Daniel Coyle (IRL) and Legacy claimed the $72,000 Lugano Diamonds Grand Prix CSI 2* at Tryon International Equestrian Center (TIEC) at Tryon Resort, stopping the jump-off timers in a time of 35.34 seconds. Richie Moloney (IRL) and Equinimity LLC’s Rocksy Music, a 2008 Irish Sport Horse gelding (Ars Vivendi x Diamond Serpent), sped around the short course in a time of 36.024 seconds to earn second, with Mark Bluman (COL) and Cartouche, a 2007 Silla Argentina stallion (unknown x unknown) owned by Daniel Bluman and Over the Top Stables LLC, rounding out the podium on a time of 36.374 seconds.
The Anthony D’Ambrosio (USA) course design saw 56 pairs contest the first round, with 15 entries challenging the jump-off. “It was a very good course. It was challenging enough, and it wasn’t very simple,” Coyle detailed. “There were lots of places to make errors, and it was a good track. Although there were lots of clear rounds, it didn’t walk that way, and I didn’t think it would have that many.
“I watched the first few go in the jump-off, and I had already planned seven strides from one to two, which was far away and very big, but she has a very big stride,” Coyle said of the 2010 Zangersheide mare (Chippendale Z x Bon Ami) owned by Ariel Grange. “You didn’t want to be too tight back to the liverpool, and then the last three jumps were really just off your eye, so it was the beginning of the course and the related distances where I probably made up the most time.”