Lisa Wilcox (USA) and Galant, an eight-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding owned by Jacqueline Shear, topped the Intermediaire 1 at the 2014 CDIO Wellington on Saturday morning 22 February 2014. After winning the Prix St Georges on Friday, Wilcox continued her string of success and posted a winning score of 69.649% in the Inter I.
Second place went to Neve Myburgh (GER) and Lexington Star for their score of 68.421%. Catherine Malone (USA) rounded out the top three with Uno Don Diego and a score of 66.798%.
Wilcox was surprised to see that Galant (by Escuro) was actually spookier during the daytime after competing under the lights of The Stadium earlier week for the Prix St. Georges.
"Interestingly enough, he was more looky in the daylight," she confirmed. "It was like all of a sudden he saw flowers that he didn't see at night and so I had a few more things to work through when I was in there, but otherwise he was very confident in the movements besides the lookiness. Other than that, I'm very pleased. He's very confident. It's his first CDI, so very good!"
For Wilcox, the highlight of their test was their canter work. After a small bobble in the extended trot that Wilcox acknowledged was her fault, she was pleased with Galant's solid canter zig-zags and pirouettes.
Like Wilcox, Myburgh acknowledged her horse was actually more lit up during the day time competition, but she was pleased that Lexington Star also held it together despite being relatively inexperienced.
"He's only been doing Prix St. Georges and I-1 for the last three months and this is his second CDI, so I'm really happy with him. He's a generally very spooky horse, so hats off to him for getting past the flowerpots!" Myburgh smiled.
Myburg is still getting to know the gelding; she's only had the ride for the last five months. She looks forward to getting his owner back on at some point in the future, but will also continue to compete him herself as their relationship continues to develop.
Text by Laura Cardon - Photos © Astrid Appels
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