“I'm over the moon,” she said about her win and her recent string of success. “I have an incredible group of horses. This is his second grand prix win in three grand prixs. He's really impressed us lately. He's hitting new strengths and getting faster so I'm really happy with him today.”

Korbach is still just 11 years old, but the Dutch Warmblood gelding  has recently topped the Devon Sapphire Grand Prix as well as a recent top-four finish, both CSI4* Grand Prixs. Saturday’s victory proved he can contend with the very best, finishing ahead of world number one Kent Farrington and Greya.

“You just do the best you can do,” Jacobs said about coming in for the jump-off after Kent Farrington (USA) and Greya (Colestus x Contender), Rolex Grand Prix winners and a pair that hardly anyone can beat on their best day. 

“When Kent’s winning and Shane [Sweetnam] is in second and I finish third, so be it. Today just happened to be my day. I tried to leave out as many strides as I could and ride as fast as I could. Everything just came up for me and my horse was right with me.”

Jacobs had a secret weapon in the form of wise words from Farrington as he helped her navigate where she could nip his time. “Kent is my trainer so he gave me some amazing tips and actually told me where I could beat him,” she said of her strategy. “He did 10 [strides from fences] one to two and I did nine, and I did nine to the last and he did 10. Greya is preparing for some bigger grand prixs so I think this was a little big of a warmup for him, but we’ll take it.”

With Farrington slotting into second just a third of a second behind Jacobs, Sweetnam (IRL) took third with Pegina VD Bisschop (Comme Il Faut x Darco).

From beginning to end, this course seemed to be made with Jacobs and Korbach in mind. Bernardo Costa Cabral (POR) built the track, and Jacobs felt like it suited a horse like him with a bigger stride. Also helping them was added confidence from Jacobs’ recent string of top results.

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