OCALA, Florida – February 26, 2016 – France’s Adam Prudent got off to a hot start on a cool day Friday, in the heart of Thoroughbred country he won the Daily Double by sweeping the first two show jumping classes at the 25th annual Live Oak International.
Prudent, with Vasco, took the lead early in the $35,000 Sovaro 1.50m Jumper CSI 3* event with a time of 60.24 seconds. No one was able to come near his time in the Longines FEI World Ranking class. Chloe Reid finished second with a time of 65.63 on Codarco and Callan Solem was third with a time of 67.59 with VDL Wizard.
“Vasco is one of the fastest horses I have ever ridden and he loves grass. I just let him open up the stride and go as fast as he could,” Prudent said.
He is pointing Vasco to the $100,000 Longines FEI World Cup™ Qualifier on Sunday.
Adam Prudent and Vasco. Photo courtesy of Live Oak International
Reid was pleased with Codarco’s performance. “I jumped Codarco, mostly aiming him for the Grand Prix,” Reid said. “In the first class this morning I just jumped a few jumps and retired and then came in the class this afternoon with the object of having a smooth clear ride. But he’s so much fun with his big open stride that you get on this grass field and it’s hard to slow down.”
Prudent started Friday with a win in the $10,000 Waldron Private Wealth 1.40m Power & Speed event. Prudent and Si Bella went through the course fault-free and finished the speed section in 30.16 seconds. Marilyn Little of the United States was second with Clear Water. They completed the speed section of the course in 30.91 seconds with no faults.
“I’m am very, very happy to have won both classes. There is a saying, ‘You can’t win all of them if you don’t win the first one,’ I was saying that to myself but I didn’t want to say it to anyone else and it paid off and hopefully we will do well in the next classes,” Prudent said.Friday also featured the Intermediate and Preliminary classes of combined driving dressage. The driving competition continues on Saturday with the marathon portion of the three-phase competition. Sunday, the driving competition ends with the obstacles phase.
Chloe Reid and Codarco. Photo courtesy of Live Oak International
Saturday also features the $35,000 Live Oak International jumping event. Show jumping closes out the event with $100,000 Longines FEI World Cup™ Qualifier on Sunday.
Full results of all classes and divisions are available at the Live Oak website at www.liveoakinternational.com.
The Live Oak International continues through Sunday Feb. 28. The Budweiser Clydesdales will perform in the main arena on both Saturday and Sunday.
About Live Oak International
This is the 25th anniversary of the combined driving event, which attracts some of the best drivers, coaches and owners from Europe and North America. In 2012, show jumping was added to the show and the 2016 Live Oak International Grand Prix was selected as one of the events for the inaugural season of the FEI World Cup™ Jumping North American League.