|
Posted
6/14/10
Pablo
Barrios and G&C Farm Celebrate First Win
at Spruce Meadows!
Calgary,
AB, Canada – June 13, 2010 – Pablo Barrios and G&C Sinatra, owned by
G&C Farm and Gustavo and Carolina Mirabal, were part of history today at
Spruce Meadows when they won the $175,000 Nexen Cup Derby at the National
Tournament. Barrios, originally from Caracas, Venezuela, and now residing in
Wellington, Florida, is the first rider from Venezuela and only one of two Latin
American riders to win the derby.
Barrios and G&C Sinatra delivered
only the third clear performance in the history of the Nexen Cup Derby. Barrios
will represent his home country of
Venezuela
in this year’s Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in
Kentucky
.
Barrios
and G&C Sinatra, an 11-year-old KWPN gelding by Epilot x Libero H, jumped
the course with no faults in 155.355 seconds, and they were the only clear round
in the class. The course features 25 jumping efforts, including the infamous
bank and devil’s dyke, which all spans over 1100 metres with a time allowed of
165 seconds. Their winning pace was by 10 seconds over Ashlee Bond (USA) and
Cadett 7.
Barrios said, “There were a few
options, and I took all of them. He’s not a fast horse; he’s very scopey. I
took every cut to make the time. He didn’t waste time in the air today
though.”
This was Barrios’ second time
competing at the storied Spruce Meadows competitions. In last year’s Nexen Cup
Derby, he and G&C Sinatra finished second. “This year I was hoping to
win,” Barrios revealed. “The course was exactly the same; it’s the same
every year. The horse knew the course. I knew he would be fine. I just tried to
make it in the time and clear. The horse jumped it easy and nice. He really
wanted to win today.”
What also made today’s win special
for Barrios was that it was his first victory at Spruce Meadows. “It’s very
nice to win here. There is always a great crowd, and this year was beautiful and
so nice. It was such a good class. I think it’s great to be part of history.
It was the first time that we heard our national anthem here, so that was very
exciting. I’m very happy to start out the series this way, and I hope the
horses keep going well.”
Gustavo Mirabal commented, “We are
very proud to represent
Venezuela
and to have this win for our country. We hope to have many more!”
Earlier
in the week, Barrios rode G&C Sinatra to fourth place in the $35,000 Spectra
Energy Cup 1.60m. G&C Sinatra was also fourth in the $25,000 ATB Financial
1.60m.
“He was very consistent this
week,” Barrios said of G&C Sinatra. “He was clear in all three classes.
The older he gets, the better he gets. I know that he feels better and more
experienced every time. He’s becoming a better horse every day.”
On the opening day of the Spruce
Meadows summer tournaments, G&C Blanchee Z and Barrios were seventh in the
$30,000 Enbridge Cup 1.50m out of 57 entries.
In Saturday's $200,000 CN Reliability
Grand Prix, Barrios and G&C Quick Star 11 were eighth.
Thanks to an incredible start of the
year, Barrios has moved up from #96 to #63 in the world in the Rolex Rankings.
G&C Farm and Pablo Barrios will
compete next week at the Continental Tournament at Spruce Meadows, on June
16-20, 2010.
Back
to Competition Results
Go
to Home Page
|
