WEF 2015 (USA): Eric Lamaze and Check Picobello Z Earn First Win of the 2015 Winter Equestrian Festival

8 Jan 2015

Eric Lamaze and Check Picobello Z

“He is very intelligent,” the rider described. “He is so intelligent that he never thinks he is in trouble, so he can be a little difficult in the mouth, but in his head it is never a problem. For the rider sometimes you feel like, ‘If you would just let me ride you a little bit better,’ but he is really intelligent and a great personality. He loves to compete, and he has all the right reactions of a great horse.”

In Wednesday’s class, Lamaze went first with the ten-year-old Selle Francais mare Rosana du Park (Kannan), who competed last season with rider Carly Anthony.

“We give Carly a few young horses to bring along for us, and she had some fantastic results with the mare,” Lamaze detailed. “I took over riding her in Chantilly this year. Some horses are good, but they are well served being brought up by a rider who is going to give them all the experience in the world. This mare had all the mileage with Carly, and I felt she was ready to compete. That is also a horse that I am going to use as my main horse this year.”

Following his winning round, Lamaze also spoke about the morning’s speed track, stating, “It is the opening day. I think it was fair. Eric Hasbrouck is a very good course designer. He was a great rider himself, so I think he knows what an opening day at a show should be. I always feel that there are great course designers that haven’t ridden in a while or maybe never rode, but the ones that have ridden and not long ago, it seems to me that they are more sensitive to what the sport needs and what to set up on a day like today or a difficult week when perhaps it is only a two-star but you have five-star riders with five-star horses. It is difficult to build, but I always find that the course designers who have recently ridden are very sensitive and always understand.”

As week one continues, Rosana du Park will compete again in Thursday’s $25,000 Ruby et Violette WEF Challenge Cup. Check Picobello Z will either compete in Saturday’s $25,000 Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic or Sunday’s $30,000 WEF 1 Grand Prix.

“These are my one-two horses for the next two weeks,” Lamaze explained. “Then I have Fine Lady that is coming out and some others. I have a great group of horses this year. I rested them all. I didn’t compete after Barcelona. Normally the older horses would have gone on to Geneva and now they would start their rest. I decided not to follow that fall circuit, so I am arriving with my older horses fresh and my young horses ready to go, so for me it is the perfect winter.”
Also competing in the International Arena on Wednesday, Heather Caristo Williams and M/M Ralph Caristo’s Balou’s Fly High earned a win in the $6,000 Spy Coast Farm 1.40 speed class with the fastest of 16 clear rounds out of 74 entries. Laura Chapot and Mary Chapot’s Zealous finished second.

Ali Wolff and John C. Wolff’s Brianda jumped to victory in the $6,000 Spy Coast Farm 1.40m jump-off competition. With 65 entries, 20 advanced to the immediate jump-off, where 13 went double clear. Tiffany Foster and Artisan Farms LLC’s Brighton finished second.

The 2015 Winter Equestrian Festival continues with its second day of competition on Thursday featuring the $25,000 Ruby et Violette WEF Challenge Cup in the International Arena at 1 p.m. For full results, please visit www.showgroundslive.com.
 

For more information, please visit www.equestriansport.com or www.pbiec.com.

Final Results: $8,000 1.45m Speed

1. 123 CHECK PICOBELLO Z ERIC LAMAZE ARTISAN FARMS LLC & TORREY PINES STABLE: 0/68.886
2. 4462 S & L SLINGBACK ADRIENNE STERNLICHT STARLIGHT FARMS LLC: 0/71.281
3. 2141 MOONDOGGIE LESLIE HOWARD LESLIE HOWARD: 0/71.324
4. 121 ROSANA DU PARK ERIC LAMAZE ARTISAN FARMS LLC: 0/71.560
5. 1765 QUATOUR DE B NEVILLE MARIE HECART ROGELIO PELLERANO: 0/77.673
6. 1683 BACKSTORY DARRAGH KERINS DAVID HOPPER: 4/72.873
7. 1009 TEIRRA ALISE OKEN HI HOPES FARM LLC: 5/78.926
8. 2800 ZEPHYR MICHAEL DORMAN WYNDMONT: 8/70.339
9. 705 PETRUSHKA III TOM FOLEY SWEET OAK FARM: 8/71.071
10. 2982 ROBIN DE PONTHUAL PETER LUTZ KATHERINE GALLAGHER: 8/75.853
11. 411 CLEVER GIRL MAGGIE JAYNE BULL RUN EQUESTRIAN CENTER: 16/71.630
12. 5028 GOODWINS LOYALTY KEVIN BABINGTON KEVIN BABINGTON: 17/86.778

Photo Credit: Photos © Sportfot

Source: Equestrian Sport