Wellington, FL – March 27, 2013- Week twelve of the 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF), sponsored by FTI Consulting, featured the $33,000 Spy Coast Farm 1.45m speed class on Wednesday with a win for Ireland’s Shane Sweetnam and Cyklon 1083, owned by Spy Coast Farm. Earning points on the Longines FEI world ranking list, the pair beat Laura Kraut (USA) and Woodstock O in second and Darragh Kenny (IRL) and Everest de Muze in third.

The 2013 FTI WEF circuit will conclude with its twelfth week of competition, and the entire circuit, on March 27-31 featuring CSI 5* show jumping. Highlights of the week include the $33,000 G&C Farm 1.45m and $50,000 Ruby et Violette WEF Challenge Cup Round 12 on Thursday, the $33,000 Suncast® 1.50m Classic and $500,000 FTI Consulting Finale Grand Prix CSI 5* on Saturday, and the $50,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby on Sunday. The week will also feature the Adequan Young Jumper Championship Classics with the $10,000 5-Year-Old Classic on Thursday and the $15,000 6-Year-old and $20,000 7 and 8-Year-Old Classics on Friday.

Ireland’s Alan Wade is the course designer in the International Arena at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center for the final week of FTI WEF competition. In Wednesday’s $33,000 Spy Coast Farm 1.45m class, 61 entries contested Wade’s speed track with 13 clear rounds. The winning time of 62.01 seconds belonged to Shane Sweetnam and Cyklon 1083.

Laura Kraut and Joan Kalman/The Freedom Group’s Woodstock O finished second in 62.76 seconds. Darragh Kenny and Alexander LLC’s Everest de Muze stopped the clock in 64.01 seconds to place third. Fourth place honors went to Germany’s Daniel Deusser and Domingo, owned by Stephex Stables, with their time of 64.21 seconds.

Shane Sweetnam and Cyklon 1083
Shane Sweetnam and Cyklon 1083. Photo © Sportfot.

Shane Sweetnam continued his success on the 2013 winter circuit with another great win aboard Cyklon 1083, a twelve-year-old Swedish Warmblood stallion by Cardento x Cortus. The pair has had a lot of top results over the last few months and earned a great win against some talented competitors in Wednesday’s class.

Sweetnam noted, “Cyklon is a very quick horse. We were third last Friday. We have been knocking on the door. We were quick the week before and had one down. He has had a good circuit. He goes to Europe with me, so I didn’t really do so much the first half. He did Spy Coast week and he won a 1.40m and he was second in a 1.40m and third in a 1.40m the first half of circuit. Today was a good win for him. He is always very competitive; he wants to win.”

Darragh Kenny and then Laura Kraut were both very fast before him, but Sweetnam went for the win. “I watched Darragh go and that looked very fast and actually I think Laura was watching at the same time,” he detailed. “Laura was two seconds quicker than Darragh, so I knew she must have been really going, so I basically didn’t try to pull anywhere. I just went for it.”

“The round went pretty much according to plan,” he continued. “I was a little lucky at the second to last jump. I ended up getting a little long in the six-stride, but he tried really hard and we got away with it and then the last fence he jumped really well. He was very quick, so I thought it was going to be hard to beat when we came out.”

“He is an unbelievable trier,” Sweetnam said of Cyklon. “He is so, so careful. He is allergic to the poles. Sometimes we get in trouble because he is so eager to do well, so sometimes he doesn’t listen to wait, but he is a very good horse. He has great results everywhere.”

Shane Sweetnam
Shane Sweetnam in his winning presentation with ringmaster Cliff Haines. Photo © Sportfot.

Also showing on Wednesday, Wilton Porter and Sleepy P Ranch LLC’s Radio City won the $8,000 G&C Farm 1.45m jump-off class for the second week in a row. In the Adequan 7-Year-Old Young Jumpers, Sweetnam and Balavan, owned by Sweet Oak Farm, jumped to victory. In the Adequan 8-Year-Old Young Jumpers, the winner was Ireland’s Cian O’Connor riding Carlo 343, owned by Andreas Herskovitz.

Week twelve of the FTI WEF will continue on Thursday with the $10,000 Adequan 5-Year-Old Young Jumper Classic Final, the $33,000 G&C Farm 1.45m speed class, and the $50,000 Ruby et Violette WEF Challenge Cup Round 12 all featured in the International Arena. For full results, please visit www.showgroundslive.com.

Final Results: $33,000 Spy Coast Farm 1.45m

1. CYKLON 1083: 2001 Swedish Warmblood stallion by Cardento x Cortus
SHANE SWEETNAM (IRL), Spy Coast Farm LLC: 0/62.01

2. WOODSTOCK O: 2003 KWPN gelding by Hors La Loi x Ferro
LAURA KRAUT (USA), Joan Kalman/Freedom Group: 0/62.76

3. EVEREST DE MUZE: 2004 Belgian Warmblood gelding by For Pleasure x Nabab de Reve
DARRGH KENNY (IRL), Alexander LLC: 0/64.01

4. DOMINGO: 2003 Belgian Warmblood gelding by Thunder van de Zuuthoeve x Brownboy
DANIEL DEUSSER (GER), Stephex Stables: 0/64.21

5. WIESIELOTTIE: 2003 KWPN mare by Rash R x Burggraaf
PETER WYLDE (USA), Nybor Pferde GMBH & Co. KG: 0/70.84

6. VDL DOGAN: 2003 Belgian Warmblood stallion by Chin Chin x Darco
CANDICE KING (USA), Bellissimo LLC: 0/70.88

7. GRACE 319: 2002 SATHU mare by Armitage x Beach Boy
JANNE FRIEDERIKE MEYER (GER), Juergen Fitschen & Janne-Friederike Meyer: 0/72.03

8. CAMPBELL VDL: 2004 Holsteiner stallion by Cassini I x Carpaccio
CANDICE KING (USA), Stateside Farm LLC: 0/74.40

9. NOPUS DU GUE JOUBERT: 2001 Selle Francais gelding by Oberon Du Moulin x Elf III
HILARY SIMPSON (USA), Quiet Hill Farm: 0/77.49

10. MYSELF DE BREVE: 2000 SFA mare by Quidam de Revel x Grand Veneur
MARIE HECART (FRA), Normandie Connection: 0/78.71

11. ROYCE:  2004 Oldenburg stallion by Café au lait x Grandilot
MARGIE ENGLE (USA), Elm Rock LLC: 0/79.39

12. ROMANTOVICH TAKE ONE:  2000 KWPN gelding by Numero Uno x Karandasj
CHRISTINE MCCREA (USA), Candy Tribble: 0/79.87

Photo Credit: Photos © Sportfot, An Official Photographer of the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival, us.sportfot.com. These photos may be used only in relation to this press release and must include photo credit.