The 2016 WEF circuit concludes with its twelfth and final week of competition, sponsored by Rolex, featuring CSI 5* jumper and ‘AA’ rated hunter competition through April 3, 2016. Saturday highlights include the $130,000 Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic Final Jump-off, presented by SOVARO®, at 6:30 p.m. followed by the $500,000 Rolex Grand Prix CSI 5*. The circuit concludes on Sunday featuring the final round of the $50,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby on the derby field at The Stadium at PBIEC.
Anthony D’Ambrosio (USA) set the course for 52 starters in the $20,000 Adequan® Young Jumper Seven-Year-Old Final, with 13 clear rounds to advance to the jump-off, and five double clear rounds. Riders were given an a/b option to either jump-off immediately following their round or wait until the end of the class, and all but one chose option a to go immediately following their first round.
Alexandra Paillot set the pace in 40.32 seconds aboard Paillot Equine Consulting Inc.’s Jalanta P, eventually finishing fourth. Laura Kraut jumped a faster round in 38.95 seconds with Poden Farm’s Cicero’s Electric, but settled for second place in the end. Katie Dinan jumped into third place with Grant Road Parnters’ Chiara M in a time of 39.45 seconds. Erynn Ballard and Javier Salvador Stables’ Easy were next to clear the course, shaving over three seconds off of the leading time to win it in 35.42 seconds. Cody Auer later jumped into fifth place with a clear round in 41.29 seconds riding Sarah Ryan’s Elertina.
Seven-year-old winner, Easy, is a Dutch Warmblood mare (Mr. Blue x Burggraaf) owned by Javier Salvador. Ballard explained that she purchased a new horse named Z Diamanty from Salvador at the beginning of the winter, and through the process of getting to know each other and showing that horse, he asked if Ballard would show Easy in the seven-year-olds. She just got the ride on Easy halfway through the circuit, and their plan was to gear the mare up for this final class.
“I have ridden her in six classes, and she has been clear in every single one,” Ballard stated. “The first two weeks I showed her, she was fourth in the first class and second in the qualifier. Then this week, I was sixth in the first class and I was like, ‘I think that’s good, because if I was fourth, I was going to end being second again.’ I changed it up, but I was pretty serious about giving it my best shot to win. I saw Laura (Kraut) go and she was fast, so I went as fast as I could, which held up to be incredibly fast.”
Speaking of her track in the jump-off, Ballard detailed, “My plan was to do six strides from one to two, put a little curve in it, and then get me in on the third jump in the jump-off. Then I left out one stride for seven, but that horse is so competitive and so smart. She always knows where she is, and even when I was going so fast, she still knew that her job was to jump the jumps.”
In addition to her winning prize, Easy was presented the Champion Equine Insurance Jumper Style Award for week twelve.
Commenting on Easy’s style, Ballard remarked, “She is pretty flashy. She is a very impressive jumper. When you look at her pictures, she is not centimeters over the jump, she is feet over the jump. I was saying earlier, in the jump-off, even though she is so high, she does it out of stride so she is not wasting time in the air. She puts in an impressive effort over every single fence, but she is still very competitive. She does not waste any time, and she knows that she is supposed to win first place.”