Fellers Flexes to the Top

By Staff Report May 4, 2012

Rich Fellers and Flexible soar over an appropriately themed "championship ribbon" jump

Rich Fellers and Flexible win the $50,000 Surfside Grand Prix. (Photo by Rick Osteen)

The global conquest of Rich Fellers and Flexible continues! After the intense test they just weathered in ’s-Hertogenbosch, where on April 22 they were crowned Rolex World Champions, they endured a long flight home to campaign to victory at the $50,000 Surfside Grand Prix, the first of two USEF Olympic observation classes to be held at the Del Mar National Horse Show, May 1-6.

Of the 26 entries in the class, five made the jump off over Marina Azevedo’s 13 obstacle track.

Laruen Hough and Blue Angel were the first of the USEF Long Listers (for the U.S. Show Jumping Team for the 2012 Olympic Games) to produce a fault-free effort over the first round. Riding Robyn Parsky’s 10-year-old Anglo-European mare, the Wellington, FL resident jumped a tidy, efficient round over the initial course, and looked on their way to going clear the second trip out, but slicing the turn to the penultimate jump resulted in four faults. They finished in fourth place.

Three rides after Hough in the first round, 19-year-old Lucy Davis demonstrated how she earned a 15th place standing on the long list guiding Nemo 119 to a clear round. In the first round Old Oak Farm’s 13-year-old Holsteiner gelding produced an immaculate clear. Returning for the jump-off Los Angeles resident Davis executed all the inside turns to stop the timers at 31.75 seconds and finish second.

Duncan McFarlane (NZ) and Mr. Whoopy had a rail in round two to finish third.

Fellers and Harry and Mollie Chapman’s Flexible were among three pair from the USEF show jumping “Long List” to qualify for the jump-off. Fellers (Sherwood, OR) and the 16-year-old Irish Sport Horse stallion clocked in at 30.26 seconds for round two.

Fellers was extremely pleased with Flexible’s first show back from his huge win in Holland. “He was super and couldn’t have gone any better. This is the first time he’s jumped since the World Cup.” Looking towards the remainder of the 2012 US Show Jumping Team Observation Event classes, Fellers stated. “He’ll jump tomorrow night and then do two more at Spruce Meadows.”

Along with Fellers, Davis and Hough were the only three among the six Long Listed horse-rider combinations to make it to the Friday jump off. The other Olympic contenders on the go-list were: Karl Cook with JonKheerZ and ASB Conquistador; and Saer Coulter and Springtime.

Cook (Woodside, CA) was first out of the in-gate with Signey Ostby’s 11-year-old Belgian Warmblood stallion, ASB Conquistador. The pair finished with four-fault total after having the top-rail of the narrow vertical at fence three. Cook returned to the Del Mar Arena later in the class riding Ostby’s other long listed horse, JonKheer Z. He piloted the 10-year-old Zangersheide stallion to a 13 fault round; lowering the heights of fence thee and 8B and C.

Coulter (San Francisco, CA) and Copernicus Stables’ Springtime , a 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, faulted at fence three and collected one time fault in an otherwise polished effort.

The second class of the 2012 US Show Jumping Team Observation Event held at the Del Mar National Horse Show, the $100,000 Hermes Grand Prix of Del Mar presented by Intuit, begins Saturday, May, 5 at 6:45pm PST in the Del Mar Arena. This class will be live streamed on the USEFNetwork.com presented by Smartpak and is also available at DelMarNational.com/live/ (where viewers must pre-register).

$50,000 Surfside Grand Prix (26 entries) May 4

1. Flexible, Richard Fellers (Harry & Mollie Chapman)

2. Nemo 119, Lucy Davis (Old Oak Farm)

3. Mr. Whoopy, Duncan McFarlane (Simone Coxe)

4. Blue Angel, Lauren Hough (Robin Parsky)

5. Coral Reef Baloufino, Vinton Karrasch (Coral Reef Ranch)

6. Peterbilt, Guy Thomas (Peterbilt Llc)

7. Lariccello, Helen Mcnaught (Alison Heafey)

8. Green Sleeps Vioco, Mark Watring (Mark Watring)

9. ASB Conquistador, Karl Cook (Signe Ostby)

10. Archie Bunker, Hap Hansen (Linda Smith)

11. Springtime, Saer Coulter (Copernicus Stables Llc)