Ireland’s Philip McGuane returned to familiar territory at the grass derby field at Equestrian Village on Saturday with a win in the $32,000 ProElite CSI3* 1.45m Speed during the second week of the 2024 ESP Spring Series, presented by Florida Coast Equipment. The Spring Series at Wellington International runs for three weeks as part of the ESP Annual Series and concludes on May 12.
Winning mount Linguini de la Pomme, a 13-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare (Marius Claudius x Tinka’s Boy), won the same class in 2023 with fellow Evergate Stables rider, Nayel Nassar (EGY), in the irons. McGuane took over the reins in February just after Belgium's Wilm Vermeir's former mare’s one-year anniversary as part of the Evergate string.
“I'm lucky that he let me borrow her for a few weeks,” said McGuane. “All the horses in the barn are a bit family horses, but she’s super fun, careful and really competitive.”
Mexico’s Ana Catalina “Catsy” Cruz set the course for a 57-horse field. From the 14 clear rounds over the speed track, McGuane put Linguini’s talent for speed across the ground to the test and stopped the clock at 65.67 seconds for the win.
Molly Ashe Cawley (USA) took second in 66.81 seconds riding Berdien, owned by Louisburg Farm. Ireland captured first and third with Max Wachman rounding out the podium aboard Quintini for owner Coolmore Showjumping in 67.55 seconds.
“She's quick at whatever she does; these classes are definitely her specialty because she’s fast, quick at the jumps and has a big stride,” said McGuane. “She’s super easy, though. Every day is the same and she always tries her hardest.
“It took a bit of jumping [to win today],” continued McGuane. “It was a careful enough track with a lot of right rollbacks. Both doubles needed the horses to be very honest. I got lucky today that she was great and jumping her best.”