On Thursday evening, the international program kicked off at the Washington International Horse Show. In the 1.55m main class, Belgium's Abdel Saïd jumped incredibly fast to victory with his 14-year-old SF mare, Arpege du Ru (breeder: Christophe Legue).
"Arpege is truly a top horse. We have been a duo for seven years now and she is very competitive. She is a real winner, whether it's a 5 Grand Prix or a speed class,"* said Saïd. "The course in Washington had a lot of turns. In the turn to the FEI fence, I took a lot of risks. After that, I had to slow her down a bit towards the combination."
On the podium, Saïd kept Mark Bluman with the 12-year-old Ubiluc (Ubiko) behind him. The pair followed at just under two seconds, followed by Conor Swail and the 15-year-old Vital Chance de la Roque (Diamant de Semilly). This pair also jumped on the main podium in Tryon last week.
Just outside the top three followed Alessandra Volpi with Gipsy Love (Guidam Sohn) ahead of Mario Deslauriers and the 15-year-old mare, Bardolina 2 (Clarimo).
"Arpege is truly a top horse. We have been a duo for seven years now and she is very competitive. She is a real winner, whether it's a 5 Grand Prix or a speed class,"* said Saïd. "The course in Washington had a lot of turns. In the turn to the FEI fence, I took a lot of risks. After that, I had to slow her down a bit towards the combination."
On the podium, Saïd kept Mark Bluman with the 12-year-old Ubiluc (Ubiko) behind him. The pair followed at just under two seconds, followed by Conor Swail and the 15-year-old Vital Chance de la Roque (Diamant de Semilly). This pair also jumped on the main podium in Tryon last week.
Just outside the top three followed Alessandra Volpi with Gipsy Love (Guidam Sohn) ahead of Mario Deslauriers and the 15-year-old mare, Bardolina 2 (Clarimo).