Ezrah and Richard Spooner win the 150.000 ford Gp of the desert

INDIO, CA (March 14, 2005) -- Richard Spooner, the leading career prize money winner at the Indio Desert Circuit..., continued his winning ways as he captured the $45,000 Grand Prize in the $150,000 Ford Grand Prix of the Desert. Spooner and Ezrah were the only team to jump cleanly within the time allowed at the concluding event of the six week long 2005 Indio Desert Circuit.

It would have been hard to convince the three thousand strong crowd that lined the Grand Prix field that Ezrah was not a special horse. And just four months ago, it was hard to convince anyone that Ezra was worth the
investment. Richard recognized that Ezrah was still on her ascent when he purchased the horse from Duncan and Brie McFarlane. The first people to congratulate Richard on his win were his good friends, the McFarlanes.

"Extraordinary Horse" exclaimed Richard Spooner as he dismounted Ezrah after posting the first clear round in the $150,000 Ford Grand Prix of the Desert. Richard´s clear round would eventually give him the win as the
course designed by Leopoldo Palacios of Venezuela proved to be too tough a challenge for the field of thirty-six horse/rider combinations. Each successive pair had faults, and Richard would have to sweat it out as he
watched the final rider, Tracy Fenney from Texas, a previous winner of this event, attempt to force a jump-off. Richard and Tracy´s husband, Mike McCormick, stood next to each other as they watched Tracy jump the first 11 obstacles cleanly.

Tracy knew that she was close to the time allowed, however, she was more concerned with cleanly jumping the last three rails, and she steadied S&L Willie going into the last jump. "I don´t care (that I had a time fault)", a visibly jubilant Fenney shouted after her round as she surprised even herself by becoming only the second rider to finish the course without any jumping faults. Six tenths of a second was all that stood between a jump-off with Richard Spooner and Ezrah.

Buddy Brown was one of four riders who managed the course with only one knockdown. Buddy, who at the age of 48 just recently returned to competitive Grand Prix level show jumping after a nine year hiatus, did
not believe that his horse was fit enough to compete against horses who have had the whole winter to get in shape. Buddy and his horse Kilkenny Randall Z had been limited to working indoors in Oregon all winter.

Ali Nilforushan, Iran, felt that his horse Cellist 2 was in the best shape of the circuit. Only a late rail kept Ali and Cellist 2 from joining Richard in a jump-off and a shot at the $45,000 winner´s purse. Many
riders expressed their appreciation for the course. Molly Talla and Kim Farlinger both agreed that the course was relentless, "you never had time to regroup and take a breather over a fence".

After only four months together and this win behind them, there is no doubt we can expect big things from Richard Spooner and Ezrah in the future. Richard´s performance in the $150,000 Ford Grand Prix of the
Desert, he also placed tenth with Millenium, has secured him a place at the World Cup Finals to be held April 20-24 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Nicole Shahinian-Simpson and Joie Gatlin will be the other two members from the
West Coast League to join Spooner.

Ezrah werd verkocht door KDW-horses
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