NORTH SALEM, N.Y.--Jordan Coyle of Ireland on Jorisca won the $37,500 FEI 1.45m Speed Class at Old Salem Spring Horse Shows on Saturday, May 17.
Jordan Coyle on Jorisca (Photo by SEL Photography)Coyle had the two fastest times of the 27 entries from seven nations, as on For Gold he had the fastest time over Alan Wade’s course, finishing in 60.79 seconds, but he had a rail down.
He ultimately won on Jorisca, clean in 61.30, but he had to adjust a bit after the rail with For Gold, although his overall plan still worked out.
“For sure, it changed my opinion of the course,” Coyle said. “This mare will jump the Grand Prix tomorrow, so maybe this isn’t the perfect setup, but at the same time, she’s quite green to going fast. The jumps weren’t so big today, and this gave her a good experience with that. If the rail had stayed up with my first horse, I wouldn’t have necessarily gone slower with the second, but I would’ve gone a little steadier. I made a bit of a mistake on For Gold; I should’ve trusted him more at that double combination. Maybe that would’ve been the class over from the start."
“I DON'T believe the class is over until it’s over,” he said. “I really like this mare, actually. I was very fortunate that my wife’s father bought the horse for me, and hopefully, she’s everything that we’re expecting her to be. She did a few 5* grand prix in Wellington and did quite well, and this will be her first grand prix back since then. We’ll see how we get on tomorrow.”
There were12 clean, and despite losing his left stirrup halfway around the course, Nayel Nassar of Eqypt on Donvier was second in 61.58 seconds.
Mark Bluman of Colombia finished third in 63.79 seconds on S&L Hello Sunshine.
