Fellers and Flexible Olympic-Bound
By Staff Report June 17, 2012
Rich Fellers and Flexible win the $200,000 CN Grand Prix (Spruce Meadows Media)
Rich Fellers and Flexible aced their fourth and last Olympic observation event of 2012, winning in the $200,000 CN Grand Prix CSI-W at Spruce Meadows in Calgary on Saturday, June 16. The pair topped a field of 36 including 11 U.S. Olympic long list contenders. Kent Farrington and Uceko placed second, Reed Kessler and Mika third.
On Thursday the duo won the $35,000 Husky Energy Classic, the first Olympic observation event at Spruce. Beezie Madden and Coral Reef Via Volo were second and Kessler and Cylana third. Both tests were 1.60m. The events were part of the Spruce Meadows Continental tournament (June 14-17).
With only one rail in the eight Olympic-trial rounds that followed their April 22 World Cup victory (the pair dropped a bar in the Hermés Grand Prix jump-off in Del Mar May 5), Fellers and Flexible seem unstoppable. It now appears inconceivable that the pair from Wilsonville, OR, won’t be on the list of U.S. Olympic show jumping team names announced tomorrow.
Fellers and the 16-year-old Irish Sport Horse stallion won both observation events at the Del Mar National―the $50,000 Surfside Grand Prix on May 3 and two days later the $100,000 Hermés Grand Prix of Del Mar. That indoor course, designed by Brazil’s Marina Azevedo, was mind-bendingly tricky (sidelining six of 20 riders on course).
In Saturday’s CN Grand Prix, Fellers and Flexible outran 2011 Pan American Games Gold medalist Farrington (Wellington, FL) and Uceko with incredible turns in the jump-off, stopping the clock at 41.287 seconds on Bob Ellis’ challenging course. There was a heart-stopping moment when Flexible went wide on the way to the CN jump, a double combination, burning precious time, but they managed to regain it with a daring inside cut to another double later.
“When I was walking the course with my son [Chris, 20], I looked at that double and thought they’d take it out for the jump-off,” Fellers explained. “And when they didn’t take it out I thought that turn is not doable. It’s distracting for the horses to go between those jumps. But the way it played out in the jump-off, when I landed off the CN double I just decided, ‘It’s on!”
Farrington and the 11-year-old Dutch gelding Uceko put forward an incredibly athletic effort to earn second, but trailed more than two seconds behind.
In addition to her third place on Mika, a 12 year old Selle Francis gelding, Kessler also finished sixth on her main mount Cylana, a 10-year-old Belgian warmblood mare, giving her two of the seven jump off slots. The 17-year-old from Lexington, KY, has been amazingly consistent throughout the trials and remains a viable contender for an Olympic berth, even though she won’t be old enough to be eligible for Olympic participation until next month, when she turns 18. She trains with Katie Prudent.
Reed Kessler, 17, won a 1.60m grand prix earlier in the week. (Spruce Meadows Media)
On June 7 in Calgary Kessler won her first international class, the 1.60 meter Spectra Energy Cup (the second leg of the Spruce Meadows Canadian Show Jumping Championship title), riding Cylana to victory against 18 other horse/rider combinations.
Bob Ellis’ Saturday course, part of the the CN Precision Series, was 540 meters on the grass. Six of the seven to make the jump off were U.S. Olympic long listers. In Thursday’s competition Madden (Cazenovia, NY) was the only one to contest Fellers in round two, but this afternoon a single rail kept her and Coral Reef from the jump off.
Although the USEF has yet to announce the members of the U.S. Olympic show jumping team, Fellers said that winning the last Olympic trial was like a huge weight off his shoulders. “It does relieve the pressure. We’ve been going for quite a while, so now we can just relax and listen to what [USA chef d’equipe] George Morris tells us to do.”
Farrington got off to a strong start in the CN Precision Series at Spruce, winning the 1.60 meter $200,000 CN Reliability World Cup Grand Prix on June 9 during the Spruce Meadows National tournament (6-10). The CN Precision Series classes are the North American Western League’s first 2013 World Cup qualifiers.
“It’s just how show jumping goes,” Farrington said of Saturday’s No. 2 placing. “You go in there and do your best, and then someone comes in and beats your best. It’s the sport. But if you’re going to lose to somebody, well, Rich is the world cup champion.”
After notching second in 2008, Fellers and Flexible became the first U.S. pair to win the World Cup in 25 years.
CN Performance Grand Prix – Top 10
1- Rich Fellers USA Flexible (77.88 / 41.29) $60,000
2- Kent Farrington USA Uceko (78.64 / 43.04) $40,000
3- Reed Kessler USA Mika (79.32 / 45.85) $30,000
4- Katherine Dinan USA Nougat Du Vallet (80.27 43.99) $20,000
5- Beezie Madden USA Simon (80.04 49.38) $12,000
6- Reed Kessler USA Cylana (80.28 47.54) $9,000
7- Tiffany Foster CAN Victor (77.46 50.07) $6,000
8- Eric Lamaze CAN Derly Chin De Muze (81.57) $5,000
9- Robert Whitaker GBR Catwalk IV (82.41) $4,000
10- Charlie Jayne USA Chill RZ (83.58) $4,000
Continental series, full results and order of go.
National series, full results and order of go.
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