Woica US Champion:
This weekend there was a major competition going on at The Palm Beach Polo Club, Wellington show grounds, Florida. Also known as the Winterfestival, ending in Tampa 3 weeks from now. One of the highlights is " The Young Jumper Championship ", and among the six year olds, we find Woica van Overis, Calvados x Darco ( Belgian Warmblood, 1999 ), owned by Olivia Weeks and ridden by Kent Farrington.
Woica won the first round, and ended up second in the second qualifier. The top fifteen horse and rider combinations in each section advanced to the 30.000 $ Championship on Sunday.
Of these fifteen starters, ten mastered Jose Gamarra´s first round course to qualify for the timed jump-off. The early leader in the jump-off was Five Year-Old class winner Darragh Kerins,this time up on S&L Farm´s S&L Face Value. Kerins came home without penalty in the jump-off, breaking the beams in 36.071 seconds. His lead lasted to the halfway point of the tiebreaker at which point Laura Kraut and Splitfire, owned by Starwood Farm, shaved a full second off of Kerin´s time and took over the top spot with a clean round in 35.070 seconds.
Kraut had no time to enjoy the lead however, as the eventual class winner Kent Farrington and Woica van Overis followed her into the arena. Woica, owned by Olivia Weeks, powered around the course, dashing home in an incredible 32.547 seconds, a full 2.32 seconds faster than Kraut.
Farrington talked about his Six Year-Old star: “I bought her as a four, coming five year old from Javier Salvador,” he explained.“I think she´s really going to be great. She was really competitive here earlier this year in the six year old classes and then through the summer I played around with her in a couple of the bigger classes. It´s nice to come back here and have her finish up the year with a big win like this,” he said.
Farrington,who piloted Madison to AGA Horse of the Year honors this year,was asked if Woica is set to follow in Madison´s shoes.“I hope so,”he beamed.“You never know until you have to actually do it, but that was my intention when I got her. She´s got a ton of scope and she´s learning how to be fast and I think she´s got the makings of being something very nice.”
Official Results $30,000 6 Year Old YJC Championship: 1-84-Kent Farrington -Woica van Overis- 0/32.547 2-52-Laura Kraut -Splitfire - 0/35.070 3-82-Nona Garson -Cilthe Z - 0/35.272 4-51-Ezequiel Peralta -Allain Z -0/37.451 5-488-Yvonne Bryan -Palm Sunday -0/40.976 What an honour for our stud farm to be the producers of this promising mare !
You want to have a look at the Winterfestival ? Here's a link to a streaming video: Horse Winterfestival Florida You need Apple's Quicktime to view.
