Venezuela's Luis Fernando Larrazabal wins Wellington WEF Challenge

Luis Fernando Larrazabal of Venezuela claimed his second Wellington International Winter Equestrian Festival Challenge with a victory Friday aboard the 11-year-old mare Baroness.

Luis and the German-bred mare was one of four combinations to go double clear and the fastest in a time of 45.78 secs. in the $62,500 Adequan WEF Challenge round 6 on Wellington's grass derby field.

The partnership ended 2025 with Bolivarian Games team and individual silver medals and so far this year in Wellington have won two WEF Challenges and a CSI3* competition. The Wellington-based Olympian has also scored a CSI3* win on Ribery in 2026.

Bertram Allen of Ireland on his Tokyo Olympic mount, Pacino Amiro, 14-year-old Irish-bred gelding, placed second on 46.61 secs. with the USA's Quentin Judge on the 14-year-old mare HH Griffin van de Heffinck slighty behind on 46.97 secs for third.

Baroness, that Luis has been competing since the horse was six years old said: "She jumped amazing the first round. She felt super fresh, jumping nice. And then into a jump off, I was lucky at the end. It gave me a little bit of perspective of how all the other riders were doing. I know she's fast and we know each other inside out and we just committed to our plan and it was the luck on our side this time again."

The horse is entered in her first CSI5* next week at Wellington.

Results:

$62,500 Adequan WEF Challenge Round 6

Pl. Horse/Rider Jump Off Faults Time

1 BARONESS/LUIS FERNANDO LARRAZABAL VEN 0 45.78

2 PACINO AMIRO/BERTRAM ALLEN IRL 0 46.61

3 HH GRIFFIN VAN DE HEFFINCK/QUENTIN JUDGE USA 0 46.97

4 KATRIONA/PETER LUTZ USA 0 50.44

5 EXQUISE DU PACHIS/ZAYNA RIZVI USA 4 46

6 JUNIOR KANNAN/ALEX MATZ USA 4 46.2

7 MR. CORNIKE/MICHAEL DUFFY IRL 4 53.23

8 RISCALINO/HILARY MCNERNEY USA 8 48.3

9 MANOU DE MUZE/EMILY DEHOFF USA 8 48.84

10 BP NICKITA/MICHEL FEITOSA BRA16 48.28

11 KAPITAAL L/DANIEL BLUMAN ISR ELIM.

12 DICAS/MARGIE GOLDSTEIN-ENGLE USA WD

Photo: Venezuela's Luis Fernando Larrazabal on Baroness claiming $62,500 Wellington International's Winter Equestrian Festival Challenge. © 2026 Ken Braddick/Jumper-News.US