Friday evening of week nine at the 2015 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) featured the $25,000 Artisan Farms Under 25 Grand Prix Series Semi-Final, presented by Kingsland Equestrian, under the lights of the International Arena at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC). Laurenz Buhl (GER) took the victory with Gotham Enterprizes LLC’s River Dance Semilly. Stephen Moore (IRL) placed second with Fantasy, owned by Oakland Ventures LLC, while Alise Oken (USA) and Hitchcock vd Broekkant were third. The Under 25 competition saw 34 entries with just two able to clear the challenging track set by Alan Wade (IRL) without fault. Buhl and Moore, both 22 years old, went head-to-head in the tiebreaking jump-off. First to go, Buhl and River Dance Semilly completed the short course in a fast time of 45.67 seconds, but dropped a rail at the final fence that left the win in the balance. Moore tried for a clear round, but also had a rail on course with Fantasy. His time was slower time in 45.78 seconds to put the pair in second place. The riders agreed that Alan Wade’s course was difficult, but fair, with many different challenges. For Oken and Hi Hopes Farm LLC’s Hitchcock vd Broekkant, it was the tight time allowed that placed the pair in third with one time fault on the first round course.
