The stakes were high for Abdel Saïd in the $62,500 Bainbridge CSI5* 1.50m Classic on Friday. Earning the win aboard Calvaro, owned by AS Trading BV, he punched his ticket for the Rolex US Equestrian Open to close out the final week of the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) at Wellington International.
The top 30 finishers from Thursday’s Adequan® WEF Challenge Cup Round 12 were already comfortably in the order for ‘Saturday Night Lights’, and were joined by the top-10 in Friday's speed competition. Coming in the ring eighth out of a starting 61, Saïd and Calvaro put in a daring round, crossing the timers in 62.71 seconds. Ultimately, no other pair came close to the time.
“I’m extremely relieved and delighted with my horse,” Saïd remarked of Calvaro, a 9-year-old Holsteiner gelding (Cascadello x Quidam de Revel). “I think he’s an incredible horse and he steps up in moments of pressure. Today I took a lot of risks. When I came into the triple [combination], I was zig-zagging through. For the experience he has, he tries so hard. I’m happy that we won and that we qualified.”
With 19 pairs posting clear rounds, qualification took a quick effort. Germany’s Richard Vogel was the next fastest, scoring second place with Levi Noesar. Cian O’Connor (IRL) took third with Canbella Blue PS, owned by Karlswood Partners.
Saïd thinks very highly of Calvaro, which is in big part why he chose to take so many risks around Guilherme Jorge’s (BRA) course. “He’s very flexible and very brave; he has many of the characteristics you want in a great athlete,” he continued. “He’s a fighter. If he faces something new he doesn’t shrink, he goes harder at it. I truly believe that if things go the way I feel they can, he can be one of the best horses I’ve ridden in my life.”
Up against some of the top riders in the world, Saïd is currently ranked just out of the top 20. “That motivates me,” the rider, who last won a five-star grand prix in Wellington in 2022, said of the level of competition. “I always think in a jump-off I can be as competitive as any, but when you’re riding greener horses under pressure that’s sometimes hard because you don’t know what to expect. My horse is pretty green—we’ve only been partners for four months—but he has a big heart as well.”
After a three-year hiatus from WEF, Saïd has experienced the rise in competition level, saying, “I love competing here in the U.S., especially in Wellington. To get a win this week means more to me personally, but obviously tomorrow a podium finish would make me very happy.”
