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Nassar keeps hopes for WC final alive

Feb 14, 2016

Under the desert sun, Egypt’s Nayel Nassar showcased his close partnership with longtime mount Lordan to win in the $100,000 Longines FEI World Cup at the CSI3* event at Thermal. In the seventh and final event on the West Coast, the 25-year-old rider guided the 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding to a double clear that bested a field of 20.

France’s Eric Navet and Catypso (Catoki) and the United States’ Jamie Barge and Luebbo (Lord Pezi) joined Nassar and Lordan in the final round. First to go, Navet had an uncharacteristic misjudgment of strides in the course’s first line, and the 9-year-old Hanoverian gelding forced a rail down.
“All three of us were fighters, and I was lucky enough to go last. Eric had to go first and he had to take a big risk,” said Nassar.
“I’ve ridden Catypso since he was 6,” said Navet. “He’s come a long way. It took a good time to get him to understand jumping clear. He has unbelievable, with easy scope, and I feel like I can jump anything; he just needed to figure it out and improve his technique."
Next in the jump-off order, Jamie Barge continued to build her consistency in delivering clear rounds, leaving all the rails standing aboard her 11-year-old Oldenburg gelding. A long gallop to the final Longines oxer also helped her take seconds off the clock to finish in 49.64 seconds, but a more conservative track left the door open.
It was Nassar with his deceptively fast gelding that managed to stop the timers at 48.19 seconds, despite adding an extra stride in the second line. An inside turn and a faster gallop proved strategy enough to steal the lead and seal the victory.
“I only kind of saw Jamie go, but people said that she didn’t go inside the Longines oxer, going away from the gate, so I knew if I slipped inside there, I didn’t have to go crazy to catch her,” Nassar said. “I did six strides in the first line, eight in the second line; my horse has small stride. But then it was just a matter of jumping the last two jumps clean.”
So as the palm trees dotted the skyline and the California temperatures soared, he returned to the winter circuit showgrounds of his formative, junior years by making a big mark, after a year spent developing young horses and bringing Lordan back from an injury.
“I graduated Stanford in 2013, and I’ve been based in San Diego with my own horse business,” he said. “I’m mostly a horse trainer, with one client that I teach; I like to work with horses more than people. I’ve been lucky so far, with a great group of horses that I’ve been able to produce to the top level.”
Although Nassar and Lordan have had a late start to the World Cup season, the pair still hope to qualify for the Longines FEI World Cup Final in Gothenburg, Sweden, for Egypt.

Source: FEI