Friends give Tomas Yofre a helping hand in Grand Prix win
Timing was perfect for Argentina’s Tomas Yofre’s $40,000 Grand Prix win with Kingston under the lights as part of the South Florida Hunter Jumper Association [SFHJA] 75th Annual Charity Horse Show at Wellington International.
“A very big group came over from Argentina for the week to celebrate one of their birthdays,” he said of the 10 or more compatriots who were cheering on his victory. “They gave me luck. They have to come more often.”
Tomas and Kingston have only been together for five months and this was their first night class appearance. The 10-year old Dutch Warmblood gelding, owned by Stellium Sporthorses LLC, joined his string this summer in Europe. “We bought him five months ago, with Olivia Broder and her family. I’m very grateful to them because they trust me a lot and I’ve been working with them for four years.”
Kingston made a strong impression on Tomas from the start – mentally as well as physically. “His head is incredible, so you can try things,” he said. “And then he has a lot of power, but he is a super smart horse.”
The pair had their work cut out as Tomas realized from his course walk. “I walked the course and I think it was pretty big for the first Saturday night that they built here,” he said referring to the first night class of the winter season at Wellington International. “I think it was very big and technical but my horse was fantastic.”
The Andy Christiansen designed course culled 49 entries to a competitive jump off of seven, with the novelty of featuring father and daughter Shane and Olivia Sweetnam. USA’s Delaney Flynn with Namimia was first to go clear in a time of 37.999 seconds – enough to land the third spot on the podium – with Olivia and Epic shadowing her in 38.029 to take eventual fourth place.
A battle royale proved to be the finale with Tomas, second to last to go before Shane – the Irishman was fresh from his first Grand Prix victory of the year last Sunday at Wellington International, and hungry for another.
Tomas relied on one of the many friends in his corner to help him through the jump off. “I didn’t walk the jump off,” he said. “But then I had a friend that told me what plan I should do to try to win, and I think I executed what he said, so I was very lucky also.”
With a leading time of 37.273 seconds in the bag for Tomas, Shane came just shy of victory stopping the clock at 37.422. Tomas was alerted to his win by the cheers of his countrymen since he could not bring himself to spectate. “I didn’t watch [Shane’s round],” he said. “I didn’t want to watch it.”
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