Brilliant Double-Clear

Success at the 2021 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) continued for Daniel Deusser (GER) as he and Scuderia 1918 Tobago Z, owned by Stephex and Scuderia 1918, put forth a brilliant double-clear effort to be crowned champion of the $214,000 Grand Prix CSIO4*, presented by JTWG, Inc. on Sunday, March 7, in the International Arena at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC).

Photo – Daniel Deusser and Scuderia 1918 Tobago Z in their winning presentation with Travis Gould, Owner and Operator of JTWG, Inc. (right), as well as Harley, Jacqui, and Wyatt Gould. (© Sportfot)

WEF 9 brings CSI5* competition, along with a concurrent CSI2*, back to the International Arena at PBIEC on March 10-14 sponsored by Fidelity Investments® with weekly highlights including: the $37,000 Douglas Elliman Real Estate 1.45m CSI5* on Wednesday, Thursday’s $73,000 Adequan® WEF Challenge Cup Round 9, the $37,000 Bainbridge Companies 1.45m Classic CSI5*and $50,000 Wellington Equestrian Realty Grand Prix CSI2* on Saturday, the $401,000 Fidelity Investments® Grand Prix CSI5* as part of “Saturday Night Lights,” and the $73,000 CaptiveOne Advisors 1.50m Classic CSI5* and on Sunday. All feature classes will be available live and on-demand on the livestream.

A total of 50 entries including six of the top 12 riders in the world, challenged the opening round track set by Steve Stephens (USA) and Nick Granat (USA), with eight pairs qualifying to return for the jump-off. Sixth to contest the subsequent round, Deusser and the 13-year-old Zangersheide stallion by Tangelo Vd Zuuthoeve x Mr Blue executed the track flawlessly, shaving nearly a second off the leading time to finish in 36.45 seconds.

Watch the winning jump-off round presented by Premier Equestrian here!

“To be honest, I only saw Andre [Thieme] on the way to the last jump,” said Deusser of the combination holding the lead before he entered the ring. “I didn’t really get to see what kind of strides he did everywhere. I had already put together my plan. I know he is very good in short turns to the vertical like [jump] number three. I think maybe there I left one out and had a good turn to the double too, and he was pretty smooth down the straight lines, so I think I had quite a good jump-off.”