It was a real-deal victory for Team “Fore-Real” Friday evening of Week 4 at the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in the $25,000 BrainJuice U25 Grand Prix Series Team Event, a pinnacle event for young show jumpers at Wellington International. Emilie Conter, age 24, Tony Stormanns, age 17, Zayna Rizvi, age 19, and Ansgar Holtgers, Jr., age 19, led by chef d’équipe Helena Stormanns, put in a stellar performance across two rounds and a jump-off for the top of the podium.
Set in the Global International Arena at Equestrian Village, 19 teams of four up-and-coming international riders went head to head, gaining valuable experience in the team structure that mirrors a Nations Cup. Every team member jumped two rounds to decide the final standings.
Team “Run Ferder Run”, consisting of Emily Dehoff, Karime Perez Nunez, Alexander Alston, and Jake Endicott, had pole position after round one, with a zero score. As the last to go, Endicott returned to try to seal the deal with a clear round, however one rail down with Game Over put the team into the third-place position.
“Fore-Real” jumped to two time faults in the second, and combined with their score of zero in round one, put them in a dead-heat tie with Team “Travers.” Team traverse was made up of Carlee McCutcheon, Cassidy Rein, Sterling Malnik, and Nina Mallevaey, with one time fault from each round. A jump-off between Mallevaey and Holtgers, Jr. would determine the win.
Mallavaey kickstarted jump-off action aboard My Clementine, bringing down two rails on her way. Holtgers, Jr., brought it home with Chaploon on a clear effort in the jump-off, meaning victory for “Fore-Real.”
“My trainer, [René Tebbel], and I had a very good plan from the beginning, and the time fault was a bit unfortunate, but it makes a little bit more for a storybook ending, which everyone likes,” Holtgers, Jr. said of the way the event played out. “It definitely made it more exciting for us. We're all very happy with this and I'm very happy with my horse.”
Chef d’équipe Stormanns was immensely proud of her team, which included her son, Tony. Every rider learned from the experience, but her biggest lesson was that clear rounds are crucial.
“On paper there seemed to be a lot of clear rounds, but in the end, no team jumped clear, and it's always the way in Nations Cups and championships,” she elaborated. “People get excited and think they have to go fast but you need to jump clear rounds. It was a case of being careful, trying to stay clear and not losing your head.”
Helena also knew the amount of pressure not only on each rider but especially put on Holtgers, Jr. when he had to jump off for the win.
“Every jump is pressure,” she said. “That's the way it is. We would have loved him even if he hadn't won it, but it works our way sometimes. And the draw made a big difference; the fact that Nina had to go first, that was tough. Your risk is then much bigger—You don't usually win with bad luck.”
Holtgers, Jr. enjoyed the pressure and the entire team experience. “I think it adds a great pressure which we don't get a lot,” he remarked. “We should get that more often because it sets us up for the bigger stuff. Tony and I both had a time fault, which was not looking so good but then we also had the chance to come back and do a jump-off and come out on top.”
Conter has a great deal of experience under her belt, but enjoyed the camaraderie the team event brought Friday as she eyes bigger events in the future.
“I think it's great for the riders here to already get a feel of the Nations Cup pressure; it’s super different,” she shared. “It's good preparation for what's to come in the future. My horse is quite speedy, so I had to keep moving in his rhythm and keep him to the right and keep the rails up. He was jumping better every round.”
Rizvi has jumped a Senior Nations Cup before, so the team environment was not new to her, however, working with a new team always provides a new experience.
“In any class I try to do my best, so I ride it how I’d ride anything,” Rizvi shared about her approach. “But these team events are special for us young riders to get used to it. Even if we've already jumped a Nations Cup, it's still always a good experience to go in there.”
Tony Stormanns is still quite young, even on the U25 circuit, so he’s squeezing everything out of each opportunity to become a better rider and teammate.
“I think for young riders like me, who are just getting into the U25 tour, a team competition like this is pretty exciting,” he shared. “Most of the time you're by yourself and then you come down here and you get to ride with your friends, with a team. It's pretty cool.”
As for the team name, it came as a result of ChatGPT. The four teammates were intended to be “Four-Real” but when the team name was due, it accidentally turned into “Fore-Real,” which still proved to be a lucky name. So lucky, in fact, that Helena Stormanns pointed out they were able to share a podium with Nick Skelton, chef d’équipe of Team “Travers” which not many can say.
To kickstart competition on the derby field Friday morning, Natalie Dean (USA) topped the $32,000 Dodd Technologies CSI4* 1.50m Classic with Dotcom D’Athuit, owned by Marigold Sporthorses, LLC. Luis Fernando Larrazabal (VEN) and Belle de Muze, owned by Driss Ngadi, took second place, while Bertram Allen (IRL) and Gary de Cerisy, owned by Ballywalter Stables LTD claimed third.
Isabelle Ehman (USA) also took a big win aboard Magnolia, owned by Double E, LLC, in the $32,000 Griffis Residential CSI2* Qualifier. Adrienne Sternlicht and Cayetana, owned by Starlight Farms 1 LLC, were second while Zayna Rizvi was third with Kung Fu, owned by the Kung Fu Group.
