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Nick Skelton claims his ninth win in Florida


  • Britain’s winning streak at the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in Florida has continued in the circuit’s eleventh week.

    Nick Skelton secured his ninth major win claiming the $30,000 ( £18,958) WEF challenge cup on 22 March.

    Riding Beverley Widdowson’s Big Star, Nick finished in 33.77sec to beat Ben Maher and Tripple X III in what has been an unbelievable festival for him.

    “[Big Star] is going great. He’s come along leaps and bounds [and] he’s only nine years old,” said Nick.

    Scott Brash and Intertoy Z rounded off the week winning the $25,000 ( £15,798) Suncast 1.50m championship jumper classic yesterday (25 March).

    The pair beat Ben Maher and Quiet Easy 4 and Ireland’s Cian O’Connor and KEC Alligator Alley who were second and third.

    The course – set by Richard Jeffery – proved problematic with not one combination going clear.

    Thirteen of the 40 entries finished with four faults and a jump-off was held to break the tie.

    “That doesn’t happen too often, but they are big, hard tracks here,” Scott said.

    “I think [Intertoy Z] was just unlucky in the first round because [in] the jump-off he was fantastic.”

    The FTI WEF will run for twelve weeks in total, finishing on 1 April.

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