With Jorge being one of the world’s best designers, the qualifying track for the $500,000 Rolex Grand Prix CSI5* was sure to be a challenge worthy of the elite combinations contesting it. The course’s obstacles included three double combinations, a liverpool element, and a tall wall that were all to be navigated in a succinct time of 75 seconds. Germany’s Philipp Weishaupt produced the first fault-free effort early on in the class and was quickly followed by Tiffany Foster (CAN) to ensure a jump-off would occur. Twelve more top athletes joined them to up the ante and create an exciting returning line-up.
Four of the 14 entries decided to save their jumps for another day. Margie Goldstein-Engle (USA), Rowan Willis (AUS), Beat Mändli (SUI), and Kent Farrington (USA) withdrew, leaving only 10 combinations for the shortened course.
As the first to qualify for the jump-off, Weishaupt was also the first of the 10 to contest the final course but finished with a four-fault score. Following Weishaupt, Foster became the class’s clear-round pathfinder as she found the way around the course to end on a time of 46.07 seconds with no faults riding long-time partner Figor. Foster’s lead was short lived when Bertram Allen of Ireland effortlessly shaved four seconds off of her time to finish in 42.88 seconds.
Several more competitors would produce a fast and fault-free finish but once again none were able to have a better ride than Allen and Aiden McGrory’s 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Pacino Amiro (Pacino x NC Amiro).
“I started him off out here on the grass during his first week [at WEF] because I knew the next three five-stars were on the sand,” explained Allen. “I think the reason we were so successful in today’s jump-off was because I didn’t lose my pace anywhere. Every time I turned, something nice came up and I didn’t have to do anything crazy or wild.”