GERMANY’s Daniel Deusser continued his good run of form at the Winter Equestrian Festival when winning Sunday’s $214,000 Grand Prix during the CSIO4* Nations Cup week in Wellington.

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 Scuderia 1918 Tobago Z (Tangelo Vd Zuuthoeve x Mr Blue) executed the track flawlessly, shaving nearly a second off the leading time to finish in 36.45 seconds.

It was a German one-two with Andre Thieme and Chakaria slotting into second place after they stopped the timers in 37.49 seconds, while young Israeli rider Teddy Vlock finished third with Amsterdam. Vlock is trained by Irish show jumpers Darragh Kenny and Stephen Moore.

Deusser continues to rack up wins at WEF and is happy to have his top partner with him in Wellington. He and the talented stallion won the WEF Challenge Cup during WEF 7, less than a week after the horse arrived on American soil.

“He had a bit of time off last year and came back at the end of season last year which was not a perfect time because of Covid, but to be honest every competition he went to he came back with good results. He did his last competition in December and has had basically two months off. I think he even enjoyed the time without me at home,” said Deusser about Tobago Z.

“He’s been my number one horse for a long time and he knows exactly when he has to show up.”

Bertram Allen was best of the Irish contingent with the 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Castlefield Vegas (Cassino x Lux Z), owned by Martin Egan. The pair picked up eight faults against the clock in a time of 35.57 to finish in eighth place. Darragh Kenny and Vinci De Beaufour placed ninth as the fastest of the four faulters in the first round.

At the end of proceedings, Allen was awarded the “Cheers” Perpetual Trophy in Memory of Niall Grimes as the leading rider representing Ireland in total money won in CSIO classes this past week. Niall Grimes was an accomplished equestrian whose lifelong dream was to represent Ireland in a Nations Cup Class. It was at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Palm Beach that Niall realised his dream.