Second last to go, Ashlee Bond (ISR) and the 10-year-old Westphalian gelding by Diarado x Lamoureux I produced the quickest effort of the day, jumping to the victory in a time of 40.29 seconds.“I felt he was jumping a little bit too high in the first round, which is a good feeling, but I wanted him to level down a little bit for the jump-off,” explained Bond of her decision to return for the jump-off. “My plan was just to gallop and take as much risk as I wanted but I didn’t want to put everything out there. I felt like I just rode my own track. I didn’t think about who was leading or what I had to do to win. It was just for him, what is the best preparation for Saturday’s grand prix, and I felt that the round that I gave him got him in the right space in terms of how high he was jumping over the fence, how well he was getting across, and being careful off the front rails. It felt really, really good.
In the end, O’Connor and the nine-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding by Cardento x MHS Pembrook Lady would hold on for a third-place finish. Fellow Irishman Darragh Kenny and Vinci De Beaufour, a 12-year-old Selle Français gelding by Diamant de Semilly x Heartbreaker owned by Devon MacNeil, would finish the day in third position with a time of 41.40 seconds.For Bond, the victory marks another successful outing as she and the talented gelding finished second in the CSI4* grand prix on the Derby Field during WEF 4. The pair also jumped one of just six double clear efforts in the CSIO4* Nations Cup during WEF 8. While they’ve proven their ability to compete at all of the venues offered during the winter circuit, jumping on the turf track is something she considers the best for her talented horse.
“I love the field,” exclaimed Bond. “He’s always done really well on grass. He’s really good on big, open fields so I was thrilled because he has jumped so well here, and it changes it up. Every time it’s going to be over at WEF, it’s going to be a night classes, and he’s great at those too, but it’s nice to be out here and during the day in a big grass field for a $500,000 class, so I’m excited.
With just one more day before Saturday’s main event, the $500,000 Rolex Grand Prix CSI5*, the plan for “Donnie” is simple as he’s proven to be a fairly straightforward horse to prepare.“He knows his job now,” she said. “If he hasn’t jumped in a couple of weeks on the big field, especially on the grass, he gets a little bit impressed in a good way to where he just needs one class to level out a little for a big, big class.
“My dad Steve is the only one that sits on him the day before a class,” she continued. “He flats him the day before and then we give the horse a light lunge, just a 15- to 20-minute trot lunge, and then we go and try to win the class.”