Press release from Tryon International Equestrian Center

Todd Minikus (USA) rode to the top of Sunday's $36,000 1.45m Sunday Classic CSI 3* in tandem with Amex Z, finishing with a jump-off time of 33.065 seconds at Tryon International Equestrian Center (TIEC) to wrap up Tryon Spring 5 competition at the venue. David Blake (IRL) stopped the timers in 34.882 seconds to secure second place with Don't Touch Du Bois, a 2009 Belgian Sport Horse mare (Kashmir Van Schuttershof x Indoctro) owned by Pine Hollow Farm. David O'Brien (IRL) took third place aboard La Belle SCF, a 2011 Belgian Warmblood mare (Diktator Van De Boslandhoeve x Baldini) owned by Spy Coast Farm, LLC, with a time of 35.102 seconds. 

With 16 competitors in the first round and seven pairs in the jump-off on the course set by Michel Vaillancourt (CAN), Minikus and Amex Z, a 2009 Zangersheide mare (Andiamo Z x Landaris) owned by Bit By Bit Group, were the last duo in the jump-off and secured the win.

"The first round was a nice course," Minikus remarked. "There were parts of it [the first round] that were difficult, but there ended up being seven clean, and they were all top riders and horses. I was fortunate to have two of the seven."

"With my first horse [Calvalou], I lost my power steering going to the vertical and kind of ran into the standard and had to circle and start over. And the other [Amex Z], I thought I could do one less stride from one to two. I thought it was faster to go around the vertical instead of inside and that made for a tighter turn back. I noticed in the dirt, my footsteps were way inside of everybody else's. At that point, I knew I was ahead if I could just leave the jumps up.

"I got lucky at the last jump. It got a little desperate but she gave a good effort, so I am very happy with Amex Z today," Minikus concluded.