weeks of competition to gage when they’ll head to the Winter Festival in Palm Beach. Long-range plans include the goal of qualifying for the New Zealand Olympic team, which begins with a Nations Cup class in Germany this June.
While riding is a pleasure for this pro it was very evident his real joy is found with family as daughter Jade, age 5, and son Zack, age 3 happily climbed all over dad a beaming wife Robin stood at his side. Kirk confirmed this is a family venture. “I’m quite lucky that a family guy, Wayne Jaccobus, is one of my main backers. He’s been a great help keeping us together.” As for visits home to New Zealand Kirk and Jade both agreed not nearly as often as they’d like. He explained that in order to compete at this level it’s just more sensible to reside in the US, saying, “the traveling from home to compete is just too far and the competition is better here as well as the business part. So living in the US just seemed best for now.”
Finishing out the top five spots for the event were fellow New Zealander Sharn Wordley with Quick Flash in a time of 35.171 for the second place award. Third place went to Tony Font and Gardenio with a final clear time of 37.366, fourth place was awarded to Sharn and Rockville completing the round in 37.707 seconds, and the fifth position went to Mary Nicholson-Leffler piloting Gerona 92 for owners Rolling Acres Farm with a time of 38.772.
The Jacksonville Winter Series continues until February 11th with classes Wednesday through Sunday beginning at 8AM until about 5PM. Coming up the Jacksonville Jerry Parks Insurance $25,000 Hunter Classic on Saturday February 3rd at 7PM and the Jacksonville Winter A to Z $35,000 Grand Prix benefiting the Jacksonville Zoo on Sunday February 4th with activities for young and old starting at 11AM. Zoo residents will be visiting and a special silent auction will take place on the show grounds prior to the main event at 2PM. Admission to the shows are free, a $5 donation is requested for special events, which in turn is given to the series’ various charities. For more information or results on the 2007 Jacksonville Winter Series please visit www.classiccompany.com or call the show office at 904-284-9492.
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