RESULTS

March 12, 2009

Beezie Madden Posts First 2009 WEF Win, Aboard Onlight to
Win WEF Challenge X in Wellington

By ROXANE THEIDEL

WELLINGTON, Fla., Mar.12--Double Olympic gold medalist Beezie Madden won her first Grand Prix of the 2009 FTI Winter Equestrian Festival Thursday, aboard Onlight in Round X of the $30,000 Braman Motorcars WEF Challenge Cup Series.

Madden of Cazenovia, N.Y. and Onlight, owned by Team Onlight, were the only double clear round from the initial 49 entries for the class in the DeNemethy arena. Only four combinations made it to the jump off on the the course designed by Guilherme Jorge of Brazil.

The time by Madden and Onlight was 54.36 secs.

Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa and Let's Fly, owned by the Double H Farm, placed second with four faults and a time of 44.64 secs. with Ireland's Kevin Babington and Caracas 49 in third place with four faults and a time of 49.76 secs. in the jumpoff.

"I was very pleased with my horse," Pessoa said of his jump off ride. "I added a stride to the vertical and it was really tight. Not going last you want to leave as little room possible for those behind you, but today the plan didn't work."

Madden, who was not planning to go fast in the jump off said, "I was just trying to make it under the time allowed and have a nice round, but it proved to be a difficult jump off to go clear."

Holding the Challenge in the DeNemethy ring this week raised new questions for the horses and riders.

"The course was nice, it took the horse a lot of adjusting," Pessoa said. "It was quite a different track with all the broken lines today."

"Because of the shape of the ring there were different routes, lots of bending. It was a good course you needed rideability which is good," Madden said. "It helped get ready for Sunday."

This was the first Grand Prix win for the 10-year-old German-bred mare that Madden has ridden sfor the past four years.

"She's been a little slow getting here," she said. "Hopefully today she turned the corner."

Both Madden and Pessoa have their eyes on the World Cup in Las Vegas April 15-19. Pessoa has qualified with the Double H Farm-owned Rufus, while Madden hopes to qualify the nine-year-old Belgian gelding, Danny Boy, owned by Abigail Wexner.

PL	Prize	Entry #	Horse	Rider	Owner	Trianer	Round 1 Faults|Time	Jump Off Faults|Time
30,000 WEF Challenge Cup Series - Round X
1	$9,000	197	ONLIGHT	BEEZIE MADDEN	TEAM ONLIGHT	JOHN MADDEN	0 | 77.23	0 | 54.36
2	$6,600	2127	LET'S FLY	RODRIGO PESSOA	DOUBLE H FARM	NELSON PESSOA	0 | 77.07	4 | 44.64
3	$3,900	3511	CARACAS 49	KEVIN BABINGTON	BABINGTON JUMPERS	KEVIN BABINGTON	0 | 78.11	4 | 49.76
4	$2,400	217	MIDNIGHTLADY	JAMES BILLINGTON	DEERIDGE FARM	JOHN MADDEN	0 | 76.97	12 | 45.52
5	$1,800	2616	LITTLE EMIR	SHANE SWEETNAM	SPY COAST FARM LLC	ALLISON SWEETNAM	4 | 73.93
6	$1,500	3320	PRESIDENTE	TODD MINIKUS	SLEEPY P RANCH LLC	TODD MINIKUS	4 | 74.09
7	$1,200	3410	MADISON	ALEXA WEEKS	ALEXA WEEKS	OLIVIA WEEKS	4 | 74.17
8	$900	1316	CREDIT CRUISE	ALEXA LOWE	WINDSOR FARM SALES	ALEXA LOWE	4 | 75.98
9	$900	3067	UBLESCO	CARA RAETHER	TRELAWNY FARM LLC	VIVIANE MUNDEN	4 | 77.58
10	$600	2796	HIDDEN CREEK'S CORAYA Z	MARGIE ENGLE	HIDDEN CREEK FARM, INC	CRAIG POLLARD	4 | 77.6
11	$600	2857	Q''S CHARM	RAMIRO QUINTANA	KATHRYN QUIRK	TERESA MILLS	4 | 77.8
12	$600	2967	LENNOX LEWIS 2	LESLIE HOWARD	LESLIE HOWARD	WT KEES	4 | 77.84
13	$500	195	PLAY ON	BEEZIE MADDEN	ALLAN SHORE, JR	JOHN MADDEN	4 | 77.85

Photo: Beezie Madden and Onlight winning the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival WEF Challenge Round X at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center Thursday. Photo: © 2009 Roxane Theidel