The 2015 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in Florida concluded its third week of competition, with an exciting jump-off in the $34,000 Suncast 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic (25 January).
Brave but sensitive
There were 58 starters, with 14 riders from nine different countries making it through the jump-off. A further nine combinations went clear, with Brazil’s Alvaro ‘Doda’ de Miranda and AD Argos achieving the winning time of 32.23sec.
Doda bought Argos as a seven-year-old, after he won a bronze medal at the 2012 FEI World Breeding Jumping Championships in Lanaken. Although very talented he is a challenging ride, and Doda to broke his shoulder when he fell off him at WEF last year.
“He is a horse that is very brave, but he is very sensitive, especially the way that he sees things sometimes,” said Doda. “When I came in the jump-off to the Hermès jump, I was scared that he would look at the flowers.
“I showed him the flowers two times when I came in the arena and then he was okay, but sometimes he can surprise you for something that you cannot expect.”
Back on top
Mexico’s Sofia Larrea and Jumex Sport Archimides finished second (33.05sec), with Nick Skelton hot on her heels riding Deauville S (33.32sec) .
The nine-year-old gelding is owned by Julius Peter Sinnac and was previously competed by German showjumper Hendrik Dowe.
This was Nick’s highest international placing since last summer, when he came third on Big Star in the Global Champions Tour Grand Prix at Cascais, Estoril in Portugal (12 July 2014). Shortly afterwards, his Olympic stallion was found to have torn his lower suspensory ligament, which is a recurring injuring.