The 2015 Winter Equestrian Festival concluded its eighth week of competition on Sunday with a win for Todd Minikus (USA) and Two Swans Farms’ Babalou 41 in the $150,000 Grand Prix CSIO 4*, presented by Lugano Diamonds. The pair led a 10 horse jump-off with a top three finish for the United States in this week’s final CSIO competition. Beezie Madden (USA) and Simon finished second, and Meagan Nusz (USA) and Dynamo placed third. Anthony D’Ambrosio (USA) was the course designer for international competition in week eight. In Sunday’s CSIO 4* grand prix, D’Ambrosio saw 49 starters with ten clear rounds. The top three U.S. entries were the only ones to jump double clear over the short course. Nusz and Amalaya Investments’ Dynamo were the first pair to go clear in round two and set the pace at 38.71 seconds, eventually placing third. Two rounds later, Minikus upped the leading time to 35.77 seconds with Babalou 41. Last to go, Madden and Abigail Wexner’s Simon stopped the clock in 37.47 seconds to move into second place. Andres Rodriguez (VEN) had the fastest four-fault round in the jump-off with Arao Enterprises’ Caballito to place fourth in 36.86 seconds. McLain Ward (USA) and Double H Farm’s HH Carlos Z had the fastest round in 35.42 seconds, but dropped two rails along the way to finish eighth. After jumping double clear rounds to lead the U.S. team to victory in Friday night’s $100,000 Nations Cup, presented by Kingsland Equestrian, Minikus and Babalou 41 continued their top form into Sunday afternoon. Minikus spoke about how the 10-year-old Oldenburg mare (Balou du Rouet x Silvio I) was carefully brought along, competing in the schooling jumpers for a long time before stepping up to higher levels. The time and effort have paid off, and Babalou is showing more experience and maturity with every outing.
