WELLINGTON, Fla.–Egypt’s Nayal Nasser on ESI Ali just edged out McLain Ward on High Star Hero to win his first-ever ‘Saturday Night Lights’ $140,000, CSI3* Grand Prix during week one of the Winter Equestrian Festival.
“This one feels great,” said Nassar. “It’s always special to win here, and I’ve come close a few times but never won under the lights. This was my horse’s first time jumping at night, so I didn’t know what to expect but he impressed us all.”
Nasser had the advantage of going after Ward, who had finished in the very fast time of 37.92, but while Nasser left out all the same strides as Ward, he was just slightly faster across the ground to finish in 37.35 for the win.
After winning the $30,000 National Grand Prix earlier in the afternoon, Colombia’s Mark Bluman ended the day with a third place finish on Concare PS , clean in 38.24 seconds…