The 2015 Artisan Farms Under 25 Grand Prix Series kicked off with its first of seven events for the circuit with the $10,000 Artisan Farms Under 25 Grand Prix Welcome on Saturday afternoon. With record entries, this year’s series will award $170,000 in prize money. The series gives young riders a valuable stepping-stone from the junior and amateur ranks to the grand prix level. Saturday’s one round opening speed competition saw 59 entries with ten clear rounds and a win for 18-year-old Eugenio Garza of Mexico. Coached by Irish show jumper, Darragh Kenny, Garza galloped to victory in the winning time of 65.63 seconds aboard El Milagro’s Bariano. Jessica Springsteen (USA) and Stone Hill Farm’s Zero finished second in 67.22 seconds. Garza has owned Bariano, a 14-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding (Jetset-D x Skippy), for three years. Among the pair’s top performances, Bariano helped Garza earn the individual junior show jumping gold medal at the 2013 FEI North American Junior/Young Rider Championships in Kentucky. Commenting on his winning round, Garza detailed, “My trainer, Darragh, really wanted me to go for it. I think I made up time on all the strides, especially on the turn where I did seven strides to the double, I don’t think anyone else did that. It was pretty long, even for me. I think it was just that he is a very quick horse. He turns very fast, and he doesn’t lose a lot of time in the air. I think that is where I caught Jessie. I saw Jessie go and she was very fast, so I knew that I had to go fast, but I just didn’t know how much. We decided to just go for it and it paid off.”
