Wilmington, Ohio – Her list of grand prix wins is long, but Saturday morning marked a special victory for Izzy Beisel at World Equestrian Center – Wilmington (WEC) Summer I. Out of a 22-horse field and a 6-horse jump-off, Beisel piloted her father’s, Contigo, to his first ever grand prix win in the $35,000 Grand Prix.
Beisel has racked up numerous top placings with the 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, including a top five finish in this spring’s $65,000 Grand Prix CSI2*.
Beisel spoke about her mount’s development, “It has been hard training the foundations on him, but now that we have, he has really clicked and figured it out. Now we are just building on top of it. He is such a cool horse.”
“I flatted him in just his neck rope Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,” Beisel chuckled. “On Friday, I did the 1.35m. I wasn’t expecting much today. I honestly thought that Diaz [Diaz Barbotiere] would be my winner and Beau [Triskel De Kerliven] to be behind him.”
The duo jumped an effortless first clear round to qualify for the jump-off and posted an unbeatable double clear in 37.997 seconds to secure the victory.
It was an extra special victory gallop for the young rider, “He is so special because he was my dad’s horse first, and I am just so glad that I got to live up to him. I am so lucky to have such an amazing horse and to have an incredible trainer that I get to call my dad. I have the best family and friends supporting me.”
Jill Gaffney piloted her nine-year-old KWPN mare, FF Lady Grantham (Diabolo D’esquelmes x Walesa M), to second place in a time of 39.267 seconds.
Sarah Meier rounded out the podium in 41.209 seconds aboard her own eight-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding, Spicebomb (Untouchable x Cara Mia Von Aarhof Ch).
Kalvin Dobbs & Callagan Mark Second Win of the Week in the $10,000 Futures Prix
Competition at WEC – Wilmington kicked off bright and early Saturday morning with the $10,000 Futures Prix where Kalvin Dobbs secured his second win of the week aboard the Treesdale Farm entry, Callagan (Conthargos x Balougania Z).
Hot off their win in Thursday’s $10,000 Welcome Stake, Dobbs shared, “This is his bread and butter!”
“I have had him for five years now. I got him as a seven-year-old and developed him. Two years ago, we started doing some two-star and three-stars. It seemed like he preferred to be around 1.35m-1.40m, so I moved him down for this year and he is obviously loving it!”
Dobbs entered near the bottom of the order looking to best Mattias Ekeroth and Five O’Clock Farm’s eight-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare, Carrabeg Charisma (Kroongraaf x Carrabeg Infinity), who held the lead in 41.148 seconds.
Dobbs and his seasoned 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding made light work of the track, jumping an easy double clear and stopping the clock in 40.786 seconds for the win.
Dobbs favored Bobby Murphy’s tracks all week, “I am really liking the tracks this week because they are really technical in the way that you have to use your eye. There aren’t many set numbers or related distances. It is a good test of the rider’s eye.”
“I love it here. It is so nice to have so many classes to do. Especially for me, I have some horses that are moving down and some that are moving up,” Dobbs shared his thoughts about WEC – Wilmington. “So it is so nice to have this class and so many options, whereas some places lack that if you aren’t jumping the FEI.”
Izzy Beisel and David Beisel’s 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding, Vegas H (Valentino x Cobrah), rounded out the top three in 42.014 seconds.