‘I never thought this dream would come true’
A British teenage rising star lands her first five-star victory and Israel’s Ashlee Bond seals the Winter Equestrian Festival with a grand prix to remember
THE 12-week Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida has been a gold mine for US-based British rider Grace Debney (see interview, p16) but she sealed the series with a milestone first CSI5* victory in Saturday’s $37,000 (£28,200) 1.45m speed class riding her long-time partner, Zarina De Vidau.
“This has been a dream of mine for the longest time and I never thought it would come true, but the fact that it is with Zarina is unbelievably special,” said 18-yearold Grace. “She has been my rock for so long and somehow she has stepped up even more for me this year. Never in a million years would I have thought I would win a five-star competition during Rolex week with this horse.”
Ireland’s Daniel Coyle took an early lead with Farona (by
Baltic VDL), stopping the clock in 55.23sec, but Grace left out several strides with her 11-yearold mare to post the winning time of 54.97sec.
“As the class progressed, I knew I had to leave out as many strides as I could to have a shot,” said Grace. “Every time we went to leave a stride out today, I would have a split-second thought of pulling to fit in one more. Then I would remember it was Zarina and I would know that she had my back. We have so much trust in one another and she truly enjoys her job, which makes it better for all of us.”
In Saturday’s $500,000 Rolex grand prix, victory went to Israel’s Ashlee Bond riding Karoline Of Ballmore, an achievement she described as “super-surreal”.
Five combinations from a world-class field jumped clear over the first-round track set by Guilherme Jorge, which was adjusted to take the spread out of the last few oxers due to the heat and humidity.
Ashlee only started riding “Korra” five weeks ago and was competing in her first jump-off with the big-striding, 12-yearold Belgian warmblood mare, previously ridden by Belgian rider Nicola Philippaerts. The pair rocketed home clear in 44.09sec.
“I just had to make sure to come really slow into the triple combination, but she was so rideable and just zipped around there, so it felt really nice,” said Ashlee, who was chased home by countryman Daniel Bluman and the back-from-injury Ladriano Z, for an Israeli one-two.
“I don’t think I’ve ever sat on a horse so brave,” said Ashlee. “She’s like a rocket, like a ball of power. You can just pull her together and go so slow and so up and down, and then she just explodes. She makes my job really easy; I’m very blessed to have her.”
Ben Maher was best of the British riders, finishing seventh on Jane Clark’s Ginger-Blue with just four faults in round one. The Olympic champion went on to finish runner-up to Nicola Philippaerts (Gijs) in the concluding 1.50m national grand prix, riding Pamela Wright and Charlotte Rossetter’s super-smart eight-year-old, Point Break.
“She has stepped up even more for me
this year”
GRACE DEBNEY