Hurricane Swamps The Competition At CN Wellington Finale CSIO

Most South Florida residents would wince at the thought of a hurricane, but the spectators who gathered for the $100,000 CN U.S. Open Jumper Championship cheered. This time, the hurricane was of the lanky bay variety, as Ramiro Quintana and Hurricane I stormed to the top of the class.

In the biggest win of his career so far, Quintana guided Hurricane to the top check over a stellar international starting field of 49.

The event concluded the CN Wellington Finale CSIO in Wellington, Fla., an event that included the $50,000 CN Samsung Nations Cup.

Quintana, 28, represented his home of Argentina in that Nations Cup, where the team took third place. The Irish team won the class, to the delight of their loud and vociferous cheering squad, over a young squad from Great Britain. The American team had a disappointing night under the lights, finishing fifth.

The international flavor continued in the grand prix, as Quintana dueled against two Americans, a Frenchman and a Brit in the jump-off. Riders from Canada, Germany, Belgium, Mexico, Switzerland, Colombia and Venezuela dotted the order of go as well.

Jose "Pepe" Gamarra built a tough first-round course that whittled the field down to just five. An extremely tough triple combination came early in the track, at 4ABC, and dashed the hopes of many. A narrow, airy green vertical led, in a tight one-stride distance, to a massive Swedish oxer, and then a long one stride brought another airy vertical.

"The first distance was very tight to a wide oxer, and it made a lot of horses hang up over the oxer. That put them in trouble, because it was a very long distance to the third element of the combination. They were tricky distances," Quintana said.

But Quintana was able to draw on Hurricane's experience to conquer the combination.

"He's just a very straightforward horse, very well schooled and trained. He's done well with every rider he's had," he said.

Owner Sarah Willeman won her first grand prix on the bay Dutch Warmblood, 14, in 2001. Jeffery Welles also rode and won on him, and McLain Ward won multiple grand prix classes on him in 2003 and 2004. Quintana has had the ride for six months, since trainer Missy Clark chose him to take over the reins.

Quintana, who has brought many younger horses to the grand prix level while riding for Joe Fargis, appreciates Hurricane's professionalism.

"It's nice to walk the course and feel like I can be competitive because I know the horse can do it. He's not the most naturally fast horse, but he's got a very big step, and I can leave out strides on big gallops," said Quintana.

And one fewer stride is how he won it. Kent Farrington and Madison had set the jump-off pace as the first in, with no faults in 41.72 seconds. Laura Chapot and the catty and fast Little Big Man had an early rail to finish with 4 faults in 42.36 seconds. And then Quintana galloped into the ring with a plan to win.

"I saw Kent's round, and he added one stride down one line. He did seven strides, and I thought I could take advantage of that by doing the six strides in there. As it turns out, I just beat him by a fraction of a second, so that was the difference," Quintana said. His clean round in 41.51 seconds put him in front with two left.