October 16, 2023 
Nayel Nassar did not have the fastest jump-off round of the evening on Saturday, October 14 during the CSI4* Grand Prix at Tryon International Equestrian Center.
Yet despite stopping the clock at a middle-of-the-pack 45.34 seconds, he nailed the other key point.
“I did get caught, but they knocked some jumps down, which worked in my favor,” Nassar joked after the class. “In the jump-off, sometimes, [Coronado] can be a little difficult to turn, so going first, you always just want to leave all the jumps up. That was the big thing, and then let the chips fall as they may.”
The chips fell in the Egyptian rider’s favor on Peter Grant’s (CAN) challenging track, earning Nassar and the 14-year-old Holsteiner gelding not only top honors, but the only double-clear round of the night.
Paul O’Shea (IRL) and Imerald Van’t Voorhof took second place with 4 faults and a time of 43.45 seconds. Canada’s Erynn Ballard and Gakhir, also on 4, took third (44.03s). Caroline Mawhinney and Dance Du Buisson Z (on 4 faults/51.95s) were fourth to round-out the field.
“When I walked the first-round, I thought it was a lot of jumping—14 efforts, big combinations,” Nassar explained, adding that he thought the course really started to pick up steam beginning with the triple combination.
“[The] vertical jumped very difficult with the liverpool tray underneath, and then the questions really started up from there: the wall out of the corner, and the very short distance to the scopey double, and then a very long, five [strides] to a skinny, followed by a very delicate plank.”
Clearly, when bravery and scope are the demands of the day, Coronado—a former ride of Mexico’s Francisco Pasquel—is there to answer the call. Nassar and the gelding have had a standout season, earning more than €525,000 in prize money in 2023 to date, roughly 60% more than all previous seasons combined (Jumpr App).
“Coronado has had an unbelievable year,” Nassar said, noting the gelding’s major victory this summer in the CSI5* ATCO Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Spruce Meadows. “We try to use him sparingly—he’s 14 now—and we’ve been together [around three] years, so I know him inside and out. We can kind of target [the classes that are best for us].”
Until recently, those classes have tended to include sprawling grass fields at venues such as Spruce Meadows, Dublin, and Hamburg. But it appears Nassar may need to add outdoor stadiums under the lights to his regular hit list.
“This is my first time [at Tryon], actually, and this is a great start,” he said. “It has a really nice ‘Saturday Night Lights’ atmosphere, and the horses really seem to thrive here.”
True to form, Nassar also made sure to credit his Evergate colleagues, including groom Jesus Escalera, for all they do to keep his horses in top form.
“I just really want to thank my team,” he said. “It’s a long year, and we’ve been on the road a lot, and the horses have been jumping a lot, so it’s great to pick up these sorts of results [for all the hard work the guys put in].”
