Andrew Bourns Channels Usain Bolt, Wins the Amalaya Investments Prix

If you’re going to model your win moves after another athlete, the fastest man alive is as good a place as any to start.

Andrew Bourns (IRL) rode Ringwood Zebo to the win the $10,000 Amalaya Investments 1.35m Prix at Split Rock Jumping Tour (SRJT) Columbus International CSI 2* in Johnstown, Ohio on Saturday. Then he did what every top rider does after a capturing the biggest class of the day.

He dropped his reins and busted out his best Usain Bolt.

Not familiar with what that looks like because you don’t actually follow other sports? We got you.

(Related aside: Usain Bolt was the first person to hold both the 100 metres and 200 metres world records since fully automatic timers were invented. He’s widely considered the greatest sprinter of all time. In case you ~~were living under a rock~~ didn’t know.)

Back to Bourns’ fist pumping antics.

Elaborate fist pumps are a SRJT tradition. The best fist pump of the week earns a cash bonus and Bourns, well, he’s feeling pret-ty confident that he’s in the running. (Pun intended. Not sorry.)

“I guess I have a lot of faith in this horse, that he is really a pretty reliable guy because the Usain Bolt is a risky move. If they spook and you don’t have your hands on the reins it could end very messy for me. I like to think that I pulled it off pretty well, and I think I have a good chance at the award,” smiled the Irish rider.

Bourns was one of 15 clear rounds out of a starting field of 46 horse and rider combinations. Only five of those pairs managed to go double clear over the Alan Wade course, and none could match Bourns’ time with the eight-year-old Ringwood Zebo.

It’s the fledgling pair’s biggest win to date. Zebo is a new prospect for Bourns. Produced by his parents in Ireland, the grey Irish Sport Horse gelding came into Bourns string just a few months ago and already they’re off to a promising start. Two weeks ago, they posted a double clear in a CSI 2* Grand Prix in Canada.

“Ever since I got him he has been wowing us with his ability and then today he showed some extraordinary speed,” said Bourns.

“He is deceivingly fast. I don’t think the others even saw him coming. With a young horse like this you can’t get too brave with your plan, he has a lot of stride and scope, so I left out strides and kept him very, very tight in his turns. I relied a lot on his rideability, which I think made him so much faster than the other horses, because he was able to win the class and not look like he was breaking a sweat doing it.”

Check out their ride: