Wellington, FL – January 22, 2016 – Competition at the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) continued on Friday with a win for Venezuela’s Emanuel Andrade and his own U in the $2,500 MAYBACH – ICONS OF LUXURY High Amateur-Owner Jumper Power & Speed class.

Andrade and U topped 35 entries in the first class of the day to take the win in their second class together after year-long break for the 15-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding. Competition was cancelled in the afternoon due to inclement weather and will continue as scheduled on www.PBIEC.com for Saturday.

Week two of the Winter Equestrian Festival continues through Sunday, January 24, at Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC) and is sponsored by Marshall & Sterling Insurance. The week will feature several major classes including the $86,000 Marshall & Sterling Insurance Grand Prix CSI 2* on Saturday, January 23, and the $25,000 Artisan Farms Under 25 Grand Prix, presented by Equine Couture/TuffRider, on Sunday, January 24.

Andrade was one of 21 riders to best the power portion of the track set by Course Designer Catsy Cruz of Mexico. Of the 12 pairs also clear over the speed phase, he posted a time of 32.01 seconds with 13 to compete after him. His time stood for the win with Taylor Burns and her own Cordero Z taking second in 32.66 seconds.

Whitney Sorensen and Wriomf stopped the clock in 32.67 seconds to take third for owner Chris Sorensen. Alex Matz piloted D.D. Matz’s Quinta to fourth in 33.44 seconds, while Tina di Landri capped the top five aboard Biallon VDL for Highpoint Farm, LLC in 33.90 seconds.

U came to Andrade from Brazil’s Doda de Miranda last year, and soon after the purchase, he suffered an injury that sidelined him for a year.

“We didn’t think he was ever going to jump again to be honest,” said Andrade. “But, we did surgery and put him in the paddock for a year before we started again. We are very impressed with how well he is doing – he feels brand new.”

Andrade competed U in one pre-circuit competition in Wellington as their official debut, but is now pointing the horse toward bigger classes.

“I will do the 1.50m on Sunday, but we wanted to do one smaller class first,” he said. “He can really jump, and we are hopeful he can do the big Saturday night classes soon. He’s so much fun and he’s older, so he already knows everything there is know.”

Other winners in the International Arena on Friday included Emily Moffitt and For Sale 6 who jumped to victory in the $1,500 Sleepy P Ranch High Junior Jumper Power and Speed for Poden Farms. Darragh Kenny and Glamour van de Kakebeek took blue in the $6,000 Illustrated Properties 1.40m Speed Challenge for owner Tom Davidson.

Final Results: $2,500 MAYBACH – ICONS OF LUXURY High Amateur-Owner Jumper Power & Speed

1 U EMANUEL ANDRADE EMANUEL ANDRADE 0/0/32.018
2 CORDERO ZAFFIRO TAYLOR BURNS TAYLOR BURNS 0/0/32.667
3 WRIOMF WHITNEY SORENSEN CHRIS SORENSEN 0/0/32.676
4 QUINTA ALEX MATZ D.D. MATZ 0/0/33.445
5 BIALLON VDL TINA DI LANDRI HIGHPOINT FARM, LLC 0/0/33.905
6 MAE ALI WOLFF JOHN C. WOLFF 0/0/35.221
7 G & C FLASH TAYLOR ALEXANDER ALEXANDER, LLC 0/0/35.791
8 TITAN VICTORIA VARGAS D’AGOSTINO 0/0/36.732
9 CORETTE RACHEL UDELSON RACHEL UDELSON 0/0/37.975
10 APPLE TARA COUCH EDEN VALLEY STABLES 0/0/38.122
11 COOPER R JESSICA BLUM JESSICA BLUM 0/0/38.972
12 WILDFIRE ELIZABETH BATES ELIZABETH BATES 0/0/41.218

Please visit www.pbiec.com or call 561-793-5867 for more information on the Winter Equestrian Festival.

Source: Lindsay Brock and Callie Seaman for Jennifer Wood Media, Inc.