Sharn has been fully focused on his Grand Prix show career and through his partnership with The Sky Group, he is making his way to the top of the sport! This past week he continued his winning ways in Tryon, having back to back wins on Casper and Barnetta.
Giving us more reasons to celebrate, one of our top clients, Andrew Bourns, placed second in the Grand Prix aboard Hyakari. Both gentlemen school at home on a Wordley Martin surface, ensuring their horses perform at the peak of the ability when they hit the road for the show circuit.
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Wordley Goes Two for Two With Win in $130,000 1.50m Suncast® Welcome CSI 5* Aboard Casper
For Immediate Release
Mill Spring, NC – June 9, 2016 – Sharn Wordley (NZL) continued his dominance at Tryon International Equestrian Center (TIEC) today, earning his second consecutive win during the FEI CSI 5* week at the venue. Wordley piloted Casper to a commanding victory in the $130,000 1.50m Suncast® Welcome CSI 5* finishing the track in 46.34 seconds. Andrew Bourns (IRL) collected second place aboard Hyakari with a time of 48.65 seconds, while Richie Moloney (IRL) and Carrabis Z crossed the timers in 52.15 seconds for third.
Wordley and Casper took a bold approach to the Alan Wade (IRL) designed track, which rode appropriately for the class according to many of the participating competitors. The course was large and technical, but incredibly fair. Wordley reiterated his comments from yesterday, giving another testament as to why Wade is one of the best course builders in the world.
“I think the course rode exactly how it walked. It was a tough course and I knew that there weren’t going to be too many clears. The time allowed was quite tight and I was clear on my first horse too, but finished with time faults,” he said. “You had to go fast but you had to have your horse short as well into the tight lines. He did a brilliant job building a course that was big enough, technical enough, and took skill to ride, but was still very safe.”
Comparing his win yesterday aboard Barnetta with his win today with Casper, Wordley explained the differences between the two rides, but also described his individual approach to each horse in order to generate the most success in the ring.
“Barnetta rides very long so I have an easy go at making up some of the time with him in open lines. With Casper, he’s so careful, I have to keep him a bit closer with me. I added a stride today in one of the lines in the jump-off, but still made a go at the course. I didn’t get to see Andrew [Bourns] ride. I only saw it for a bit on the monitor, but it was hard to tell how fast I needed to go,” he commented. “I didn’t plan on going two seconds faster, but Casper is just such a quick horse.”

The course proved to be a difficult test, as only five combinations of 41 entries finished clear and inside the time. Shane Sweetnam (IRL), Carlos Ramirez (COL), and David Raposa (USA) each finished the afternoon with a single time fault, while Wordley piloted his other two mounts, Auckland De L’Enclos and Barnetta to tenth and eleventh place respectively.
Casper is an incredibly talented mount for Wordley, and at only ten years old, there is a very bright future for the 2006 Oldenburg gelding (Contender x Baloubet du Rouet) owned by Sky Group. Wordley also noted that Casper will be his potential mount poised for a run to the FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) in 2018.
“He’s been a very special horse for us and I still think there is so much more that he’s capable of. I’m really pleased with the way we finished today,” he commented.
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