Wellington, FL – February 3, 2022 – International competition resumed Thursday, February 3, 2022, with athletes from across the globe setting up to challenge the track on the Derby Field at Equestrian Village. Week 4, sponsored by The Bainbridge Companies, is the second week of the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) circuit to feature FEIl classes on the turf. The highlight event of the day was the $50,000 Adequan® WEF Challenge Cup Round IV CSI4* which saw 65 of the world’s best combinations. Olympic team gold medalist McLain Ward (USA) once again saved the best for last as the final contender to return and captured the victory aboard successful partner, Contagious, owned by Beechwood Stables.
Anderson Lima (BRA) designed the two-round test and at the halfway mark only seven entries were lined up for the return. By the end of the first round,12 of the original field had qualified for the jump-off, but three entries – made up of Kent Farrington, Margie Goldstein-Engle, and Carlos Hank Guerreiro – chose to save their jumps for another day and withdrew. The nine pairs that remained represented the United States, Egypt, Brazil, Spain, and Mexico.
Each duo gave it their best effort and the lead was exchanged several times, but Spain’s Sergio Alvarez Moya and his own 10-year-old BWP gelding Malibu De Muze (Nabab De Reve x Tornedo FCS) had a flawless round with a time of 43.34 seconds. However, the victory was not yet sealed and, as the last to take the field, Ward once again proved his skill with an effortless round, shaving almost an entire second off of the previous leading time in 42.57 seconds.
Moya held on to the runner-up position while Chloe Reid (USA) shot into the third-place position. Reid and Souper Shuttle (Stakkato x Luise Marie), an 11-year-old Hanoverian mare owned by Live Oak Plantation LLC, ticked in on the timers only 0.03 seconds behind Moya for a final time of 43.46 seconds.
Source: press release
Photo: ©Sportfot