News
Peter Lutz pilots Robin de Ponthual to victory in Las Vegas
Nov 16, 2015
An enthusiastic crowd in Las Vegas cheered each rider who entered the arena at the South Point Hotel and Casino, but it was the American Peter Lutz and Robin de Ponthual that claimed the final winning praise by beating a field of 30 to claim the $100,000 Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping North American League qualifier at CSI3* Las Vegas National.
The course walk may have given a false sense of confidence to competitors as rails fell for the seasoned veterans and the young upstarts. But a competitive group of eight emerged from the first round to make for an exciting jump off in a city that lives for risks.
Australia’s Matt Williams and Valinski S (Nijinski x Julius) were the first to go double clear in Round 1 and thus, first to go in the jump off. He noted that his strategy going into the final round was to ride on the conservative side to give his mount a positive experience, but his plan changed once in the arena and the pair set a respectable time of 34.25 seconds with no faults. One round later, Audrey Coulter (USA) improved on Williams’ time aboard Domino (Thunder van de Zuuthoeve x Azur Depaulstra), although her time of 33.61 seconds did not hold against Lutz’s 33.21 seconds that came second to last in the order.
The international jump-off field included top talents as Verlooy (BEL), Kent Farrington (USA), Eduardo Menezes (BRA), Simon Nizri (ISR), and Lucy Davis (USA), all of whom finished behind the three leading double clears. Current world number two Farrington managed the fastest time of 32.90 seconds with Gazelle (Kashmir van Schuttershof x Indoctro), but an unlucky rail kept him from the top of the podium.
1 ROBIN DE PONTHUAL ELF D'OR 103RW98 SF Peter LUTZ USA 0/0/33.21 25.000 $
2 DOMINO THUNDER VAN DE ZUUTHOEVE 103AR37 BWP Audrey COULTER USA 0/0/33.61 20.000 $
3 VALINSKI S NIJINSKI 102OU72 KWPN Matt WILLIAMS AUS 0/0/34.25 15.000 $
4 SUNSHINE DIAMANT DE SEMILLY 103LL67 BWP Jos VERLOOY BEL 0/0/34.30 10.000 $
5 GAZELLE KASHMIR VAN'T SCHUTTERSHOF 103IR57 BWP Kent FARRINGTON USA 0/4 7.000 $
6 QUINTOL QUINTENDER 104CB24 Old-int Eduardo MENEZES BRA 0/4 5.500 $
7 E MUZE YEK FOR PLEASURE 102SD80 BWP Simon NIZRI MEX 0/4 4.000 $
8 BARRON FOR PLEASURE 102WM58 SBS Lucy DAVIS USA 0/4 3.000 $
9 TEMBLA TANGELO VAN DE ZUUTHOEVE 102WM73 Z Karl COOK USA 4 3.000 $
10 LUCIFER V LORD PEZI 104EN75 Westf. Jack TOWELL USA 4 2.500 $
Source FEI news