Photos by Alan Fabricant
38 pairs of horses and riders took the field for the Winter Equestrian Festival’s second five-star class of the season.
In front of a fully packed, standing room only crowd seven pairs went through the first round clear (within the time limit and no knockdowns).
Eight pairs went through without any knockdowns, however one pair exceeding the time limit and therefore did not qualify for the jump off.
Of the seven, four went clear during the jump off.
Laura Kraut of Royal Palm Beach riding Baloutinue had the fastest time in the first round by almost 4 seconds and continued in the jump off by going 3/10’s of a second quicker to capture first place and the winner’s check for $140,250.
Riding Contagious, McLain Ward also of the USA took home $85,000 for his strong second place finish.
Ireland’s Shane Sweetnam aboard 7-James Kann Cruz finished third and received a check for $63,750.
