The final international grand prix in Wellington until the end of the year took place on Sunday as 44 pairs took to the Derby Field to compete for first prize and the lion’s share of the prize money in the $140,000 Palm Beach County Sports Commission Grand Prix CSI3*. Edging ahead of the field as the quickest of six double-clears, Nicholas Dello Joio (USA) and Cornet’s Cambridge claimed the victory to cap an exciting season of FEI competition.

“It is shocking that we are actually finished. I’m still half expecting ot be back here next week to show. It feels great to win at the end of this season, and I am really super happy with the horse,” Dello Joio commented. “He is a horse that I have been producing slowly throughout the circuit and he had a good [Winter Equestrian Festival]. During WEF Week 10 he jumped the CSI4* grand prix. We decided not to jump the last CSI5* week, which he was probably ready to do, but we are just planning the long game with the horse. We decided that our next show after this will be Thunderbird, so it was good to get him out on the grass one more time.”

Of his winning mount, The Berry Group LLC’s 10-year-old Oldenburg gelding by Balou de Reventon x Cambridge 8, Dello Joio continued, saying, “He has all of the qualities you want. He is extremely careful, he has not shown us a limit to his scope yet, and he is very quick across the ground. While being quick across the ground, he stays even more careful. He is a horse that you can really allow to go as fast as you want. It is funny, you can feel it in him. You sense that he wants to be super fast, and he has fun doing it.”

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