Alberta Equine ...On-Line News: Fellers & Flexible First in Season Openers

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Fellers & Flexible First in Season Openers

May 23, 2008

Langley, BC --- Rich Fellers and his mount, Flexible, swept the weekend

events at Thunderbird Show Park’s Canadian Premiere. The week-long show featured the

$15,000 Spring Welcome Grand Prix on Friday, May 23rd and the $35,000 Canadian Premiere

Grand Prix on Sunday, May 25th. Hot off a stellar finish at the World Cup in Sweden, Fellers

took first in both Thunderbird classes.

World renowned FEI course designer, Peter Holmes, challenged riders in a long and technical

course that required speed, scope and control. Competitors moved through sixteen jumping

efforts in the course, with a triple combination and a wide water jump proving to be the most

difficult elements. In a field of 22 riders, five were unable to finish and three posted clear rounds

to qualify for the jump off.

“It was a difficult first round, best suited to a horse with a big stride and a lot of scope,” Holmes

shared with the spectators between the two rounds. “I was able to incorporate a long gallop to

the final fence in the jump off, which is rare as few facilities have a Grand Prix ring with this kind

of space.”

Calgary’s Jonathon Asselin on Rayana Chiara was first in the final round, going fast and clear

with a time of 44.36, but a wide turn into jump one cost him some time. Gary Brewster, of Twin

Oaks in Richmond, BC, qualified for the jump off with an efficient first round and was able to go

double clear, just missing the mark with a time of 44.72. Fellers and Flexible were the last to

challenge the course, riding tight lines and full gallops to go clear with the winning time of 42.74.

Fellers, who rides out of Oregon, recently finished second in the Rolex FEI World Cup Final in

Goteborg, Sweden, just two penalties behind Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Shutterfly.

Riding Harry and Mollie Chapman’s Irish Sport Horse stallion, Flexible, Fellers had four faults in

the first round of competition, and was one of only four clears in the second round.

Fellers was ranked No131 in the world and his second-place finish was the best American finish

in more than 20 years. In fact, Fellers is only one of 11 Americans to ever finish in the top three.

Flexible is fast and nimble, having come back to the show ring after two serious operations, the

most recent for a broken shoulder in 2006.

Thunderbird Show Park is already gearing up for their second week of action in Langley, as they

get the inaugural BC Open Tournament underway. From May 28th to June 1st, over 800 riders

and their mounts will be on the grounds competing in hunter & jumper classes. The main events

include the $25,000 BC Open Grand Prix on Friday May 30th at 4:30pm and the $50,000

Warsteiner Grand Prix on Saturday, May 31st at 2pm. The West Coast Thunder Drill Team and

recording artist Karen-Lee Baton, who recently released her first video on CMT, will be part of

the entertainment on Saturday before the Grand Prix.

For more information, please visit our site at www.thunderbirdshowpark.com