Carlos Hank Guerreiro and H5 Porthos Maestro WH Z Taste Victory in $100,000 Coca-Cola Beverages Florida Grand Prix CSI3*
The rain couldn’t stop the crowds from gathering to watch athletes give it their all Saturday evening for the inaugural international grand prix of the 2024 Winter Spectacular Show Series, the $100,000 Coca-Cola Beverages Florida Grand Prix CSI3*. Thirty-two top athletes from nine nations took on the challenging course designed by FEI Level III course designer Colm Quinn (IRL). Among them, Carlos Hank Guerreiro of Mexico, a newcomer to World Equestrian Center – Ocala, piloted H5 Sporthorses LLC’s H5 Porthos Maestro Wh Z to his first ever grand prix victory, making the evening a spectacular night of firsts.
Throughout the week, Colm Quinn crafted exceptional tracks, earning praise from competitors. The evening’s jump-off boasted a perfect balance of clears, with five elite athletes from Ireland, Germany, Mexico, and Colombia vying for victory.
Pathfinder, Daniel Coyle (IRL) commended Quinn’s course-building prowess, “I have to say this week has been the best course building I have seen in a long time. We have a lot of good horses, and a lot of good riders, I thought there would be a good number of clears, but there wasn’t. It came down to good course building because there were fences down everywhere but no disasters for anyone. The designer did an incredible job with all the material in that ring. It was a super fun night, and I am very happy with my result.”
Coyle was the first athlete to return for the tiebreaker. He piloted his new partner Incredible (Clinton x Heartbreaker), who won last week’s $24,000 C. Jarvis Insurance Welcome Prix. Coyle guided the 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding to a blistering fast track in 41.00 seconds to set the pace.
Olympian Andre Thieme (GER) followed aboard his own Cordani Ps (Balou Du Reventon x Baloubet Du Rouet), but couldn’t quite catch the time stopping the clock at 46.53 seconds.
Carlos Hank Guerreiro was next in to try and best Coyle’s quick time. “My trainer Eduardo Menezes told me there was only five in the jump-off so I might as well go for it. We wanted to test the horse a little bit. He’s still green, and this was his first real big jump-off. Daniel had a pretty quick time, so we just wanted to give it a try. I knew there was one less from one to two, and I got there easy enough. My horse is very fast naturally, you just let him go and he is just eager to canter forward.”
With a time of 40.66 seconds, Hank Guerreiro and 10-year-old Zangersheide gelding H5 Porthos Maestro Wh Z snagged the win and ultimately galloped away with the winning title.
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