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Friday, January 25, 2008

Up and Coming Talent on Hand for 2008 Gold Coast Opener CDI-W/Y
By Lynndee Kemmet for DressageDaily.com

West Palm Beach – The 2008 Gold Coast Opener CDI-W/Y opens today at the Jim Brandon Equestrian Center and a couple of future stars from the barn of Cesar Parra may be visible. Two weeks ago at the Wellington Classic Dressage Challenge I, Parra earned one of those rare 10s with the five-year-old sibling of Furst Fabio, the fabulous Ferragmo. Ferragamo sort of slipped under the radar until his results appeared on the scoreboard. Then his First Level ride was the last of the day on Sunday after a brief but substantial rainfall made some puddles in ring four. Totally undaunted the your horse moved confidently under the guidance of his rider, Claudia Arnold.

Ferragmo, sired by Fidemark, was the high score winner at the Wellington Classic with a score of 82.4 in his Training Level test. There was little Parra could say about the score of 10 earned in his test other than, “Wow. It feels good. He also got like seven 9s. It’s pretty cool. It’s nice that he starts his show life with two wins.”

Ferragmo may be seen in the show ring at the Gold Coast Opener, but not with Parra. His partner will be Claudia Arnold, who trains with Parra. “She’s earned the right to a good horse,” Parra said. “And Claudia and he look good together.” The gelding is owned by Parra and Michael Cable. And it’s unknown yet if the horse will stay in Parra’s barn or be sold. “The idea right now is to train him and see how it goes,” Parra said.

Parra has little doubt that Ferragmo “is a world class horse. He’s got a world class trot, a good walk and a good canter. I’ve had him here in the barn only a month and he has learned the changes and everything else.” Ferragmo will be in the spotlight this weekend when he comes out to compete in Second Level competition and in Sunday’s FEI Six-Year-Old class.  

Parra has no doubt the youngster will easily move up the levels over time. “But he’s just a baby. We’re enjoying him, but we have to take care of him. It’s a balance. Sometimes with youngsters, we expect them to be too much like an adult when we should let them be young. But at same time, some riders let the young horses get away with too much. We must educate them. With Ferragmo, whether we keep him or not, he’s sure to make someone very happy.”