Wellington, Florida, USA – January 20, 2019 – The final day of week 2 on Sunday, January 20, at the 2019 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) featured two major classes in the International Arena of the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. The winner of the $36,000 CaptiveOne Advisors 1.45m Classic was 19-year-old Shota Ogomori (JPN) riding SIG Captain America. The 12-week WEF circuit features hunter, jumper, and equitation competition and continues through March 31, 2019, at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center.

While week 2 has concluded, there is still more top equestrian competition to come. Week 3 at WEF, sponsored by Adequan®, runs January 23-27 and features the $134,000 Adequan® Grand Prix CSI 3* on Saturday, January 26, at “Saturday Night Lights.”

Out of 77 entries in the first round of the $36,000 CaptiveOne Advisors 1.45m Classic, nine found the path to a clear round. In the jump-off, there were five double clears, led by the fastest time of 37.26 seconds set by Ogomori on SIG Captain America, owned by SIG International Inc. Ogomori went seventh out of nine in the jump-off and was able to keep a blazing pace throughout the shortened course.

Second in the class went to Luiz Francisco de Azevedo (BRA) on Collin, owned by Santa Cecilia Stables. They were clear in 37.53 seconds, missing the top time by just three-hundredths of a second. Andrew Welles (USA) and Brindis Bogibo, owned by Itasca Group LLC, were third in 38.72 seconds with no faults.

Ogomori celebrated his first big win at WEF on Sunday. The young rider from Torrance, CA, trains with Canadian grand prix rider Chris Pratt (CAN), and this is his third year competing at WEF. He got into riding through his father Nobu Ogomori, who competed in show jumping and was a coach.

While week 2 has concluded, there is still more top equestrian competition to come. Week 3 at WEF, sponsored by Adequan®, runs January 23-27 and features the $134,000 Adequan® Grand Prix CSI 3* on Saturday, January 26, at “Saturday Night Lights.”

Out of 77 entries in the first round of the $36,000 CaptiveOne Advisors 1.45m Classic, nine found the path to a clear round. In the jump-off, there were five double clears, led by the fastest time of 37.26 seconds set by Ogomori on SIG Captain America, owned by SIG International Inc. Ogomori went seventh out of nine in the jump-off and was able to keep a blazing pace throughout the shortened course.

Second in the class went to Luiz Francisco de Azevedo (BRA) on Collin, owned by Santa Cecilia Stables. They were clear in 37.53 seconds, missing the top time by just 3/100ths of a second. Andrew Welles (USA) and Brindis Bogibo, owned by Itasca Group LLC, were third in 38.72 seconds with no faults.

Ogomori celebrated his first big win at WEF on Sunday. The young rider from Torrance, CA, trains with Canadian grand prix rider Chris Pratt, and this is his third year competing at WEF. He got into riding through his father Nobu Ogomori, who competed in show jumping and was a coach.

Shota Ogomori (JPN) & SIG Captain America

Coming into the jump-off Ogomori changed his plan. “Chris [Pratt] mentioned that the first line had to be seven[strides]. The original plan was eight, but everybody was doing seven, so we changed the plan there. Then just go! Just gallop between the lines and make sure that the turn back to [fence] 10 was as tidy as possible.”

Ogomori gained his first championship experience in 2018 at the Asian Gamesin Jakarta, where he represented Japan and won the individual silver medal with SIG Iron Man. “Hopefully we can start qualifying for [the Tokyo Olympics],” he said.

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Source: Press release by Summer Grace & Jennifer Wood / Jennifer Wood Media, Inc. for PBIEC – Palm Beach International Equestrian Center / ESP – Equestrian Sports Productions

Photos: © Sportfot