Press release from Wellington International

The 2024 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) once again saw Germany’s Richard Vogel leading a lap of honor in the International Ring as he won Friday’s $32,000 Dodd Technologies CSI4* 1.50m on Cepano Baloubet during Week 3 of competition. The win signaled the start of another successful weekend for Vogel, who was already the victor in the $140,000 Keyflow Feeds USA CSI3* Grand Prix at the culmination of WEF 2.

Just shy of sixty horse-and-rider combinations came to contest Peter Grant’s (CAN) speed track, but Vogel is a hard man to beat on any day and boasts an impressive string of horses. Cepano Baloubet was also the mount that carried Vogel to win last year’s $500,000 Rolex CSI5*  Grand Prix.

“He’s a horse we’ve had some very good success on and I’m excited to have him back in the show ring,” Vogel commented of the Coleridge Equestrian, LLC’s 10-year-old Dutch Sport Horse gelding (Chaman x Stakkato’s Highlight). “I didn’t manage to qualify for the grand prix yesterday so I had to jump him in this class, but he will do tomorrow night’s grand prix and I hope he jumps the same tomorrow as he did today!” 

With horses like Cepano, United Touch S and WEF 2’s winning mount, Cydello, the challenge for Vogel is determining who will be most successful in each class, but it’s a decision he says he gets help with from the horses themselves. 

“While each of my horses is very nice, they also all have their strengths and weaknesses,” he explained. “This horse is one that needs to have some small classes before he can comfortably do a big grand prix, whereas United Touch S will go straight into a big class and be fine with it. Cydello is a horse that is just upcoming and not super experienced, so the main goal with him is to give him experience. They are all exceptional but also very different, so they almost pick the classes themselves based on their strengths.” 

Clocking in just shy of Vogel’s time of 65.15 seconds with a time of 65.32, Brazil’s Eduardo Menezes piloted his own 12-year-old Selle Français gelding Calypso des Matis (Paddock du Plessis*hn x Tresor de Cheux) into the second-place position. Rounding out the international podium, Mario Deslauriers (CAN) and Aram Ampagoumian LLC’s 10-year-old Oldenburg gelding Costa Quick PS (Conthargos x Quick Star) were quick enough and took third with a time of 69.23 seconds.

Competition in the International Arena was capped off with a win from Alvaro Enrique Tejada Arriola (GUA) and Andrea Muller’s 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare One Eleven 111 (Joop 111 x Caleandro) in the $32,000 Florida Coast Equipment CSI2* 1.45m Qualifier. Arriola led the field by an impressive three seconds on a time of 41.50 seconds. Under the guidance of Lucas Porter (USA), Sleepy P Ranch BV’s nine-year-old KWPN gelding Kentucky N (Carrera VDL x Cassiano 3) was the closest contender with a time of 44.01 seconds while Canada’s Jay Hayes and Fenn Randazzo’s nine-year-old Holsteiner mare Hope VA (Cornet Obolensky x Casall) completed the podium.