WELLINGTON, Fla,--Following his grand prix win on Feb. 7, Daniel Deusser of Germany won again, this time on Kiana Van Het Herdershof in the $37,000 1.45m Classic CSI5* on Friday, Feb. 12, in the International Arena at the Winter Equestrian Festival.
The speed course set by Kelvin Bywater of Great Britain had 14 jumping efforts for the 49 entered, and Deusser finished in the fastest time of 59.54 seconds.
“I had two horses, and with the first one, the goal was to get a good ribbon,” said Deusser. “Kiana Van Het Herdershof is naturally very fast and a little bit crazy. She’s already won a few classes like this one, so with her, it was our plan to try to win the class.”
Harrie Smolders of The Netherlands on Une De L’Othian finished second in 60.81 seconds, and Canadian Erynn Ballard on Ronja was third in 61.86 seconds.
Deusser, who captured his last victory on the grass Derby Field at Equestrian Village aboard Killer Queen VDM, said he thoroughly enjoys the chance to jump in the International Arena.
“ITS A VERY great ring to ride in,” he said. “It’s big enough, there are really nice fences, the flowers, the decoration; it’s a nice feeling to ride in the International Arena.”
Deusser, currently ranked third in the world, is back at WEF for the first time in four years.
“I don’t see a big difference in the level of competition here compared to Europe,” he said. “We have top international riders here, and the level is exactly the same. I will ride Killer Queen Saturday night. She showed last week that she’s in good shape and showed yesterday with a nice round in the WEF. She’s jumped under the lights before so I’m quite comfortable about tomorrow.”