Press release from Wellington International

The $32,000 1/ST Racing CSI2* Qualifier lit up jumper competition in the International Arena on Friday as Karime Perez Nunez (MEX) topped a field of 57 horse-and-rider combinations. Gregory Bodo (FRA) designed a track worthy of its competitors but advanced 15 starters onto the short course while time played a significant factor for four entries keeping them from contending in the jump-off. 

The time to beat became tighter and tighter as the challengers put forth their best rounds but only five navigated to a double-clean effort. Among those five, Nunez and her own nine-year-old Selle Français mare Felicie de Coquerie (Malito de Reve x Quiniou) sailed into the lead as the only pair to stop the clock under 40 seconds with a finishing time of 39.29 seconds. The win was a stellar and defining moment in Nunez’s career, much of which she credits to Ilan Ferder. 

“I was riding in La Silla (MEX) and Ilan was there competing. He saw me flatting my horse one morning and came over and asked if I wanted to be part of his team,” Nunez stated. “I figured why not start a new adventure, so I talked to my friend and my parents and two months later I was here in Florida as a working student for him. That was two years ago now.” 

Nunez’s partnership with her spicy mare began shortly after her arrival to Ferder’s program when the young horse was still quite new to competition and is one she is proud to have developed. “When I first started riding her at the beginning of her seven-year-old year she was really green and wild, but she has grown up so much,” she laughed. “She used to put everyone on the ground but I liked her character because I knew if I could get her to trust me, she would fight for me all of the way.

“I bought her after I started riding with Ilan and developed her little by little,” she continued. “Last year, I jumped the high amateur division with her and at the end of the year we did our first two-stars. She will just be turning nine this year and I’m so happy with how she’s developed and where she is at this early on in her FEI career.”

While Nunez was at first unsure about bringing her mount back for the short track in order to save her for Sunday’s grand prix, she decided that it would be a good learning experience and it was one that paid off. 

“She doesn’t have a big step but she is so good with turning and she wastes no time in the air, so this was a good jump-off for her,” she confirmed. “The more she jumps, the better she gets.”

The victory lap featured a truly international field as Alexandra Worthington (USA) clocked in just behind Nunez on Turn a Blind Eye LLC’s 11-year-old Selle Français gelding by Kapitol D’argonne, De L’oiseliere, with a time of 40.10 seconds, and Grace Debney represented her home nation of Great Britain aboard Temple Equestrian LLC’s 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare by Eldorado vd Zeshoek, Jesprit H.S. Two-star competition culminates in the $62,500 1/ST Racing Grand Prix.