Articles: Horse News
Rich Fellers and Flexible Return to the Top at Spruce Meadows
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United States Equestrian Federation, Inc.
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NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 14, 2012
By Joanie Morris
Lexington,KY - The 2012 Rolex/FEI World Cup Champions have not been in the
ring in six weeks - but based on their performance in the Husky Energy
Classic on Thursday night at Spruce Meadows in Calgary, it didn't make any
difference.
Rich Fellers and Flexible bested a field of 19 and made it look easy,
stopping the jump-off clock at 51.237 to score victory by just less than a
second over Beezie Madden and Coral Reef Via Volo. This class serves as the
first half of the final Observation Event for the US Show Jumping Team for
the 2012 Olympic Games.
Fellers and Flexible jumped one of only three first round clears over the
1.60m track designed by Bob Ellis, and scored their third consecutive
victory in a USEF Observation Event. With Harry and Mollie Chapman's
16-year-old Irish Sport Horse stallion, Fellers took top honors at two
classes at Del Mar in May, but since then Flexible has been waiting for
Spruce Meadows to return to the ring. It was a detour from his normal
schedule but with selection for the 2012 Olympic Games on the line, so far
for Fellers, it has paid off.
"The horse is still in the zone," said Fellers. "We always worry, as any
athlete does if you're prepared enough for the competition - I don't
regularly give him six weeks off in the middle of the season, so I was a
little worried. But my worries were gone after two or three jumps in the
first round. He was really dialed in."
The Wilsonville, OR pair outran Madden (Cazenovia, NY) and Coral Reef
Ranch's 14-year-old Belgian mare - who stopped the clock at 52.401. The Team
Gold and Individual Silver medalists from the 2011 Pan American Games also
jumped two clear rounds at the previous Observation Event at the Devon Horse
Show.
Reed Kessler, 17, who won the USEF Selection Trials in March in Florida and
currently leads the USEF Long List for the Olympic Games, jumped the third
clear but opted not to jump off with her 11-year-old mare Cylana.
Complete results are available here:
http://www.sprucemeadows.com/tournaments/media/1339724325188_541.pdf
The CN Performance Grand Prix closes out the Observation Event on Saturday,
June 16th at 4:30 PM Eastern. Watch it live on www.usefnetwork.com/
ENDS
Follow the U.S. Show Jumping Team here:
http://www.usefnetwork.com/featured/2012Jumping/
The vision of the United States Equestrian Federation is to provide
leadership
for equestrian sport in the United States of America by promoting the
pursuit
of excellence from the grassroots to the Olympic Games, based on a
foundation of fair, safe competition and the welfare
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