Concluding the fourth week of competition at the 2016 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF), Eric Lamaze (CAN) and Check Picobello Z jumped to victory in the $216,000 Ariat® Grand Prix CSI 4*. WEF continues on February 10-14 with CSI 5* competition. WEF hosts 12 weeks of competition and awards more than $9 million in prize money at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC) in Wellington, FL. Forty entries competed and five jumped clear over the Guilherme Jorge (BRA) designed course. With three double clears, Lamaze won in 43.65 seconds. Nick Skelton (GBR) and Untouched finished second in 45.52 seconds, and Marilyn Little (USA) and Corona 93 placed third in 46.20 seconds. Margie Engle (USA) and Georgina Bloomberg (USA) each dropped rails in the race over the short course to finish fourth and fifth respectively. Engle and Indigo, owned by Griese, Garber, Hidden Creek and Gladewinds, dropped the second to last fence and clocked in at 44.10 seconds. Bloomberg and Gotham Enterprizes LLC’s Lilli had the last jump down in 45.55 seconds. Lamaze continued his winning momentum from earlier in the week with Artisan Farms and Torrey Pines Stable’s Check Picobello Z. After winning Thursday’s Ruby et Violette WEF Challenge Cup Round 4, the 10-year-old Zangersheide gelding (Cardento x Orlando) stepped up to Sunday’s grand prix ready to go. “I was thrilled with him on Thursday. Winning the WEF (Challenge Cup) was already a big step up for him and this was another level from the WEF; it was much higher fences,” Lamaze noted. “This was by far the biggest thing he has ever had to do, so to come out with a win, I could not be happier with him. He is a bit of a different horse. He is not the easiest to maneuver around, but at the end he takes care of the fences for me. He has proven that he can be competitive.” “That was the only jump-off at this height that he has ever done,” Lamaze detailed. “Last year I got into a few jump-offs in the 1.50m and he felt like he was a bit empty coming back every time and did not quite understand what the second round was there for. This year he seems to have grown up quite a bit. I think every rider at this level knows how much you can push your horse without putting the fences at risk, and at this moment he is giving me a lot of confidence that he is going to stay off the fences.” Nick Skelton has a talented new mount in Poden Farm’s nine-year-old Westphalian stallion, Untouched (Untouchable x Capitol I), and was happy with his second place finish in Sunday’s grand prix. “He is really relative low experience at this level, so I am very pleased with him,” Skelton said of Untouched. “He has been graduating over the last four weeks and he is getting better all the time.” “I plan to bring him along until Big Star is back in a couple of weeks,” Skelton continued. “Big Star picked up an infection in his leg from a cut, but when I get him back going, I will have two really nice horses.” Skelton spoke of the first round and then detailed his plan in the jump-off, stating, “I think the course was quite difficult today. There were very tall verticals and the combination was in a difficult place. All in all, it was a good four-star course.” “I planned to go as quick as I could and not put the fences at risk because I knew whatever I did, Eric was going to beat me,” Skelton said of the second round. “He is always going to be faster; the only chance I had was if he had one down. That was my only hope I think, but I was very pleased with the horse anyway. I have not been in the jump-off in a couple of years, so I am really pleased.” Marilyn Little also competed in this week’s 2016 Asheville Regional Airport Wellington Eventing Showcase, presented by Wellington Equestrian Realty, at PBIEC and was thrilled to finish out the weekend with an excellent grand prix finish. Little was aboard Raylyn Farms’ Corona 93, a 12-year-old Hanoverian mare (Cordalme Z x Lenz XX) that she has owned for one year. A special $500 Groom’s Award was also presented to Martina Natali as the groom of winning horse, Check Picobello Z. Tiffany Foster (CAN) was named Leading Lady Grand Prix Rider for her success in week four, an award presented by Martha Jolicoeur of Douglas Elliman in memory of Dale Lawler.
