When Nayel Nassar and his groom of now 10 years, Linda Algeborg, learned the Rolex World Cup Jumping Finals would be held in Gothenburg again in 2013, ‘We joked about going,’ says the 22-year-old Stanford University senior from Egypt. That was two years ago and Linda, being Swedish, loved the idea of watching Nayel compete in her home country.
With Robert Smith’s experienced former ride, the Darco grandson Raging Bull Vangelis S, Nayel led the North American West League with 94 points. Thus began preparations for that very show he and Linda once laughed about.
Last year, Nayel took three horses to Florida, where quarantine logistics made the WEF circuit a more feasible waypoint on their eventual journey to northern California. A rider throughout his youth in Kuwait, Nayel had debuted in Grand Prix three months prior to his trip abroad, in two- and three-star classes on the Arab circuit. “Naturally, there was a bit of a shock moving up to the four- and five-stars, and not only because the fences are higher but because you are competing against the best riders here.”