WELLINGTON, Fla.--Grace Debney of Great Britain won her first-ever five-star class in the $37,000, 1.45m CSI5* speed class on the grass Derby Field during the final weekend at the Winter Equestrian Festival.
Grace Debney on Zaria de Vidau SportfotDebney, riding Zarina De Vidau, a horse she has had since acquiring her to do the junior jumpers, became the only one to lower the time on the scoreboard below 55 seconds.
By leaving several strides out across the course, Debney was clean with a final time of 54.97 seconds.
“When we originally walked the course, there were three or four lines that I had planned to do one more stride than I ended up doing,” said Debney. “As the class progressed though, I knew I had to leave out as many strides as I could to have a shot. She has a normal stride, so I was able to gallop down there and get the leave-out numbers without slowing down.”
“This has been a dream of mine for the longest time, and I never actually thought it would come true but the fact that it is with her is unbelievably special,” said the 18-year-old. “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.”
“Every time we went to leave a stride out today, I would have a split-second thought of pulling to fit in one more,” she said. “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.”
Ireland's Daniel Coyle was second in 55.23, while fellow countryman Darragh Kenny wast hird on Cicomein VDL in 56.40 seconds.
LACEY GILBERTSON on Karlin van’t Vennehof, a new mount for her, won the $37,000 1.45m Qualifier CSI2*
Only 13 riders from the U.S., Germany, Canada, Ireland, and Great Britain of the original 76 entries were clean to qualify for the jump-off.
Going early in the jump-off, Gilbertson set the time to beat with a fast clean round in 38.58 seconds.
Samuel Hutton of Great Britain immediately followed with another clear round to eventually place third with a slightly slower time of 39.67.
“I went early so I wasn’t able to watch any go in either the first or the second round,” said Gilbertson. “We were planning to just have a good ride in preparation for Sunday since it was our first time on the grass. I was very tight from fence one to two, and then just kept flowing after that so everything came up the way I wanted it to. If I just stay out of her way, she gets the job done, and she is very quick across the ground.”
“This mare was previously a ride for Shane Sweetnam, and I just acquired her for myself at the beginning of the WEF season,” she said. “We owned half of her when Shane was riding her, and she was my type, so it worked out well. I am smaller and not that strong, so I think I get along with the mares I’ve had because I don’t overpower them. She makes my life easy.”
Ireland’s Tom Wachman placed second on H H Fireball, clean in 39.10 half a second behind Gilbertson.
