Wellington, FL ( March 11, 2007 )“ Riding last in a three horse jump-off, Mario Deslauriers kept the Canadian flag flying when he and Paradigm raced to the win in the $150,000 CN U.S. Open Jumper Championship CSIO 5*, presented by Cosequin. Todd Minikus (USA) finished second with Pavarotti, while Rodrigo Pessoa (BRA) and Coeur were third.
Today´s track offered the most difficult challenge seen so far at theWinter Equestrian Festival (WEF). The course designer for the week of the
CN Wellington Open CSIO 5*, presented by Cosequin is Jose “Pepe” Gamarra of Bolivia. Twelve horses had four faults, while 13 had time
faults. There were nine retirements and one fall.
Deslauriers expressed. “I think it´s the biggest we´ve jumped so far this year here. You needed a little scope today. The time allowed was very
tight. The ground is a little slippery, so to make the tight turns is a little difficult. It was fair, but at the same time, difficult. It was a good test.”
Deslauriers and Paradigm, a 13-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding by Nabab de Reve, that Deslauriers owns himself, were the final combination in the ring. Deslauriers knew he would have to be quick to catch Minikus, but careful enough to be clean. The big chestnut galloped through the turns and with
the momentum over fence eight, Deslauriers chose to go around a fence in a rollback to fence nine. He sped through the last line and stopped the clock just ahead of Minikus in 47.03 seconds.
“My horse is quick, I know that. I knew it was close, but I couldn´t have told you how close.”
Results of 106 - $150,000 CN US Open Jumper Championship CN Wellington Open CSIO 5*
RESULT GP
1. PARADIGM-MARIO DESLAURIERS CAN 0/0 47.03
2. PAVAROTTI-TODD MINIKUS USA 0/0 47.59
3. COEUR-RODRIGO PESSOA BRA 0/4 46.98
4. OBELIX R-LISA SILVERMAN USA 1 83.02
5. CASAR - BRIANNE GOUTAL USA 4 76.06
6. HOOLIGAN DE ROSYL-DANIEL DEUSSER GER 4 76.07
7. INTEGRITY-BEEZIE MADDEN USA 4 76.75
8. SAPPHIRE-MCLAIN WARD USA 4 77.85
9. STAPP´S AEROCBIC-WILL SCHELLEKENS NED 4 79.14
10. ANTHEM- LAURA KRAUT USA 4 79.75
RESULT NATIONS CUP
1. Canada: 0/1=1
Mario Deslauriers/Paradigm: 4/0
Erynn Ballard/Robin van Roosendael: 0/0
Eric Lamaze/Hickstead: 0/1
Ian Millar/In Style: 0/drop score
2. Ireland: 4/0=4
Conor Swail/Mr. President: 4/0
Cian O´Connor/Irish Independent Echo Beach: 0/0
Jonathan McCrea/Costa: 9/13
Darragh Kerins/Orlando: 0/0
3. U.S.A.: 4/8=12
Margie Engle/Hidden Creek´s Quervo Gold: 4/4
Lauren Hough/Casadora: elim/did not return
McLain Ward/Sapphire: 0/0
Beezie Madden/Integrity: 0/4
4. Argentina: 9/16=25
Max Amaya/Church Road: 4/8
Ramiro Quintana/Kaiser de la Cour: 0/4
Pato Muente/As Di Villagana: 5/4
5. Belgium: 18
Eric Flameng/Roxanne: 0
Gilbert de Roock/Kira III: 17
Francois Mathy Jr./Ivoire du Rouet: 1
