The highly-anticipated feature event of the Holiday & Horses CSI4* and the ESP Holiday Series as a whole took place on Saturday evening in front of the biggest crowd the facility has seen since the 2020 Winter Equestrian Festival was stopped in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC) now open to general spectators, the 39 elite contenders in the $214,000 Holiday & Horses Grand Prix CSI4*, presented by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission, gave the crowd a perfect welcome back to the horse show, enhanced thanks to the masterful course designs of Anthony D’Ambrosio (USA). Galloping to the top of the leaderboard as the night’s big winners, Catherine Tyree (USA) and her own BEC Lorenzo edged out the competition to conclude the evening with the coveted first prize and the lion’s share of the prize money.

“I’ve had BEC Lorenzo since the end of his 7-year-old year, and he is 11 now, so four years. We started at the 1.25m level, so his first big classes were our first together. We have a lot of experience together, but we just started jumping the big classes, like CSI4* classes, about 18 months ago,” Tyree remarked following her win. “We really took our time to perfect a few things and to develop him. It’s been an absolute dream to work with him. It’s the story everybody wants when you get a young horse – to develop them and bring them to this level and hope they’re successful. He is such a good competitor and loves what he does.”

The class showcased an international field of entries representing 13 countries, including the United States, Brazil, Israel, the Dominican Republic, Ireland, Great Britain, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Denmark, Mexico, Canada, and Switzerland. D’Ambrosio created a pattern of 14 fences in the first round, which ultimately saw six partnerships leave all the rails in their cups to advance to the jump-off. The first half of the competition featured just a single clear pair, Brooke Kemper (USA) and Caroline Blum’s Arpeggi, until the 24th duo, when Tanner Korotkin (USA) and Volo’s Diamond, owned by Sandalwood Farms, forced a jump-off. The pace picked up soon after that, with four more partnerships, including Tyree and BEC Lorenzo, crossing the finish line without faults to earn a spot in the tie-breaker round. The time-allowed proved to be a factor, with three further pairs clearing all the fences but falling victim to a single time fault.

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