A Couple of Happy Fellers

By Paula Parisi November 20, 2011

Rich Fellers and his wife Shelley landed top of the leader board at the $50,000 Grand Prix of Los Angeles, Nov. 19. Rich and Flexible placed first in L.A. just a week after winning the Sacramento International Horse Show $50,000 Grand Prix. The two World Cup qualifiers vaulted Fellers into third place in the North American Western League standings, after Richard Spooner and Karl Cook (according to Ryegate Show Services rankings as of Nov. 27).

Rich Fellers rode to a blistering 42.78 second jump-off time for his victory at the L.A. National Horse Show at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank, CA, where Shelley Fellers made her 1.60m debut on a newish horse named Revenge (barn name “Reggie”), placing ninth. It was a rousing close to Southern California’s fall show jumping season. The period from late September through November saw some of the region’s classic superstars blaze with glory― from Castro Valley’s Helen McNaught and Lariccello winning the $50,000 Rancho Valencia Grand Prix at the Del Mar International on Oct. 2 to Camarillo’s Rusty Stewart and Bristol’s blue ribbon run at the Del Mar Fall Festival I’s $30,000 ProEquest 1.45m Grand Prix on Oct. 23. (They also placed second at the L.A. National.)

Then there was Karl Cook and Mexico’s Eduardo Menezes, who won the $50,000 Las Vegas National on Nov. 5. Cook has had an astonishing run this past season, capturing enough power placings at U.S. and Canadian shows to sit second in the North American Western League World Cup rankings. (As of this writing, Richard Spooner is first.)

The Grand Prix of Los Angeles unfolded Nov. 19 against a backdrop of Beatles tunes and 1960’s tie-dye, the penultimate note at Langer Equestrian Group’s Los Angeles National Horse Show, Nov. 16-21 at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center. Anthony D’Ambrosio’s course welcomed 24 contenders representing 10 nations. After a clean first round―from Denmark’s Henrik Gundersen and Quintender 2―one couldn’t help but wonder whether the course was too easy, but there were only two more clear trips in addition to Fellers: Stewart and Bristol and Brazil’s Octavio Jourdan Penedo and ES Carando Z.

The bogey turned out to be a skinny vertical in the middle of a triple combination. Nearly every rider dropped a rail at 10 b.

Stewart―currently ranked ninth among the Rolex/USEF U.S. Show Jumping Top 100―was first to return for the jump off, and he and Bristol delivered a clear round in 45.51 seconds. “I knew Rich would be super fast, so I just wanted to go fast and clean and make the others go faster,” Stewart said. Stewart has a special connection to his home- bred horse, which was born on his birthday, the fourth of July.

Gundersen was not so lucky; a refusal at fence 4 cost him eight time faults. Penedo dropped two rails at the double that concluded the course (13 a-b), but his time of 47.35 bumped him past Gundersen.

The crowd cheered loudly for Fellers and Flexi’s return for the evening’s final round. Each footfall could be heard as they screamed through with tight turns that left little room for error. Flexible neatly cleared each fence, and the stands erupted when they crossed the timer in just 42.78, nearly three seconds faster than Stewart.

“I actually watched Rusty go because I know how good he is,” Fellers recalled, “He had a beautiful round, but he wasn’t super, super fast. It wasn’t like trying to catch Hickstead. Flexible is naturally very fast and I knew his ground speed would do it for us.”

Fellers said he was incredibly proud of his wife, Shelley, who was very competitive in her first big international class, a CSI-W. “I think she’s going to qualify for the World Cup,” he quipped.

Shelley Fellers and Revenge, known as “Reggie,” actually made it cleanly through the triple (10 a-c). Their four-point rail fell earlier, at jump 8, the liverpool. “Right before the white wall my crop kind of got tangled up in my martingale or reins or something, so coming up to the liverpool, I thought, ‘Am I going to try to get it out? Or do I just toss it?’

“I ended up getting a little close to the liverpool and late on the takeoff. That’s all it takes at that level, getting distracted for two strides,” said Shelley Fellers.

The grand prix marked the debut of new high performance footing at LAEC. Fellers said he found the arena surface improved, but sees room for further tweaking.  “It’s good-quality material, but when I walked the course it felt a little uneven and I was constantly adjusting my ankles. It was a little lumpy-bumpy. I’m not a footing expert, but I think they can work it differently to smooth it out a little.” (LAEC personnel indicated they are awaiting delivery on new grooming equipment.)

Juniors Make Their Mark

While the grand prix is a forum for the show jumping stars of today, LA National also welcomed the stars of tomorrow. Hannah Warde (Dick Carvin, trainer) may not be in the and Canasucre won all three of the $500 Junior Jumpers 1.40M classes and were named champions in the section. Warde also showed in the $5,000 PCHA Junior-Amateur Owner Jumper Championship and won the first three rounds, but a stop in the $5,000 Junior-Amateur Owner Jumper Classic relegated her to seventh place in that class and fourth overall in the championship, which was won by Lauren Croquenois (Christian Croquenois, trainer) and Milo Fellini Mia.

“It was really nice to be able to do well,” said Warde, a freshman at the University of San Diego. “I’ve only shown three times since I started school. It’s been a real challenge. To be able to come to the show without a lot of practice and feel like I rode well and my horse jumped well is a good confidence booster. By the second day of feeling really good about myself and my horse.”

Warde was also named the  Zone 10 Junior Jumper Reserve Champion at the  Celebrate Jumpers! banquet and was inducted into the USHJA Meter 40 Club. She also received the LEG Up Cup for being the high scoring junior rider in the Zone 10 Selection Trials for the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships.

The $5,000 PCHA Junior-Amateur Owner Jumper Championship went to Lauren Croquenois (Christian Croquenois, trainer) aboard Milo Fellini Mia, who was in the middle of the pack after the first three rounds but then won the classic round. “I would say LA is one of my lucky shows since last year I won the Cavalor Show Jumping Hall of Fame there,” Lauren shared. “Winning the $5,000 PCHA Junior-Amateur Owner Jumper Championship this year was an unexpected victory because Mia got very sick a month ago. I had only done one round during the week, but she showed she was back at the top of her game which made me very happy.”

Competing against 14 riders, Mitchell Endicott won the $5,000 Children’s Jumper Classic aboard Pegasus Show Jumping Stables’ Celantares. He is trained by his father, Michael Endicott. Second in the class went to Madison Newman (Helen McNaught, trainer) and Ferrari (Windsor Farm Sales, owner). Jenni Martin-McAllister won the $5,000 PCHA/Jimmy Williams Classic aboard Columbus Van De Helle (David Sterckx, owner), while Will Simpson was second with Calmar 3 (Mackenzie Smith, owner).

$50,000 Grand Prix of Los Angeles CSI-W, Nov. 19, 2011 (83 second time allowed)

1. Rich Fellers, Flexible (Harry and Molly Chapman) 78.32; (0/0) 42.78
2. Rusty Stewart, Bristol (Grey Fox Farm) 80.44; (0/0) 45.51
3. Otavio Jourdan Penedo, Es Carando Z (Otavio Jourdan Penedo) 80.06;  (8/0) 47.35
4. Henrik Gundersen, Quintender 2 (Emille Martinsen Rijsnijk) 80.20; (4/3) 55.73
5. Chris Pratt, Cruise (Indigo Farms Llc) (4/4) 77.47
6. Kirsten Coe, Combina (Ilan Ferder) (4/0) 77.74
7. Kirsten Coe, Baronez (Ilan Ferder) (4/0) 78.75
8. Duncan Mcfarlane, Mr. Whoopy (Simone Coxe) (4/0) 79
9. Shelly Fellers, Revenge (Rich & Shelly Fellers) (4/0) 80.87
10. Michelle Spadone, Uwwalon (Morgan Hill Partners) (4/0) 82.64
11. Francie Steinwedell-Carvin, TaunusPrentiss Partners (8/0) 76.97
12. Harley Brown, Cassiato (Harley Brown) (12/1) 83.65

 

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