Bent Jensen and Anne
Kursinski Win the $25,000 Windsome Dressage/Jumper Spectacular At Cosequin
Winter Equestrian Festival
Wellington, FLFebruary
6, 2002For the tenth consecutive year, Windsome Farm sponsored the
Dressage/Jumper Spectacular at the Wellington Dressage show, held in conjunction
with the Bayer/USET Gold Coast Jumper Classic, at the Cosequin Winter
Equestrian Festival at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club.
In this special $25,000
class, jumper and dressage riders change places. This year eleven teams
competed. The jumper riders were required to ride Third Level Test 3,
and dressage riders were required to jump a course of nine fences with
heights not exceeding 3 6" in a "Hit and Hurry" course
in the Grand Prix field. Bent Jensen and Anne Kursinski won for the fourth
time. They have teamed up five times, and only once missed the win, and
that year they placed second.
"Its lots
of fun," said Kursinski, a three-time Olympian who has earned team
Silver Medals in show jumping in 1988 and 1996. "I always look forward
to riding with Bent. This has become an annual event for us. Bent always
finds me a great horse to ride and I try to find him a good one. Hes
such a great rider. Hes fearless and really goes for it. Hes
terrific."
Kursinksi says she
uses dressage quite a bit in her show jumping rides. "I did show
dressage for many years in California while I was jumping, so its
fun for me to do that again." Kursinksi placed fourth in the dressage
phase with a score of 65.048% on the Holsteiner stallion, Davignport.
"I can put her on any horse and she does great," said Jensen.
Jensen won the jumping
phase on Beaudelair. "Its fun, its always fun,"
he said. "This year I stopped too early again but thank God it didnt
change anything." Jensen said he only jumps once a year -- at this
event, but he trained to jump when he was a youngster in Denmark. Jensen
scored 26 points on course where every clear counted as two points and
a knockdown as one point within a 60-second time limit. "Beaudelair
is a childrens jumper thats won every class hes been
in including this one," said Kursinksi.
The 2002 Consequin
Winter Equestrian Festival offers 3 million in total prizes during an
eleven-week series which runs in Wellington, FL (January 23-March 10)
and Tampa, FL (March 13-March 31). The Festival hosts the $200,000 Budweiser
American Invitational at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Saturday
evening, March 30. The series then returns to Wellington for the culminating
event-the American Grandprix Association Championship-April 3-7.
www.stadiumjumping.com.
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