It was an extremely close-fought tussle in the Galati Yacht Sales CDI3* FEI Grand Prix at TerraNova Equestrian Center on Friday, May 2. Just 0.8 percentage points separated the top six combinations in the class, which was topped by Canada’s Naïma Moreira Laliberté on KML Inc’s 12-year-old gelding Inspire with a 68.891%. Second-placed Charlotte Jorst (USA) was just 0.15 percentage points adrift, riding Kastel Denmark’s Zonik x Stedinger son Zhaplin Langholt — another 12-year-old gelding — to 68.739%.

Ben Ebeling (USA), double winner at TerraNova’s April CDI, rounded out the podium, riding Ann Romney’s 15-year-old Belissimo M mare Bellena to 68.239%. Ebeling edged out his trainer Christoph Koschel (GER), whose 68.174% on his own 10-year-old Dancier gelding Destare earned fourth place. There was a tie for fifth spot, with two U.S. female athletes scoring 68.087%: Katherine Bateson Chandler on Haute Couture and Kasey Perry-Glass on Heartbeat WP.

The win marked Moreira Laliberté and Inspire’s first international grand prix victory since stepping up to the level at TerraNova’s April CDI a year ago. Inspire’s test featured many sevens and 7.5s, with an eight given for the extended canter, the two-time changes, the flying change between the pirouettes, and the final halt. The only glitch came in one of the piaffes, which was costly as the movement carries a double coefficient.

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