A stride less makes the difference for Marie Hecart
Marie Hecart’s decision to leave out a stride at the last fence, resulted in a win for the French rider and Edonna D’udine in the $24,999 Grand Prix closing out the ESP Fall II show on the Derby field in Wellington.
Speed merchant Jad Dana, had cleaned up with two wins the day before, one in the $5,000 1.35 Stake aboard Fleur-de-Lis’ Cherie – and the pair were back in contention and leading the jump off before Marie took the ring.
“I watched Jad going before and he’s fast. He’s always really fast,” said Marie, who was last to go of six in the jump off. “I’m like, okay, I’m more going for second place. I didn’t think I could go faster at the beginning, but I saw that he did ten at the last one. And I had a nice jump and I was like, okay, I’m going to go for it and see.”
The leap of faith resulted in the narrowest margin of victory, 500th of a second separating Marie’s time of 36.214 and Jad’s of 36.261.
Marie and the 10-year old Selle Francais mare arrived in Florida two weeks ago, taking this win on their first show back in Wellington.
“She’s really careful, really brave,” Marie said of Edonna D’udine, who came to her string as an eight-year old. “She’s a really competitive mare. She’s really fast.”
Marie will base out of Wellington for the rest of the year and move on to the Winter Equestrian Festival, January 1. Her daughter, Lola, has just started pre-k, aged 3 and a half, so not having to travel is desirable. She has yet to show signs of following in her mother’s footsteps. “She likes it if I sit her on a pony. But I don’t have a pony for her here,” Marie said. “She likes horses but she has so many things to do that for now I don’t push her because she’s busy.”
This could be interesting: