The future is Saturday Night Lights for ESI Ali and Nayel Nassar
Egyptian Olympian Nayel Nassar and ESI Ali won their ‘Saturday Night Lights’ debut in the $140,000 CSI3* Grand Prix closing out week one of the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) – and they now plan to return to the limelight in two weeks time.
“This one feels great,” said Nayel of victory after he and the 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding by Stakkato Gold stopped the clock in 37.35 to bump US Olympian McLain Ward and Michael and Wendy Smith’s High Star Hero into the runners up slot by less than six tenths of a second. “It’s always special to win here,” Nayel said of WEF at Wellington International. “I’ve never won under the lights. I’ve come close a few times. This is my horse’s first time under the lights, so I didn’t know what to expect exactly, but he impressed us all and he really deserved the win today.”
Nayel has had ESI Ali for just over a year and the gelding was in Nayel’s words ‘a little rough around the edges’ when he first arrived. “So we took our time for the first year,” he said. “Last season he started to step up into some 1m50s and he was always really competitive and he just kind of gave us a feeling that he was ready for a bigger class and that’s what he did tonight.”
Saturday night’s performance was enough to prompt Nayel to rethink their next move at WEF. “I’m really excited, you know, we didn’t know what to expect from him and his first time in this atmosphere,” he said. “We were considering jumping him next week on the grass, but I think I’m gonna skip that week and bring him back under the lights for the first four-star of the season [week 3 of WEF].”
Nayel entered the ring knowing he had to go faster than McLain. “I only caught part of McLain’s jump off on the screen, but knowing McLain is always so fast, I knew the eight to the last was a must and luckily we were able to get it done. I felt like I had done enough, generally if I could match everyone else’s strides, he comes out a little bit quicker, quick in the air and he’s fast across the ground.”
Spectators were on their feet for the victory gallop and one young spectator was lucky enough to catch Nayel’s blue ribbon as he threw it into the crowd. “It’s just buzzing,” Nayel said of the atmosphere. “It’s so special in the way you really feel the community come around and really come out to support, especially at these Saturday Night Lights classes.”
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