Nayel Nassar star of New York

What an amazing performance for the Egyptian Nayel Nassar and his flying Lucifer V, for this second edition of the Longines Masters in New York. Not only was Nayel Nassar the first rider to ever win both the Longines Speed Challenge and the Longines Grand Prix at the same event, he was the first to do it with the same horse. He managed to defeat prestigious opponents like Netherland’s Harrie Smolders on Une de l’Othain or Belgium’s Olivier Philippaerts with H&M Cue Channa 42. “He really jumps with his heart and it’s an incredible partnership to have a horse like that.  He loves to go fast!  You know you have a chance to win every time you come out.  It’s an incredible feeling and I’m grateful to have him”, explained the winner.

This victory is the very first winning for the pair at this level of competition. But their success was not out of the blue. Indeed, they won the Grand Prix 3*-W in Thermal then the CSI4*-W of Las Vegas in 2018. He started 2019 in very good shape as he reached four international podiums over eleven trials, including a third place in the Grand Prix 5* of Wellington.

Nayel Nassar and Lucifer V simply confirmed this week-end the strength of their partnership. Because the triumph was not easy. The twenty-nine combinations had to qualified themselves for the second round on a track designed by Franck Rothenberger. Only twelves spots were opened. Six riders from six different nations were clear then the six riders with the fastest four faults were also allowed to jump the second round.

Captain Brian Cournane of Ireland was the first to jump double clear with Dino but his conservative time of 45.88 seconds left the door wide open for the riders who followed. Israel’s Daniel Bluman received a huge cheer from the crowd when he jumped clear in a time of 41.95 seconds with Landriano Z, putting him in fourth in the final standings. Olivier Philippaerts was one second faster in 40.93 seconds riding H&M Cue Channa 42 and looked unbeatable. But Harrie Smolders, currently ranked number four in the world, did the seemingly impossible by leaving all the rails in place and racing home in a time of 39.46 seconds to move to the top of the leaderboard riding Une de l’Othain. But unfortunately for the Dutch, Nayel Nassar was hungry to taste victory again after the Longines Speed Chalenge on Friday. In a breathtaking performance, the Egyptian galloped home through the timers in 38.59 seconds, the crowd erupted.

Full results : here