The 2015 Winter Equestrian Festival concluded its eighth week of competition on Sunday with a win for Todd Minikus (USA) and Two Swans Farms’ Babalou 41 in the $150,000 Grand Prix CSIO 4*, presented by Lugano Diamonds. The pair led a 10 horse jump-off with a top three finish for the United States in this week’s final CSIO competition. Beezie Madden (USA) and Simon finished second, and Meagan Nusz (USA) and Dynamo placed third. Canada’s Jonathon Millar was sixth riding Calvin Klein.

Anthony D’Ambrosio (USA) was the course designer for international competition in week eight. In Sunday’s CSIO 4* grand prix, D’Ambrosio saw 49 starters with ten clear rounds. The top three U.S. entries were the only ones to jump double clear over the short course.

Nusz and Amalaya Investments’ Dynamo were the first pair to go clear in round two and set the pace at 38.71 seconds, eventually placing third. Two rounds later, Minikus upped the leading time to 35.77 seconds with Babalou 41. Last to go, Madden and Abigail Wexner’s Simon stopped the clock in 37.47 seconds to move into second place. Andres Rodriguez (VEN) had the fastest four-fault round in the jump-off with Arao Enterprises’ Caballito to place fourth in 36.86 seconds. McLain Ward (USA) and Double H Farm’s HH Carlos Z had the fastest round in 35.42 seconds, but dropped two rails along the way to finish eighth.

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