Tom Wachman Wins the $117,000 Grand Prix Qualifier at WEC Ocala

Tom Wachman of Ireland and Do It Easy, the 13-year-old Selle Francais gelding, won the $117,000 Grand Prix Qualifier CSI4* Thursday at the World Equestrian Center (WEC) Ocala.

Just the day before, the pair finished third in the CSI4* Two Phase, one-hundredth of a second behind second place.

This time, he widened the margin, taking the 1.50-meter Grand Prix Qualifier by more than half a second over runner-up Eduardo Menezes of Brazil and H5 Knockando, an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare.

American Brooke Kemper and the 16-year-old gelding Arpeggi finished third in the field of 41, just 0.17 seconds ahead of Luis Pedro Biraben.

Wachman was the penultimate to go in the jump-off, putting the pressure on Menezes, who put in a good effort, but missed topping the leaderboard by 0.55 seconds.

Four riders each picked up one time fault in the first round, and three riders left the arena with two time faults each, also in the first round.

Time change for Saturday evening's Grand Prix

Saturday's $200,000 Grand Prix has been moved up two hours because of the forecasted cold temperatures. The class will now begin at 5 pm EST.

Watch the WEC Ocala Winter Spectacular Show Series V on ClipMyHorse.TV HERE.

Top Eight Results

1 Tom Wachman (Ireland) - DO IT EASY - 0/37.36

2 Eduardo Menezes (Brazil) - H5 KNOCKANDO - 0/37.91

3 Brooke Kemper (USA) - ARPEGGI - 0/39.10

4 Luis Pedro Biraben (Argentina) - GEORGINA DE CARLES - 0/39.27

5 Jessica Mendoza (Great Britain) - IN THE AIR - 0/39.53

6 Sergio Alvarez Moya (Spain) - BE BLUE - 4/37.53

7 Michael Duffy (Ireland) - BE SKY HAWK - 4/38.97

8 Nina Mallevaey (France) - DESTINE TO BE - 4/39.22