A blink would have missed Ireland’s Daniel Coyle and Ivory TCS in the $226,000 JTWG, Inc. CSIO4* Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon during the IDA Development sponsored Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) Week 8 at Wellington International. The 28-year-old stole the win mounted on Dutch-bred Ivory TCS, a 10-year-old mare (Falaise de Muze x Ukato) Coyle owns together with Ariel Grange’s Canadian-based Lothlorien Farm.
Four horses battled for blue in a jump-off speed duel over a course designed by Anthony D’Ambrosio (USA). Returning second, Coyle watched Beth Underhill (CAN) pull two rails and was conscious of fellow Americans Lacey Gilbertson and Mclain Ward packing a double punch of speed behind him.
“I had to leave very little room, give them something to chase, but not leave very much,” he said before stopping the jump-off clock at 38.06 seconds over the short course. “I think I was beatable but there wasn’t much of a gap, which was my plan. Ivory is a very fast horse in every jump-off. She might take two extra strides than a big horse, but that doesn’t mean she’s necessarily slower because she does it so fast. I tried to use that today because there were no related distances; it was single fences then turn back and gallop halfway across the track, so I tried to use the quickness that she naturally has to my advantage.”