Wellington, FL – March 6, 2014 – The 2014 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF) hosted its $125,000 Ruby et Violette WEF Challenge Cup Round 9 on Thursday with 89 entries and 23 jumping clear to advance to the jump-off. Unfortunately, only ten of the jump-off entries were able to complete their rounds before a severe storm blew through the show grounds. The remaining 13 entries will compete at 8 a.m. Friday morning to determine the winner. Please visit http://showgroundslive.com/esp/showschedule/List/showid/15715/date/2014-03-07 for an updated schedule for all rings on Friday.
Earlier on Thursday, an $8,000 G&C Farm 1.45m jump-off class was held with another win for USA’s Laura Chapot. She won the class on Quointreau un Prince, owned by Chapot and McLain Ward. Beezie Madden (USA) finished second with Abigail Wexner’s Breitling LS.
FTI WEF week nine, sponsored by The Bainbridge Companies, continues through Sunday, March 9. Friday will feature the $34,000 G&C Farm 1.45m in the afternoon as well as the $25,000 Artisan Farms Young Rider Grand Prix Semi-Final Friday night. The $280,000 FEI World Cup™ Grand Prix CSI-W 4*, presented by The Bainbridge Companies, will be the highlight on Saturday night and the $84,000 Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic will be held on Sunday. The FTI WEF, held at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC) in Wellington, FL, features 12 weeks of world-class competition through March 30, awarding $8 million in prize money.
Kelley Farmer and Quotable Clinch Another Shapley’s Grooming Products Regular Conformation Hunter Championship
Kelley Farmer and Quotable continue to be a force to be reckoned with in the hunter ring after winning yet another Regular Conformation Hunter division champions at the FTI WEF. Farmer and Quotable swept the division, presented by Shapley’s Grooming Products, after winning all six classes. Farmer was also reserve champion with Point Being, who was third in the model, fifth over fences, and second to Quotable in all four over fences classes.
Point Being and Quotable in their presentation with Ken and Selma Garber and Sally Stith-Burdette of Shapley’s
Point Being is a new mount for Farmer that she is aiming at the High Performance Working Hunter divisions as well as the derby ring.
“I’m really excited about him. I think his niche is really going to be the four-foot [division]. He won the High Performance stake today, and I’m just doing him in this [division] so he gets a little more comfortable walking in the ring and jumping the bigger jumps. That’s sort of where we’re going to aim at, is High Performance and derbies for him, so I’m really excited about that,” Farmer smiled.
Farmer and Quotable have won many division titles up and down the East Coast over their last year together, and while the handsome bay gelding certainly had the potential to be great, Farmer noted that a horse has to prove themselves in the ring before she assumes they’ll go on to be winners.
“He had the parts to be [great],” Farmer said. “Until they go in the ring and do it, [you never really know]. Some horses have the parts and it never really comes together, and some horses walk in the ring and try harder than anything. It’s just whether it’s channeled correctly and whether they have the desire. They have to have the desire to win, and [Quotable] does.”
Kelley Farmer and Quotable
As he left the ring after jogging Quotable, trainer and part-owner Larry Glefke declared that Thursday was the best the horse had gone during the entire FTI WEF circuit. Farmer agreed that Quotable laid down two spectacular rounds on Thursday, but with a horse that wins as much as Quotable, there’s never a day that he isn’t on point.
“He had two beautiful rounds today. He tries to go well all the time, he really does. He’s a professional show horse, and he really tries to go well every time,” Farmer described.
She continued, “He’s a year older, he’s more mature. He know his job, and he’s a winner. He wants to win. I can’t discount all the other times he’s gone well, but I was thrilled with him [today].”
That will to win is part of what makes the gelding so unbeatable, according to Farmer.
“He walks in the ring and he’s winning. He has to do something wrong not to, you know? He’s done enough at enough places that he knows what to do to win. If he makes a mistake, it’s not because he’s trying to do something wrong. Some horses help you and some horses don’t, and he’s definitely one that helps you,” Farmer explained.
Quotable also possesses the air of a champion, which combined with his good looks, have helped him move up to first place on the rare occasion he wasn’t already placed there before the jog.
“He’s beautifully put together. He shows himself. He walks in the ring, and he know he’s a pretty horse. Not only is he very correct, but he also has a presence about himself,” Farmer remarked.
Hunter competition for Week 9 of the FTI continues on Friday in the $5,000 Jump for the Children Pony Hunter Derby Classics on the grass field at The Stadium at PBIEC starting at 10 am. For full results, please visit www.showgroundslive.com.
Photo Credit: Photos © Sportfot, An Official Photographer of the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival, us.sportfot.com. This photo may be used only in relation to this press release and must include photo credit.