June 30, 2022 
Highlight reel: verb; selectively sharing the best moments in life to social media, giving an exorbitant impression of happiness or success.
The “highlight reel effect” might be a very real social phenomenon, but for Nayel Nassar it is a genuine reflection of his competitive career these days. The Egyptian Olympian’s string of top results suggests he’s riding a highlight reel IRL.
Thursday, especially. Nassar logged a career coveted CHIO Aachen win in the STAWAG Prize 1.50 with El Code, an 11-year-old SBS gelding by Filou de Muze. It is his premier trip to the iconic German venue universally regarded as the best in the world.
Instant core memory.
“This place really is a dream come true, the highlight of the sport…I am thus overjoyed and proud to be here. And the fact that I won makes it even more special,” said Nassar.
“[El Conde] is always by me and extremely fast. A true fighter!”
Thursday, extremely fast translated to exactly 68.48 seconds, just tenths of a second ahead of Germany’s Gerrit Nieberg and 10-year-old gelding Blues d’Aveline CH’s time of 68.67. Lorenzo de Luca (ITA) kept up the chase with the 10-year-old stallion Cash du Plessis in 69.26 seconds.
Perhaps the most impressive element of Nassar’s win was his place in the starting order.
Only the second rider to test the course, he set the time to beat and hung onto it for 39 ultra competitive combinations. One-by-one, they all lagged just fractions of a second too slow through the timers. Sporting heroes Marcus Ehning (GER), Gregory Wathelet (BEL), fellow Evergates Stables rider Harrie Smolders (NED) and world No. 5 rider Conor Swail (IRL), would have to settle for scatterings in the top ten.
El Conde has a 36% clear round and 35% top ten finish rate at 1.50m (JUMPR App), spiking the graph in the last few outings. He placed top five in a CSI5* 1.50m class at Thunderbird Show Park in May, third in a CSIO5*-NC 1.50m class the following week, and collected a shiny silver in the CSI5* 1.55m jump off class at Spruce Meadows in Calgary. Nassar himself has an all around clear round average of 44%.
Nassar didn’t show up to the top venue without top horsepower. His sights are set on qualifying for the Sunday Grand Prix with his Olympic mount, 14-year-old gelding Igor Van De Wittemoere. Between El Conde and Igor we can expect he’s not finished giving the standings a shakedown.
