Wilhelm Genn and Happy Z © Flashpoint Photography

GULFPORT, MS (March 8, 2007) — On a near perfect day with sunshine and warm temps on a field of lush grass owner-rider Wilhelm Genn made winning look so easy as he took his third consecutive Welcome Stakes victory partnered with "the little mare who can", 9 year-old Happy Z at the 4th week opener presented by Classic Equine Equip, Inc.

Course designer, Tim Hott, of Knoxville, TN, decided to be, as he put it, "inviting and welcoming" to the 20 competitors coming to play on his field this afternoon. Returning to the Gulf Coast Winter series for the first time in 8 years, Hott remembered fondly the first season of the show and spoke with enthusiasm of the growth the event has seen over the years, "So many changes here. The first time I was here the Grand Prix was held in the covered ring and now it's on one of the best grass fields I've seen in a long time." Having returned to showing jumpers himself recently, Tim joked about setting the course this afternoon with one thought, "I'd love to riding this field myself!" The big spread of 11 obstacles included 3 sets of combinations and a particularly sharp bending turn coming off of fence 5B [tall vertical] into #6, a wide oxer with two single red-white striped poles. "I'd been looking at that since the course walk and thinking about it" today's winner said of the sharp turn, "I took that as a personal challenge." he snickered. One he succeeded at. Surprisingly, even after a time adjustment to 82 seconds for the first round, it was time faults that hurt a vast majority of the field. The other obstacle that proved troublesome for several was fence #1, the unassuming grey stone oxer seemed to literally just trip up many of the horses.

Genn came to play with all three of his "A Team" jumpers and thoughts of the $10,000 Budweiser Grand Prix bonus, for which he is the apparent leader of the pack now. "That was my focus before I came here [Gulfport]." Genn said with a chuckle. His first mount Chantal fell victim to the sharpness of fence 6 and finished with 4 faults, but this proved to be a learning round for his return with the Dutch Warmblood mare Happy Z who became only the third to go clear as they stopped the clock at 81.084 seconds.

The 52-second allowance would not be an issue for the 6-fence jump off; the real test would be a wicked round about-rollback coming off of fence #8. A mere 7 horse-rider teams qualified for the final round, among them Genn with two of his three mounts taking on Michael Tokaruk and Lord Byron, winners of the week two Grand Prix and the always competitive Christian Rogge who also had two rides returning. Wilhelm's first ride was defending Welcome champion of the past 2 weeks, Ariado who true to form set the bar with a sizzling time of 36.345 seconds. Following them into the ring next was Tokaruk and "Lordy" who wasted no time in getting down to the business of besting Genn, ripping through the course no holds barred and while their time was an astounding 35.250 sadly a rail dropped resulting in 4 faults. "Just one of those moments." Tokaruk jested afterwards, "Lordy was great actually and I'm very pleased with our results. Besides I don't necessarily mind losing the Welcomes so much, seems when I do win my Prix day doesn't go quite as well so I'm perfectly happy right now."

In a typical Wilhelm-Happy scenario, the pair pulled yet another daring move in the jump off round that created a gasp heard round the grounds. Rather than following the crowd and turning right off of #8 to rollback left for the oxer, this pair elected to turn left and hard right into, rather over the oxer. "She's short, she's handy and I wanted to do that turn." with confidence ringing through, Genn continued, "I figured if I get to the last two verticals short I can always back her up and if she listens well, then I can do the left turn, and she did!" Indeed she did with a breath taking clear time of 34.114 seconds that secured today's win and puts Wilhelm a little closer to that big bonus. Genn will return for the Grand Prix on Sunday with all three mounts in the hopes of making it look "oh so easy" again.

Winner of the past 2 Welcome Stakes Ariado, also owned and ridden by Genn finished second with a clear round final time of 36.345. Following in 3rd place was Rex The Rascal navigated by Douglas King for owner Royal Crown Stables with a clean finish of 36.724 and in 4th place Christian Rogge on the Robert Skib owned Monaco finishing clear in 39.431. To complete the top five was owner-rider Michael Tokaruk with Lord Byron with a time of 35.250 and 4 faults.

The Gulfport Winter Classic continues with more hunter/jumper and Grand Prix action through March 18th. Admission is free and the public is invited to enjoy the exciting competition throughout the week along with another $25,000 Grand Prix each Sunday as well as the race for the of the $10,000 Budweiser High Point Grand Prix Rider, presented to the top rider, calculated by earned points, of the five-week series.