WELLINGTON, Fla.--German Olympian Daniel Deusser and Kiana Van Het Herdershof won the $78,000 CSI5* 1.50m Classic on Sunday, Feb. 26 at the Winter Equestrian Festival.
Daniel Deusseer on Klana Van Het Herdeshof (Photo by Sportfot)Deusser, ranked the number nine in the world, was clean in the first round on both his winning mount and his second entry, Loui LN, with whom he finished in sixth place at the class’s completion.
The jump-off had 17 from a starting field of 53 with nine of those going clean.
“Kiana is a horse I’ve had for many years, and she is naturally very fast, so classes like this are her specialty,” said Deusser. “If I am clear in the jump-off with her, I am normally always in the top five placings.”
“My jump-off started really well with the turn from fence two to three which is one of her strong suits,” he said. “She is never running blind, and she is always searching for the next jump. Then to the second to last fence I did a rollback that would’ve been very difficult to do with another horse. The thing about Kiana is you don’t have to slow her down in front of the fences so I can keep my speed throughout the whole jump-off.”
JOS VERLOOY went early in the class and set the pace as he with a challenging time-to-beat at 38.04 seconds, but ultimately settled for third place on FTS Killossery Konfusion.
Italy’s Lorenzo de Luca finished second on Dirka De Blondel, clean in 36.52 seconds, only half a second off the winning pace of 36.02 seconds.
Alise Oken on Saratoga won the $50,000 CSI2* Grand Prix, clean in 38.86 seconds.
Chloe Reid on Crossover 4 was second, finishing in 40.79 seconds, and Canada’s Alicia Gadban-Lewis on Beneficial, finishing on a time of 37.72 with one fence down was third.
“I’ve had Sara for about a year and a half now," said Oken. "Last year we started doing some of the bigger classes and some 1.50m’s and she’s really excelled at that level. When I first sat on her I thought she had all the scope in the world and I’ve taken my time with her and I think she will jump some of the biggest tracks, but today we also went fast which was great so I’m really happy with the results.
“She is smaller but she has a huge stride so I can actually leave out numbers in all the lines and for how small she is she actually has a very big stride so it’s very advantageous for me," said Oken. "Especially in the jump-off, I was able to leave out in the first line and one other line, so I think that’s where I made up the time.”
